Graphic designer based in Liverpool, UK

Hiccup

Although my site was ready to be launched yesterday, unfortunately, there has been some problems with the server, which has meant that the site has not been accessible. However, while the site has been inaccessible, but working in terms of being able to upload artwork, it’s given me time to think about how the design is used, rather than simply looked at. To design a website is one thing, but to actually make it function well and provide the best service is another thing completely. I’ve come to the conclusion that I got the form correct, but not the function.

On my current redesign, I chose to use 950x300px thumbnails as a way to display all of my work on one page. This reduces the number of clicks that a visitor has to make in order to view the artwork. However, what I didn’t realise until I began creating these thumbnails is that my work needs to be a lot taller than 300px in order to truly get a sense of the project. It just wasn’t looking right.

My inspiration for the site came from Daninko, a graphic designer in the US who had used something very similar to what I was planning and he seems to have pulled it off really well. However, upon looking at Daninko’s work again, I realised that a lot of it showcases one piece of work per thumbnail, whereas a lot of my work has multiple artworks per projects. For example, a corporate identity has a logo, business card, letterhead etc. It all needs to be displayed and 950x300px just wasn’t doing the trick.

Because of this, I’ve decided to go back to the drawing board with the site’s design, stripping away the complex programming that was present on the current redesign and going for something static instead, with simple html pages. I didn’t really want to do this, but it seems like the easiest and quickest way to get my site up and running. On the plus side, this design, unlike the design I was going to use has not taken weeks and months to develop, but two to three days of further thinking into what I actually want my website to do and present.

The Work Of previewThis new design, while quite simple is much better at displaying information and to whet your appetite for it, here’s a small shot of it. The site should be ready within the next two days. Until then, I’ve taken down my current design and replaced it with a Coming Soon image, as the current design wasn’t really serving any purpose anyway. I’m looking forward to launching this site and hopefully driving more traffic to it and in turn, driving more traffic to this blog for comments on my work.

Stay tuned.