Quickstarter: it's OK to think small

Today we're announcing Quickstarter. It's an invitation to create small projects—the kind you do mostly for fun. London-based designer Oscar Lhermitte came up with the idea for Quickstarter. He’s no stranger to big projects (like the time he literally promised people the Moon). But he also loves doing small ones “that are inherently beautiful because they are simple and manageable.” He launched the first Quickstarter project earlier this year as an experiment to see what he could create with a small budget and a limited timeframe. When he offered to come up with a way to help other people create small projects, we were quick to say, "Yes!"

Read Oscar's Quickstarter Manifesto below and start thinking about what you’d like to create.

Announcing a new study on the financial stability of visual artists by The Creative Independent.

Back in 2016, Kickstarter launched The Creative Independent as a resource of emotional and practical guidance for all kinds of creative people. Since then, we’ve published interviews, how-to guides, and essays from more than 430 working artists—including writers, filmmakers, dancers, designers, musicians, poets, and more. We’ve used each conversation as an opportunity to learn about the issues faced by independent creators today, and to gather wisdom on dealing with things like creative anxiety, burnout, and sharing your work.

Scroll down to read this post in English.

Avis à tous les créateurs de caractères : Kickstarter et étapes: s’associent à l’occasion de Bold Type, un éloge de la typographie française.

Que vous soyez artiste, graphiste ou amateur de polices de caractères, si vous êtes basé en France, vous êtes invité à participer avec un projet Kickstarter sur le thème de la typographie lancé entre le 1er septembre et le 31 octobre. Nouveautés, témoignages de créateurs et travaux typographiques seront mis en avant dans nos communautés du monde entier.

Seven months ago, the artist Hank Willis Thomas came to Kickstarter and shared an idea with me. It seemed extraordinary—even unbelievable. He and his team at For Freedoms wanted to create one of the largest-ever creative collaborations in United States history: a call for cultural and civic action that would take place in every single state. Communities would choose their mode of participation—a billboard, town hall meeting, or special exhibition—but their goal would be singular: to create art across the country that would spark honest dialogue and reflection about issues that affect them.

Today, on Kickstarter, For Freedoms seeks support for the billboard portion of this initiative. Fifty-two projects will be launched, simultaneously, across 50 states (as well as Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico), to commission artists and secure the reproduction of their work on 52 billboards. Individual communities will make these billboards come to life through local programming and discussion, but because the projects also have a home on Kickstarter, their reach—and their success—rely on people across the globe.

Today we’re excited to announce that Camilla Zhang has joined Kickstarter as Comics Outreach Lead. As a creator herself, Camilla’s work has been published by Top Cow, Reading with Pictures, and Crossed Genres. She’s also worked with Marvel, Mad Cave, Reading with Pictures, and DC Comics, where she helped edit the entire Before Watchmen series, Batman: Black & White Vol. 4, Batman: Death by Design, and Batman: Noël. And last year, she was selected to be in Marjorie Liu’s Genre Fiction workshop at VONA, an organization for writers of color.

Take part in a season-long celebration featuring new poetry projects, live readings, and more.

Last year we announced Hardware Studio, an initiative from Kickstarter, Avnet, and Dragon Innovation that helps hardware creators get ready for manufacturing. A major part of that effort is Hardware Studio Connection, which allows qualified creators to get one-on-one advice from the electronics and manufacturing experts at Avnet and Dragon.

The Connection program has been a bit under the radar since then, but that’s about to change. After spending months developing their projects with help from the experts, four participants in the program are launching on Kickstarter today.

These projects will stand out in two ways. All participants in Connection will have a “Hardware Studio” badge under their project video:

Today we’re happy to announce that Meredith Graves joins Kickstarter as our Director of Music. Meredith embodies a spirit of creative independence at the core of Kickstarter. She’s a talented writer who explores music, language, and identity for publications including Pitchfork, SSENSE, and i-D. She’s the founder and frontwoman behind the hardcore punk band Perfect Pussy. She established the independent record label and book publisher Honor Press. And most recently she was an anchor and journalist for MTV News, where she discussed rank-choice voting and Album Generic Flipper with Krist Novoselic, freestyled with Migos, and accidentally became a meme after a particularly Chance encounter with Beyoncé.