The Work Of launches with a new look

After two years, it’s time for a change. An evolution. The Work Of relaunches.

The site has been designed with the aim of less clutter and more work with all project images now larger than before. There’s also a more consistent branding over the range of all of The Work Of’s materials whether online or in print – as it should be.

Feedback on the new design is greatly appreciated. Drop me an email: neilATtheworkof.co.uk

Welcome to The Work Of

welcometotheworkof

Let there be light.

The Work Of has finally launched and this version is here to stay. Completely redesigned and now fully automatic, my site is going to see a lot more attention over the coming months. This version has been in the works for over two years on and off now and it’s fantastic to finally be able to launch it and begin regularly updating my portfolio with the many clients I’ve been working with over the past few months and indeed years.

As I said, everything is now automatic, which means adding stuff to the website is now so fast and easy. This includes everything in my portfolio, this blog and, if you’d like to scroll down the page, you’ll see a nice list of interesting links, which will also be updated regularly. As you can probably tell, I’m like a kid with a new toy. This is my favourite toy. My thanks goes to Colin from XAdvance for developing it with me. I’m no coding expert but he is.

You might find a few errors here and there but don’t worry, I’ve already spotted them and they’ll be taken care of ASAP. It’ll take some time to get things back up and running so you may find that my portfolio is looking a bit empty as you read this, but give me a few days and everything will be back up there along with some fantastic new projects that I’ve been working on. I’m really looking forward to using this site more often and your feedback is as always very much appreciated.

Let me know what you think of the new site and thanks for stopping by!

A redesign of the redesign

As said in a previous post, I didn’t think my redesign of my website was good enough to display my work. With that in mind, I decided to redesign again and I’ve just completed and uploaded it. You can see it at www.theworkof.co.uk.

Although it’s not perfect, I do believe it satisfies my needs a little better and I’m much more comfortable with it than the previous design. There are a few key reasons why I’m happier with this design. You might want to consider these reasons if you’re designing your own site, too.

Firstly, it catches your attention better. This is because the logo is now at the top of the page, with a bright header image that directly relates to the logo and indeed why the logo looks like it does. Also, this design looks much more like it relates to my business cards.

The header image is linked to my biography, which I believe to be an important part of why a potential client should choose me over someone else. It’s not an extensive biography and it’s subject to change, but I do believe that this works better than what I had before, which was far too long. One thing that is currently missing from my bio page is my CV, which I intend to add shortly.

It’s now easy to see when I’ve updated the site with new work, as new work will appear on the main page of the site. While I will of course be producing work all of the time, it will be at a slow and steady rate, rather than churning out something new every day, which is why there is only need for one new artwork space on the front page. It allows me to rotate new artwork when I want.

My blog is now directly accessible from the front page and much more visible. I want this blog to be quite an important part of my site as this is where you can find all of my behind the scenes writing and images, such as developmental work.

I think it’s important to show potential clients what I’m looking at to get my inspiration so I’ve added a third section called “Elsewhere”, which gives a short list of links to articles which I’ve been reading recently around the web.

The way in which I’ve designed this site allows me to use the full width and height of the layout so that any work can fill it. I think this makes the work look larger and allows the viewer to be enveloped in it. I’ve also spread the work out onto multiple pages, rather than making the user scroll down the page. Again, this is so that the user can be fully enveloped in one piece of work or a part of it.

As I said to begin with, I’m much happier with this design although of course as a designer, I’ll never be 100% happy with it and it will most likely evolve over time to further suit my needs but for now, it’s something that I’m happy showing potential clients.

I’d really love your thoughts on it so please feel free to either email me at neil @ theworkof.co.uk or comment on this post. Thank you.

We are go

www.theworkof.co.uk is now up, running and ready for business.

The design, while very simple is aimed at showcasing my work, rather than being impressed with the website itself. Web design is not something I’m interested in, but I’ve made sure that the work is presented in a way which is easy to view and easy to navigate.

You’ll notice it’s currently snowing over there, too.

I’m really happy to finally get my site redesigned. It means I can now continue to upload any new work to it, whereas with my previous design, I was holding off on doing so. On The Work Of now, you’ll find many of my University-related projects, along with a good dose of freelance work. When I upload new work, check back here for a detailed rundown of what it took to create it.

The design, while at a finished stage will undoubtedly undergo some tweaks over the next few weeks, but for now, I’m quite happy as it is. How about you? What do you think? Leave a comment here or send me an email via the site. Thanks!