primary research – Sidi's Journey

Primary research – talk with two stakeholders

Conclusion: this primary research made me realize that I need to specify my audience from fine art graduates to fine art graduates who want to be a freelancer or wear more than one hat. This process also helped me to enrich the definition of my model, for example, I put ‘the ability to be humble’ to the ‘self-control ability’. This also verifies the feasibility and credibility of the test I designed to a certain extent.

online talk with Yigao (fine art background, currently working in a film company )

I talked with two stakeholders about my project and my career model as my primary research to acquire more opinions and fine art background students’ suggestions.

1. Talking with Yigao (fine art background, currently working in a film company)

Before talking to Yigao, I ask her to test the organisation’s ability, the sequencing question of intervention 6. Surprisingly, her answer was the closest to the correct answer. (Her answer is 5-2-4-1-3, and the correct answer is 2-5-4-1-3.) Then we talked about whether she is an organised person. Both she and I think she is a well-organised person, whether in life or study or work. So I guess, to some extent, this result shows the feasibility of this organization ability test.

After that, I introduced my career model, and we discussed her changes in these abilities before and after graduation. The conclusion is that, except for cooperating ability, the rest improved a lot after entering the workforce. Because when she works in a company, she has to undertake her tasks and responsibilities that she should complete. Every link has a corresponding person in charge, so there is no need to coordinate the process of cooperation. The whole collaboration is conducted under specific procedures.

I think it depends a lot on what she does and how the company works. For those fine art students who want to be freelancers, cooperation ability is vital since they need to actively seek cooperation to get more job opportunities. Then I realized that I needed to specify the audience of this career model. This model is more suitable for those who want to be freelancers/start their own business,/wish to do multiple jobs.

2. Talking with Chery (fine art background currently studying fine art PhD)

I was talking to Chery about his experience of selling paintings. He said that when he is doing his bachelors degree, he doesn’t like selling his work since he thinks art is the art that cannot be valued by money. In addition, his parents believe that it is tough for this subject to find a job(compared with design subjects and science and technology, finance etc.). So his father worried about it and tried to sell his paintings at that time. ‘I hated it,’ he says. ‘I didn’t want to sell my work, and I certainly didn’t want it to be bought by people who couldn’t read it. But I don’t think so anymore. You know, most of the fine art students are a bit self-glorification. Ummm, it’s a good thing to sell paintings, you know, I found that It’s even harder for me to sell paintings by myself without my father’s help, and I have to face reality, I want to earn money.’

Although it’s a single case, it can illustrate some phenomena. Self-glorification, too confident, could be the label of most fine art students. Going back to what I did in unit 2- help fine art student to sell their artworks through synaesthesia. After finding a relatively effective way to combine sound and paintings, I realized that it is hard to sell this idea to fine art students because of their personalities, their typical temperament. This point is also one of the main reasons for art students’ problematic employment. So I added the ability to be hambling in my model.

Career model – version 2 – logical or organisational ability

Conclusion: I decided to add the organisation ability to my career model. So far I got: business ability, communication ability, cooperative ability and organization ability.

Now I am thinking logical ability can be added to my career model.

Some people think that when you draw a beautiful painting, it is your natural talent, but there is some logical ability and organization ability behind it.

I got this idea from my own experience. When I was an undergraduate in China, I often watch my teacher painting. (I can say that they are mature and well-rounded practitioners of the arts because they not only teach in universities but also work in the commercial field and so on.) And I found that they have strong logic and organization ability.

The way they painted, the order in which they painted, the arrangement of the objects on the table as they painted, they were all organized. You can also see in the painting that they know exactly what to do next to control the picture.

On the contrary, comparing students, sometimes draw an excellent picture, there is a bit of luck. Without a certain degree of organization and logic, I will suddenly lose control of the picture.

Based on this point, I wanna test whether art students lack logical ability and organization ability.

I find a psychological test about logical ability and sent it to 5 art students: https://www.123test.com/logical-reasoning-test/

There were 10 questions, and two of them got 8 correctly, while the rest got 7, 6 and 9 correctly. From this small test I can see, their correct rate is quite high. It also made me think that maybe logical ability is not the missing link.

