Final Design

So, finally, after a lot of messing and panicking, I've finally got my site finished, not bad for a six week period, huh? 

This is a screen shot of just how my site looks. It fits in much better than how it appears, all the categories will be moved when the site is developed properly before going live...

As you see the large image, this is how they will appear when selected, with thumbnails behind/underneath. 

I'm very happy with how my site has worked out, being an absolute beginner with the likes of Photoshop, I had real worries about this brief, as much as I was looking forward to it, but I got there in the end with a bit of patience and determination...

Self Evaluation

Self-Evaluation

By Michael Colebourne

This brief is one that I have been looking forward to getting stuck into for a while, I was just a little worried about my Photoshop skills, or more my lack of, but having the tutorials with Andy helped me get the hang of what I needed to know.

Having researched a few different examples of working websites helped me decide on some sort of path I wanted to go down with my own site. I knew from the off that I would want to keep my site simple, for the end viewers ease of use and also for my own ease in developing the site through Photoshop. Creating the wire frames, as rough as they were, proved very useful in helping me get my ideas down, knowing what I wanted in my head was hard to explain without actually having any physical examples.

 Wire Frame:

In my initial proposal I stated that I wanted to keep my site suitable to be viewed by the general public without putting off people from the art world and vice versa. I feel I have kept this in mind with my final design.

Initial Design:

Run through of how my site will work:

So, at the home screen there will be a plain screen with four options at the top right of the screen, About, Portfolio, Contact and News. When any of the options are clicked the menu will then move vertically to the left side of the screen.

About: This section, as it states, will be about me. I have tried to keep that as informal as possible, but without it being unprofessional. Talking about how I got into photography, my journey to university and what kind of photography I like to specialise in.

Portfolio: When the viewer clicks on this option, it will open out into eight subsections, Street/Urban, Landscape, Fashion/Portrait, Commissioned, Weddings, Christenings, Babies/Children and Conceptual. When the viewer selects an option, it will go into thumbnails of each image included in that section, with it then opening into a large view image with the option to click ‘Previous’ or ‘Next’.

Contact: This section is available for any future clients to make initial contact with myself, or for any general enquiries. It includes my email address, telephone and links to social media.

News: I have included this section to keep people updated with any relevant news, commissions, big deal jobs, or just anything I see fit to include. I’m unsure to add it in blog form, or just keep it so I can update it through my site as and when it needs to be done.

Final Design:

Overall

As I mentioned at the start, I have enjoyed this brief very much and I’m looking forward to getting my site live in the future. I think maybe a few minor tweeks will need doing but overall I’m pleased with my final results.

I’d like to thank Andy for his time and patience in the sessions, it was a big help.

If I could change one thing about the brief, it would have been the time frame in which we had to complete the project but I managed to get a site developed from scratch in six or so weeks, which I’m very pleased about.

Website Proposal

For each assignment we take on, we have to create a proposal, which is there for us to use as a springboard for an initial idea, helping us develop that into our final outcome...

Name: Michael Colebourne

Title: Personal Website Design

Project Proposal:

In the outcome of this brief I would like to achieve a website that is suitable to showcase my work to the general public and future clients but also one that would catch the eye of the art world.

Self-promotion through Facebook is something that has been helping me to get my name known locally to me in the past 12-18 months. This brief is one I have been looking forward to since I started university and I’m going to use the tutorials to my full advantage. After all, this website will ultimately be my career advertising board.

Aims and Objectives:

·         To create a website suitable to show my work to all future clients

·         To have a website that has ease of use for all levels of users

·         To have a website that holds my portfolio with easy accessibility

·         To have a website that I can interact with my clients with ease

Target Audience:

My website would ideally be aimed at any suitable future employer(s), with easy contact points to reach me.

Also I’d like to keep my website open to all viewers, without shutting any audiences out by being too formal or ‘arty’.

Web References:

http://www.dannyst.com/ : This website is one I came across during my research. I like all aspects of this site, the ease of use, the layout, the navigation and the work itself. The images are presented in good sizes and good quality.  It includes a good use of his personal things like news and social media links.

http://www.mattstuart.com/ : I like the simplicity of this site but I don’t feel as connected to the photographer himself. Poor use of size, for the size of the screen I viewed it on I feel he could of made more use of the space he had available.

http://www.vivianmaier.com/ : I found this site uses good sized images with a good layout. Offering plenty of information about the artist. I think the blandness of the site is something what lets it down.

Bibliography:

http://www.street-photographers.com/

http://www.in-public.com/

http://www.streetphoto.fsnet.co.uk/

http://www.lfph.org/

http://www.miamistreetphotographyfestival.org/

http://www.nickturpin.com/

http://birke.net/

http://weber-street-photography.com/

http://www.paulraphaelson.com/

Keywords:

Photography, Street, Urban, Modern, Style,

Art, Manchester, Photographer, Graduate, Faces,

People, Architecture, Landscape, Buildings, Animals,

Student, Inner-City, Public, Avant-Garde, New,

Fresh, Angles, 

First Design

When I first started to design my site, I played about with a couple of layouts, the following being the one that was scrapped. 

Although much of the layout in my final piece is the same, I just felt this one was too plain and unprofessional. with too much dead space. After a bit of a panic in not knowing how to use Photoshop, I managed to incorporate an image into the background, which looks a lot more professional.

Initial design/Wire Frame

When designing our page setup, we were asked to design a wire frame so I could put my ideas across to people without getting stuck for a description in my head. As rough and minimal as they may seem here, they were a big help for me. I had my website perfectly laid out in my head, I just couldn't explain to people, or get certain aspects right in my head and so jotting down these rough sketches helped me massively...