Work That Never Ends
Do you know that running your own project when there are just two of you – my wife and I – is nothing like working in an office? There are no weekends in the usual sense, and excuses like "I don't know how," "I don't know," or "I don't feel like it" simply won't cut it. If it needs to be done, it gets done. You start and you do it.
There's no boss to assign tasks, check your work, and hand you a paycheck at the end of the month. Every function falls on you. And the work isn't just about drawing posters. It's website maintenance to keep it visible online, preparing posts for social media and platforms, and constantly learning something new. It can feel like the tasks are endless, because life keeps throwing new challenges your way.
Today I want to talk about what we have to do to get noticed on the internet. The web is huge – it covers practically the whole world (for now) – making it an ideal place for a project like Aviaposter.
Our website is the main platform where people discover my work. I built it using a website builder. For us, that was more convenient than depending on an outside developer (we'd already had that experience). Here, I'm my own designer and editor. We lived like that for eight years, until politicians once again decided to "divide" the world. And one day, we simply lost our website. To say it was a shock would be an understatement. But as they say, a person can get used to anything – and so did we. We sighed, of course, but not for long, because otherwise there would simply be nothing to live on. Within a week we sketched out a plan and got to work on a new site. We solved problems as they came. A couple of months later, we launched it in a very stripped-down form, and then came a long, long period of filling the store with products and content. We finally wrapped up that saga last year with a major redesign.
Social media is a whole other story. At first I felt like a fish in water there – everything was clear and simple. But times change, and so does social media. These guys are constantly introducing new rules! Now they strictly regulate how images should look. You've just gotten used to one template – bam! – everything needs to be redone. In the past four months, I've already changed templates three times.
But social media isn't just about images. Every platform has its own character, its own audience, its own topics. In some places, a bright image and a couple of words are what matters most; elsewhere, the audience likes to read long-form content. And these rules of the game are constantly changing too. That means you have to dedicate time to it and experiment. It all only comes with experience and learning. Twelve years ago, I had no idea any of this existed.
By the way, my responsibilities aren't limited to the internet. I'll tell you about that another time.
This year, our project turns twelve! There are still plenty of ideas in my head, and life keeps bringing new challenges. And you know what? This work will never end. And we're very much counting on that.
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What is there to read?
CRJ550
The Last of the Series
In November 2019, a new aircraft – the CRJ550 – entered service with United Airlines. Externally, it is indistinguishable from its predecessor, the Canadian regional jet CRJ700. Nevertheless, it was officially recognized as an entirely new model and even received its own designation.
Interestingly, I received an order for a CRJ550 poster as early as February the following year, after it had made its first commercial flight – that was in 2020. And when this poster appeared in our catalog, it became the most popular poster on the very first day. It continues to be in demand to this day. Despite everything I've read on the subject of the CRJ550, I still haven't figured out the reason for this particular model's popularity.
So how was this new and final model in the popular lineup of Canadian regional aircraft created? Read about it on our blog.
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Landor
The Sky as a Canvas
I'll admit right away – for a long time, the name of the branding agency "Landor" was associated in my mind with just one of their projects: the iconic British Airways livery of the same name. However, in the course of working on the Aviaposter project, I came across the name in connection with other airlines as well. Once I gathered all the liveries created by this agency in one place, I noticed one thing they all had in common – they're all stunning.
Further study of the agency's work (and not only in aviation) led to the writing of this article. Here, though, I look only at their work for airlines. And since this doesn't cover everything they've done, I may well write a follow-up in the future.
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New Reviews
It's always wonderful to receive feedback on our work – it brings fresh inspiration and renewed energy. And that matters a great deal to all of us.
At the end of March, we received a new review from a customer on our "Boeing 767-200 BDSF ABX Air" poster, which had reached its destination. Here's what he wrote:
"I received the poster and finally have it hung in the office. I think it's an awesome piece – very detailed, printed on great poster stock, and it arrived very well packaged with zero issues. I'll definitely be ordering again at some point."
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A couple of days before this issue went out, another review came in from the United Kingdom. Pilots often order posters with a personal title, and this was one of those cases. Here's what he wrote to us:
"I just wanted to let you know I have received the picture and I am very happy with it. It looks excellent."
Order your posters and send us your reviews – we're open to communication and would love to create your very own poster.