In the New Year we will be asked to design and produce our own website. Researching this area for ideas of layout and functionality has been an important factor in terms of what works both aesthetically and professionally. It is clear to see that some designer’s websites don’t accurately represents their work and the sites can be difficult to search through. After scrolling through many professional practitioners of illustrators, surface designers and photographers it became apparent that a website says a lot about the artists work and productivity. This forms an immediate impact on the viewer and it is important to capture their attention instantly. Some layouts were complex and as a viewer I became bored navigating my way around their sites even when their work was impressive. Some had gimmicky features but after a the talk we had by[ art director Charles Hively in N.Y] who stated that art directors don’t have time to play and mess around with sites. ‘They want to be instantly interested and only have time to view a selection of good images’. I have taken his advice on board while viewing websites of interest. Here are two examples that I believe work for and against a well designed website.
My first example is Sara Fanelli [illustrator and surface designer]. Her website opened with some of her recognisable hand drawn illustrations and you knew instantly that this was her work represented by her distinctive style. I thought this had a professional style and I would like to incorporate a personal element into my own design. The page also incorporated found paper imagery that was used as backdrops to her work and gallery selection menu. I viewed her online portfolio and found a collection of work to click through but when opting to enlarge the image, I found this looked a little underdeveloped compared to the effort put into the rest of the layout. All it produced was a slightly bigger image in the corner of the screen. A small amount of details was given for each thumbnail and it was easy enough to direct my way around her site. There was information about commissions and prints for sale but there was no up to date information on any present workings. My real problem with her site was the handwritten information used in place of typography text, I found this section hard to read.
The website of Emiliano Ponzi [ illustrator] was one that excited me the most. The site opened with a flashing neon sign that lead to his current project. He had a limited amount of menu options but each category displayed a thumbnail format that when you hovered over the images the details of size, medium and client appeared. The website shared many similarities as the photography sites I investigated. His website was easy to direct myself around I could easy click back to the beginning at any point [some lead me back around their site] and there was also a link to his blog and up to date info about his work ,clients and exhibitions.
This exercise has helped me to establish a better understanding of how a website should work and the layout I would like to present my own designs. I can see what works visually as well as practically and designing something simple that can be built upon will be first approach.Website research
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