OVERVIEW

Areas Of Photographic Practice B

 (Self Promotional Website)

Project Deadline Tuesday 8th January 2013

 1:30pm (HT013)

To design and produce a completed self-promotional website that is easy to use, reflects personality and on that is memorable. It will showcase examples of my portfolio of work. The ultimate aim of the site is to attract future clients who practice within the design industry. These clients include fashion/design magazines, advertising and branding companies. The final online presence will assist in promoting myself as and up and coming lens based communicator. 

Consider main headers.

Design around main page of website, don't keep changing it.Do you want music/sound on the website?Will your website let you no what you have already visited on the site?Do you want moving images?All computer produced or made by hand and scanned in?How do you want people to view your images, scroll, slideshow, click?Portfolio section/page?CV section/page?About me section/page?Think about space, what if you need to add new projects? Where will they fit?Don't want to design a site I will have to change every year.Think of the colouring and layout of your website.Will your website be for freelance or creative industry (potential clients).Information led or more imaged based, play to your own strengths-photographic style, personality.Research all website within industry and not industry and see what I will like and not like.What elements of websites do I like and would I want, make a decision!Should I explain my work?Should I explain the services I offer?A sitemap will help me decide.

The Fold- Whatever you can see above where the screen ends.I will have to get the hierarchy right (best/most important in order).Have to use a grid structure (960).Look at typography, fonts, capitals? standard? lowercase?All margins have to be the same.Tracking- space between text.Leading- increases space between rows of text.Find inspiration.Know what your going to do before you start designing.Consider functionality and usability.Wireframes- sketch or digital sketch everything of project, where it will all be, annotations of what things are. You need to research your clients, target audience and competitors.Remember flow charts, headings, titles and labels! Use short sentences. Your website has to be clear and descriptive. Have consistency constantly.Your homepage is the first thing people see, it has to give a good first impression!

Forced Media

Forced media is described as content that the user is subjected to and cannot change until an ulterior option is chosen.

Flow ChartsThe flow chart is the key aspect of any website design. The flow chart of any site should display all category and sub categories and show all potential links.StructureIt is important to remember that individual pages have the opportunity to be viewed out of their original context. So for this reason pages should be clearly marked and have a consistent style. Websites should be considered to be a 3-D document. Even though its viewed within the context of a computer screen. 

Development Remember that a website is constantly in a state of flux. 

Navigation and Navigational AidsThis should be carefully thought through, clear, logical and appropriate for the end user(s).

ConsistencyAesthetic, Client and UserThe website should answer the brief in terms of aims and objectives.

Initial ImpressionsInitial impressions count. Remember this!

Future Planning and ProofingWebsites are non-static and should constantly adapt and evolve to reflect current needs. 

Four basic steps in organising informationDivide it into logical units. Establish a hierarchy of importance and generality Use the hierarchy to structure relationships among sections of information.Then analyse the functional and aesthetic success of your design system. Finally it is important to define who will be using the site most often and for what reason. This is most effectively achieved by answering the five key questions: WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHERE and WHEN?