Visibility is Everything as a Creative Today
A grounded framework for building presence, opportunity, and trust in your work — even if you’re shy or just starting out
Hi everyone,
It’s almost the end of the year. I’m finalising some drafts and I’ve got my annual ins- and outs according to the Substack community coming soon, with some amazing writers in featuring their ins- and outs.
This week I’m recovering a bit from a very cold short film shooting for a personal project I’ve worked on for a long time, I’m getting my life back on track and journalling a lot while reflecting on everything that’s happened. I also have a bit of a writers block if I’m honest, but thank god for like 34 half finished drafts.
Before we dive in, don’t forget to follow ART DIRECTION on Instagram for inspiration on your feed, occasional Q&A’s and stay up to date with the behind the scenes of this newsletter. And my other newsletter extension the ART DIRECTION LIBRARY on Substack where I share images from my magazine archives and educate on the visual culture behind it.
This week’s post is a very important one that every creative should read, whether you already have an established portfolio or are just starting out.
When I look for collaborators — photographers, stylists, designers — I often disappear into research, a rabbit hole really. I open one profile after another, I follow a reference trail, zoom into details, click through archives, look at old work, new work, unfinished work. I’m interested in patterns. I’m interested in instinct. I’m interested in people who clearly see the world in a specific way.
In those deep dives, I regularly come across creatives with very small followings whose work is exceptional. The eye is there. The ideas are there. The sensibility is already formed. You can tell they’ve spent time looking, thinking, refining. At the same time, I’ve worked with people who sit at the very top of the industry whose work feels far less considered. I’ve collaborated with photographers who barely know how to operate a camera, yet consistently work with major brands, celebrities, and global campaigns. I’ve done shoots where the photographer shot in low light on the highest ISO in existence and ended up with completely unusable images for retail, but for personal projects have worked with some of the most talented people.
The difference between these two realities rarely comes down to talent alone. What separates them is visibility and confidence.
I also know many creatives who receive opportunities because they exist inside large, interconnected creative circles. Friend groups where projects circulate naturally, where recommendations move quickly, where visibility is built through proximity. That dynamic works beautifully for some people. It was never my reality. I’m introverted. I value long stretches of being alone. Starting conversations with strangers often leaves my mind completely empty, even when I care deeply about connecting. Shyness has shaped my life since I was very young, and for a long time, it felt like something that stood between me and the career I wanted.
And yet, over the years, I’ve built a career working with brands like Jimmy Choo, Coach, Tommy Hilfiger, Adidas, and others, and with artists including Zendaya, Tate McRae, Normani, and more. This didn’t happen through being the loudest person in the room. It happened through learning how visibility actually works and shaping it in a way that felt sustainable, intentional, and aligned with how I move through the world.
This piece is about that process. About how visibility functions as something you can design, cultivate, and grow over time. About how presence can be built quietly, without performance, and still open very real doors. I’m sharing everything I know about visibility as a creative, which is arguably the MOST important thing in a career today.
Ofcourse your portfolio matters too, which is an in-depth topic of its own. But if you have the best portfolio in the world and no one sees it, there is no point. In my Strategic Art Direction course I have two entire modules and hours of audio recordings and frameworks on networking and portfolio building. The next round is early March, so sign up for the waiting list to claim one of the 30 spots.
This post is exclusively for paid subscribers, consider upgrading to paid if you want access to the entire archive of 150+ posts that include frameworks, career insights, inspiration, art direction techniques and essays. You will also get access to the Idea to Editorial course and 30 days of Building Your Art Director’s DNA. Once a month I answer anonymous career-guiding questions, advice and everything in between for paid subscribers too.