Documented by kbruder tech✞ᵀᵀᴹ on Nov 06, 2020
Last updated on Dec 14, 2020

Introduction

This Document will explain how to create a Visual using an uploaded Image and/or Video. The amount of time it takes to create and publish a Visual will vary. A good amount of detailed information can be added along with your Image to provide context to your audience. Therefore, it may take considerably more time to upload and publish all of the information and images associated with a large body of work as opposed to selecting an Image, giving it a title and description. The following sections list what information may be included with each Visual so you may prepare it in advance.

You must be an authenticated Lookaway Member to create and/or publish a Visual.

You must have previously uploaded and published an Image.

5 - 15 minutes to complete.

You can access the Visual submission form by clicking on the "+" button on the Visual section of the Studio page or the upper right hand corner of any Visual list page, or the Artwork landing page.

Each Visual must have exactly one Image. Any Images you have published will appear in the selection box. If no Images are displayed in the selection box, make sure to upload an Image and publish it before you create a Visual. To select an Image, click on the small white circle in the upper left hand of the thumbnail of the Image you wish to select.

You can optionally select a Video as your Visual. If a Video is selected, it will appear on the Visual detail page instead of the Image. The Image will still be used to represent the Visual on pages on which a video player is not displayed.

All Visual titles must be unique. When choosing a title, consider that the title will appear in various places on the site and is used to create the permanent URL for the detail page. It will also appear on search engine results pages and, based on its pertinence to the rest of the page content, may impact search engine ranking.

Choose the order in which the Visual will appear in Galleries that include it. Lower values will appear before higher values. The order value may be any decimal number not exceeding 8 digits including decimal numbers. This allows for new Visuals to be inserted into a preexisting order without needing to change the order values of the other Visuals in a Gallery.

For example, if you have a Gallery with 3 Visuals whose order values are [1, 2, 3] and you want to insert a Visual after 1 and before 2, you could give it an order value of 1.5.

Add a short description of the Visual. The meta description text is added to the HTML document meta tags section which in turn are used by some search engines and other sites to display the webpage in search engine results pages. The meta description text may also display on some pages of the site that list Visuals.

An Artist in this sense means the person or people who may rightfully take credit for producing the work of art. If you are creating a visual of your own work then use your name or artist name for this field. If you are contributing a Visual on behalf of another person or party, then use the name they provided when they gave you their expressed or implied permission to do so. Your Member account will still be credited as the contributor.

The text field is where the story of the Visual is told. Portraying some types of artwork in a digital image can be very challenging. Providing a backstory, or pointing out certain details or qualities, and describing techniques and materials used can expand the experience of the viewer. Although highly encouraged, this is not a required field.

Provide a concise description of the materials used to produce the artwork. The maximum character length for this field is 1028. Although highly encouraged, this is not a required field.

List any additional people that contributed to the production of the Visual. The artist or artists may have one or more assistants or specialists that contributed to their work to a degree that merits credit. For example: actors, models, cinematographers, makeup artists, personal assistants, financiers, muses, etc. This is not a required field.

Provide the year in which work on the piece portayed in the Visual was completed. If the work is still in progress, you may either use the current year, a projected year of completion or simply leave the field blank.

Add one or more links related to the Visual. For example you might want to link to an event or a website with the artist's contact information. If you do not see any links in the selection bar, you can skip this field for now, add the Link or Links, then edit this Visual to add them.

Add one or more Tags related to the Visual. Tagging your Visuals will increase their visibility on the site. If the Tag you want to use does not exist, you can skip this field for now, add the Tag or Tags, then edit this Visual to add them.

Conclusion

Wow, that seems like a lot of work just for one Visual. The more effort you put into your content, the better the site will become and, hopefully, the bigger and better impact it will have on your audience. Once you publish your Visual, it will automatically appear on the landing page and on the Artwork page and remain there until enough newer Visuals are published to rotate it out. Members that are eligible to give marshmallows may begin giving your Visual marshmallows the instant it is published. As it receives more and more marshmallows, it will climb the ranks of the Top Visuals list. Eventually, it will be crawled by the major search engines and will begin to appear in search engine results pages for people searching for your Visual.