Behance Network for Creatives

The company behind those Action Pads we love started a collaborative network for creative professionals that went live on Monday.

The Behance Network is a platform for creative projects, portfolios, and collaborations. It has a lot of content but two main functions: networking and brainstorming. From the site:

Think Tank: The Behance Think Tank oversees the Network and includes other research, product development, and consulting initiatives – all focused on serving the creative professional community.
* Read Behance articles and interviews, featuring especially productive creative professionals sharing their insights on making ideas happen.
* Adopt the Action Method as a framework to boost productivity and simplify project management (and life).
* Purchase products and services at Behance’s Outfitter.
* Review tips for making ideas happen.

Network: The Behance Network is a platform for creative portfolios, projects, and collaborations.
* Represent your work professionally. Build a dynamic portfolio of your latest projects, open to all or shared selectively.
* Connect and collaborate in “circles.” Join or create groups of creative professionals, gathered around interests, to share content and ideas.
* Discover job opportunities. Behance’s GigList features great work opportunities for creative professionals. Creative industry leaders are also able to mine the network for talent.
* Share tips and industry knowledge. Behance’s Tip Exchange is a lively exchange of insights and helpful resources, all categorized and searchable.

Upon signing up, users can pick any “realm” from advertising to ice-sculpting. On a quick tour, we found some soft-core, er, “art” (right) and tips for brainstorming (“idle balls sitting on the floor are dangerous”). The TipsExchange list has everything from converting digital formats to preserving lemons.

Overall, it is a rich site with a clean, simple design and user-friendly navigation, but like any social network, it all matter who uses it. If the action pads are any indicators, expect some PSFKers on there (if just to check out the artwork like the stuff to the right).