1. Artist Homepage Re(design) - After looking at the work of the two artists, I think that I am going to design a homepage for Linda Reedy. My decision is primarily based on my own aesthetic preferences and, of the two artists, I prefer Ms. Reedy's artwork. I also think that because Ms. Reedy doesn't have a website other than a gallery page that presents her work, there's probably more creative license here. Some examples of artist's websites that I think are successful include:
As evident in many of these websites, it is clear that the artwork itself is the content that is given the most attention. Some additional concerns with an artist's homepage would include making contact information easy to find, informing the reader of how to find, purchase or view the artist's work, providing some combination of biography/artist's statement, and ensuring that the site's deign and overall concept closely supports the artist's own design sensibility. In many ways, the site design has to be nearly transparent so that the website architecture doesn't compete with the artwork for attention.
2. Personal Homepage Creation - Right now, I am trying to conceptualize what the focus of my homepage should be. I already know that it will present some aspect of my professional life (vs. a personal life that is essentially nonexistent), but I'm unsure whether to include many of my professional interests/experiences or focus instead on one area at the expense of the others. To explain... I am trained as a graphic design and illustrator and still occasionally freelance. I also have my academic background - my Ph.D. work, my research, and my work as a faculty member. And then there are my personal creative projects and writing. I'll have to consider this one a bit more and determine what audience I am going to design for.
Since I was unsure which direction I wanted to go with this project, I couldn't find great examples of a genre that I couldn't define. So instead I looked for bad examples. A Google search using the term "personal homepage" generated these gems (none of whom I personally know):
And here's what I've learned from this little exercise: When presenting a web page that details your professional achievements, you probably shouldn't make a headshot the focus of your homepage unless you're a model or employed in the entertainment industry. Try not to name your website "[Your Name's] Homepage." At all costs, avoid backgrounds of starry galaxies unless of course you're an astronomer, astronaut, or Stephen Hawking. The majority of personal websites out there seem to belong to faculty members (many of which are very bad and very bland). Just because you can have a website doesn't mean that you should. And finally, an entire website with all of its type displayed in Comic Sans is never a good idea (unless you're 5).
3. Optional Third Homepage - It time allows, I am going to try to redesign the homepage for the Shared Sacrifice website which is a new online web journal of progressive thought. It's current iteration can be found here: www.sharedsacrifice.us/
I am affiliated with this site as a writer and am a colleague of one of its co-founders. Because this site was launched very quickly, it's design does not yet match the caliber of its content. I would ideally like to link the redesign of this site with my final paper because I think it offers considerable opportunities to examine how theory is manifested in design. Some considerations might include looking at how one interactive medium can be linked through design to another type of interactive medium. In this case an Internet radio show with an Internet journal. Or one could examine how activist spaces are constructed on the Internet. This site offers many opportunities to really explore interactivity on the web and how this encourages (or discourages) activism and activist rhetoric.
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An artist homepage that I particularly like is: http://pieterombregt.com/home.html
ReplyDeleteOf course, it could just be that I like his photography; I like that his site is very minimal, and serves to reflect or accent the work, rather than merely present it (or detract from it, of course). On this note, of the ones you've highlighted here, I really like Ryden's page, and Red Nose studio's is very good as well. The small thumbnails draw you further in to the site than Merriam's large popup(?)-style interface. It's more of a preview, I guess...
This one ( http://www.tc.umn.edu/~pwhanks/ ) has got to be my new favorite dumb website, I think. Thanks for pointing it out.
Chris, I, too, like the artist homepage you shared. It's well designed. Thanks for the example.
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