From a person who doesn't know anything about web design I find it very frustrating when I find a website that I want to look at, but it is so hard to use that I give up before actually seeing it. This website is a prime example it is a photography portfolio by Sean Kennedy Santos, I wanted to look at his work after looking at an online magazine encore which was a Best of 2004 to 2008 had profiles of illustrators artists and photographers.
Screenshot of http://www.sksantos.net/2008/
As people who work visually this is something everyone should think about, especially when putting your portfolio online, people are impatient, if they are looking though lots of portfolios and one is harder to use then they will probably skip over it. We should also consider the layout and what size the images are, I often don't bother looking through the artist entire body of work if the page has to reload every time I click next.
Now it is embarrassing to admit that after reloading the page it is working better, however I still think that the most important information you should be able to see all of the time, no doubt it is a nice looking site and portrays the photography well but if I hadn't been writing this while looking at the site I would have given up and never seen any of his photos.
This is a spread from encore featuring Sean Kennedy Santos the caption reads "Truth be told a dancer does feel gritty… often grueling… and I'd even describe it as a dirty job. Your work, your art is being put out there every single day in how you walk down the street, how you carry yourself, how you move.When your body is both your instrument for creating and you final presentation performance, there's a lot to consider everyday. How do you take care of yourself, challenge yourself, look at your self (and also not look at yourself too much!)." I think to some extent this applies to graphic designers too, although we are have a client the work is still very personal and everyone is judged by the way they walk, the way they talk what they design looks like and the way it is presented.For me this one spread shows so much more about the photographer than what his whole website gave me.
A website is there to give the audience information, at a certain point the creative side of us has to step aside and know that our work speaks for itself.
Sources:
Best of encore 2004-2008. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.magwerk.com/mag.php?magazine=encore&language=en
Magwerk. (2007). Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.magwerk.com/
Sean Kennedy Santos. (n.d.) Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://www.sksantos.net/2008/
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