rationale

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BA (HONS) Photography - Salford University

Elizabeth Chandler (Level 5)

Project Proposal

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.

Key Words

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professional - very important first impression

sleek

sophisticated

creative - show my creative flare

uncomplicated - easy for any user to navigate

straightforward -easy for any user to navigate

graphic - nice design

informative - lots of relevant information (accessible if user chooses)

uncluttered

classic - yet modern and up-to date (no features that could potentially restrict future use/development)

timeless

clear - defined message

geometric

aligned - consistent grid structure

neat

tidy

considered - all elements considered, font, structure, colours, arrangement ect

relevant

consistent

accessible - for all users

exciting - yet still professional

aesthetic

option - giving users choices in regards to how the view content - full screen, toggle visible thumbnail navigation bar ECT

possibilities

potential -potential to develop with me

developable - potential to grow with me

welcoming

personal

thoughtful - needs of different users considered

suspense - user is excited to see the work as the design build great confidence in ability to produce great work

For this assignment I proposed to design and create a user-friendly site that expressed my own creativity as well as meeting the professional standards of competitors sites.

I noticed that a lot of photography sites mimic the same layout, which is effective in its delivery and aesthetically pleasing. However one thing I felt a lot of them lacked to deliver was a personal touch. Many of them felt quite clinical and impersonal.

As much as this minimal approach is a visual appearance which appeals to me, after looking at site after site I did notice that the impact of them was lost slightly, in a way I knew exactly what to expect and only a handful got me excited and kept me engaged long enough to see the sites entire content.

I then thought about potential clients/customers who are visiting hundreds of sits looking for the one candidate who suits their role. If I was one of these clients/customers stumbling along one site that matched the high quality and exceptional standard of work yet brought a new exciting viewing experience my way I would be instantly inclined to consider them over the competition.

The lack of engagement with such sites, for me wasn’t that I was un-impressed with the work, in fact quite the opposite.

The problem for me was that they all functioned so similarly that I go bored of physically repeating the navigation method.

I was aware that such features are in place as they are effective and they work and had no intention of creating a risky off the chain site which narrowed down my target audience, however what I proposed was to combine these successful features and the overall effectiveness of the minimal sites as well and introducing some of the elements which excited me and kept me engaged in the site for a considerably longer time.

I had to make a difficult decision in regards to my target audience for this project as I felt there are two diverse sides to my photographic interest, both aimed at completely different markets and users. I concluded that the only way to make my site successful, direct and appropriate in it’s content and delivery was to eventually have two different sites, which reflect my different practices and photographic personalities.

Combining the two I feel would be confusing and more significantly would make prioritising content almost impossible as different work would be targeted towards different users.

I concluded that I would aim the site created for this module at a more professional art/gallery audience for work in that field, whether that be elements of curating and gallery/exhibition work or exhibiting my own work and/or creating images to a set brief.

There were two main reasons for this decision. The first one being my main intention for future work and also my personal opinion that aiming work towards that particular audience is more difficult and requires a more concise overall message. Little things like the wording of supportive text and ability to copyright and make that text concise and appropriate is a skill in itself. In that respect I decided it would be more beneficial for me to take advantage of the professional opinions and advice available to me throughout the module.

In light of the above statements written in reflection of my proposal I feel I have created a site that meets all those expectations I originally set for myself.

I began my site building journey by intensely researching into a variety of websites with a lot of different purpose and target audiences. Through reading books on websites and looking at tutorial and tip forums online I quickly familiaraised myself with features which result in bad functioning sites.

I began building simple layouts in Photoshop making minor changes each time before finally eliminating one by one the features that were preventing my site from working and being fit for purpose.

My design has developed considerably from the initial structure to my final site design. I feel the hours put in trailing different designs has benefitted the final outcome as it combines all the effective methods from each stage in my development progress as well as being aesthetic and unique in it’s delivery.

I looked into fonts which were effective and had variety in their font family to ensure I could maintain consistency on my site. I also looked into screen sizes and ways of ensuring my site is viewable on many devices and in many browsers as this was a concern for me. Although i am aware I an never have complete control over the way the viewer uses the site, i feel my design maximizes these options and means users will see the site as intended during the design process. If the user’s Internet browser window was reduced to a small proportion of the screen the majority of the content would still be visible. By introducing the full screen option I feel I have added encouragement to view the site on the largest scale possible. The site feels fairly interactive due to the design I have constructed and I think as well as having professional delivery it also reflects my own creativity and there is an element of playfulness in the site too.

I have utilised bright coloration in such a way that not only do they become a useful tool indicating location within the site but they also introduce that fun element without overloading the user with a garish cluttered site.

I feel my final page layout and navigation method is simple and easy to use. It utilises many functions that any computer efficient user would use without thinking twice or needing prompts to do so. For example the click on the logo takes user back to the home page (such features are ones which aren’t necessarily needed if a less experienced computer user was visiting the site, yet provide some ‘hidden extras’ for uses who are).

I chose to show a tight crop on my thumbnails to add a little mystery and make the user more curious about the content behind. Despite this I haven’t taken this to the extreme where the content behind could then be considered forced media, as the user has no idea what to expect prior to selection. Instead I think the balance is informative, yet exciting without ruining the impact when images are seen in full.