Project: Then & Now: Arts at Warwick
Digital Executive Team Member / Student Researcher

From January - June 2020, I joined a research project into the history of the Faculty of Arts & student experience at the University of Warwick. I was responsible for:
• Operating the Instagram account @arts_at_warwick.

• Contributing to the online presence of the project through its content strategy, graphics, daily posts, and writing an article for the student paper.
• Sourcing and categorising material from digital archives and the research team, and adapting the content strategy.

• Promoting the project across current societies and growing the follower count between students, staff and alumni.

Content Strategy

To begin creating the project's online presence, the digital team established the branding. We decided on a bold and "groovy" theme, designed to be reminiscent of the University's 1960's origins. After collecting ideas from the content plans of larger arts organisations' Instagram accounts, the digital team developed a content schedule as follows:

Colourful, Happy Brush strokes Quote Instagram Post.png

Below are some examples of content I created and posted. I incorporated the logo and graphics on each post, in keeping with the house style. The graphics not only colour coordinated the material on our feed, but also helped maintain a professional appearance when the photos from the archives were often not the best quality.

I also coordinated weekly themes to align with the Research Team's findings, such as 'Art & Architecture' or 'Societies'. For the Societies week, I posted photos capturing certain societies from the 60's onwards, providing opportunities to tag and interact with other accounts. For example, the In Depth post was on a Freshers' Fair brochure, persuading readers to join the 'Mutant Society'. The BTS post that week was a photo of the student paper's archives, shelves of publications amassed and archived over the years. The Thursday Throwback was a black and white photo of the radio society's office in the 70's etc.

Outreach

The project was widely shared between members of the Uni's History of Art society, featuring in the Society's social media, website and newsletter, and one member wrote a piece for a local Art paper.