Creative Professionals Need Professional Networks

By Behance Team

Behance was founded with a simple philosophy: Your ideas are more likely to actually happen when you are organized, productive, and accountable.

The many interviews and tips featured on Behance.com, as well as the Action Method and subsequent product line, are parts of a larger effort to boost productivity in the creative community. But productivity is not enough to "make ideas happen."

From the interviews, focus groups, and time we spend with especially productive teams in the creative world, we see a common theme: the value for a tight network. It seems that some elements of a "network" are absolutely critical.

Consider just a few critical benefits from a network:

• Accountability: If you don't share ideas with a group of people that will hold you accountable, new ideas will be overridden by everyday demands.

• Cross-pollination: Most ideas originate at the intersection of different creative realms (i.e.: a photographer comes up with a new idea through her work with a musician…). If you silo yourself, or become isolated in one particular group (i.e.: just designers), you will not experience the enlightenment from the clash of different talents.

• Freshness and Truth: Without feedback from a network of trusted confidants — an inner circle — your work may become stifled and stale.

• Professional Opportunities: New jobs and connections in the creative community happen through circumstantial interactions. Without a network to maximize these "circumstances," your opportunities for growth are limited.

• The Network Effect: Your latest project may solicit little interest from your close peers and clients, but how about the peers-of-peers and clients-of-clients?

• You can't do it all alone. Networks help you engage new collaborators and hire resources to push ideas forward.

When the Behance team convened, we envisioned a well-designed, open platform for creative professionals and teams to present their work and take full advantage of a network…a network of fellow creative professionals, industry leaders, and potential clients. We wanted it to be simple to navigate, but powerful enough to handle all media and robust searching. We wanted the components of portfolios to have a life of their own within a network of many smaller networks. We wanted to develop a network that helps you make ideas happen. For all of these reasons, we are thrilled to launch the Behance Network (www.behance.net). Check it out…•

© 2007 The Behance Team. All rights reserved.

2/18/08