Then I found another psychological test which is about organization ability;

Question: What is the first thing you see in the picture?

Answer 1: Tree

Meaning: You are full of energy and love new things, and you can’t accept being stuck in a rut.

Answer 2: Human face

Meaning: You are very organized and methodical, and it is reassuring to have things planned in advance.

I sent it to those 5 students as well. 4 of them said they noticed Tree at first sight, while only one found a human face. Indeed, the friend who found the face likes to have a plan before she does it.

Logic diagram of my journey so far

The employment situation of fine art background students

Today I investigated the employment situation of my previous classmates.

The data shows that

Only 4% of people are doing an art-related job. One is a curator, and the other is an art blogger.
37% of people choose to be a teacher. Most of them work in preschool or elementary school, and some teach Chinese classes or work in the administration department.
15% of people choose design works like graphic design and UI design. But they have to learn design-related knowledge that they didn’t know in the undergraduate course to qualify for an interview.
17% of people have jobs that are entirely unrelated to their majors.

Primary research- Interview with fine art graduates

Today I talked with a few friends about the Employment problem of art students. At first, I want to know why it’s hard for an art student to sell their artworks. I guess it’s because of some aesthetic differences between artists and audiences, or some artists don’t know how to communicate with the audience. After I talked with them, I change my mind.

1. Most people don’t choose this major because they love it.

“Why you chose a fine art major?”

A: “Because this major has the highest probability of being admitted.”

B: “I misunderstood the major, I thought it is another one.”

C: “Because I am curious about this major.”

D: “Because one of my teachers recommended this major.”

2. When they choose a major, they don’t think about their future employment.

“Before you chose this major, did you know the career direction of this major?”

A: “No.”

B: “No. Maybe could be an art teacher.”

C: “No, I have no idea about employment and the future.”

D: “I didn’t think about it myself. My parents did.”

3. Some people find it is not suitable for them after they chose it.

“Do you think this major is right for you?”

A: “It is not suitable for me. This major requires more carefulness, and I am a careless person.”

B: “Not very suitable for my current job. I am a UI designer now, and my major cannot help me.”

C: “In the process of learning, I found that I did not like this major. When I was about to graduate, I came into contact with some other design majors. I found that compared with pure art, I was more attracted to some majors that could realize my ideas in the form of products.”

D: I think it suits me, but I also want to try other majors which is more suitable for me.

4. Market problems VS Personal problems

“Why it’s hard for a fine art student to find a job? What’s your opinion?”

A: “Market problems. Few people are willing to buy a painting. If the price is too high, they won’t buy it. If the price is too low, you won’t sell it.”

B: “Supply exceeds demand. And the market is not perfect.”

C: “I think nowadays not many people have both exceptional talent, strong belief, and hard work. No matter what kind of style you paint, there is always someone who likes it. The difference is the number of people.”

D: “No fame, no sale, no appreciation. Art is a dispensable thing for a lot of people, and most people don’t spend money on a painting unless it’s given as a gift.”

“From your heart, what does drawing mean to you?”

A: Things I can do in my leisure time.

B: The meaning of painting for me is to express feelings. A good painting will have a sense of achievement, while a bad painting will make me unhappy. I like to draw, but I get tired of it if I paint every day. I only draw when I have an impulse. I haven’t painted since graduation.

C: the thing I want to do all my life.

D: Painting is a kind of expression. It is to express some ideas in the form of painting, just like speaking or writing an article

“When was the last time you drew a picture?”

A: “I haven’t done it in years.” （Pet Shop Owner）

B: “I haven’t painted since graduation.” （UI designer）

C: “Almost never after I graduation.” （Jewelry Design Learners）

D: “Last Tuesday.” （Fine art PhD）

Based on all of it, I think ‘personal problems’ is the main reason why it is hard for fine art students to support themselves with their talent. Most of them gave up and went on to do something else. Some of them think it’s market problems. However, I think that’s their excuse. It is easy for them to give up because they don’t really like their major, and they think it’s not suitable for them. It could be better if they can fully understand a major before they make a choice.
Maybe I can provide a platform to help these students fully understand the differences, the content, future development, and employment directions between different majors. For example, I can invite some experts in different majors to provide various workshops for these students.