Tagged: digital

initial portfolio research/inspiration

I began my research into online portfolios by taking a look at some that I find visually inspiring or pleasing, by artists and designers that I admire, to see what elements I could use (or should avoid) for my own website development.

http://www.marleighculver.com

Marleigh Culver is a graphic designer and illustrative artist, and her online portfolio showcases the combination of these two disciplines. Her website is simple but colourful, mirroring the use of bold colour, shapes and type in her work. It doesn’t feature any unnecessary details, animation or extra pages, simply a description of the artist and her work, and pieces separated by clients/projects. Her about page is a chance to see a more in depth description, list of contact points/social media platforms, experience, clients and features. Her descriptions are humorous, giving a personal insight into the artist’s personality and life, e.g. “SHE SPENDS MORE WEEKENDS OUT OF TOWN THAN AT HOME AND HAS AT LEAST FOUR PROJECTS HAPPENING AT ONCE. HER SINK IS ALWAYS ROTATING DISHES FROM A LABORED DINNER OR BAKING SITUATION AND HER PLANTS KEEP EACH OTHER COMPANY WITH HALF FINISHED PAINTINGS AND KNICK KNACKS FROM ANTIQUE MALLS,” which is a creative way for visitors to the website to feel like they know the artist a little more, and get to know about other interests/activities they engage in.

 

https://chloesheppard.com

I’ve followed photographer Chloe Sheppard’s work for years on Instagram and through various publications, but had never taken the time to view her portfolio. It is very simple in design, splitting photographs into projects or clients and viewing them in a slideshow – however I feel the titles on the sidebar are a little confusing – it would be difficult to find a particular piece of work on the website. None of the type stands out to separate it from each other, or highlight particular works above others. However, I do like the dramatic landing page when you first reach the website. A full screen slideshow of images appears, allowing you to enter the full website. I think that having an eye-catching entrance to the website could be something I can take on board, but also to make sure the entire site is cohesive and one page isn’t more impressive or polished than the others.

http://gracemiceli.com

I love Grace Miceli’s childlike, girlish and humorous illustrations, and so I was interested to see how this could be presented on a polished digital platform. Her website is bold and simple, reflecting the nature of her work. Her homepage consists of large images which show a heading when hovered over, which I like as headings can sometimes ruin the aesthetic impact of a page, so hiding them until hovered over is something I’d like to incorporate. Her about page contains a short bio and email address, but also shows a link to her Instagram and online shop to promote her other platforms. She has also included a CV, which is useful as this displays the large number of exhibitions and publications her work has been a part of (this has made me think about whether I will need a CV or not on my website – I feel it is only particularly useful once you have enough experience or exposure to showcase).

 

magazine concept: sex/relationships and internet dating

After mindmapping the current zeitgeist/scene amongst people around our age, we decided a theme stood out to all of us and this was social media, connectivity and mainly, internet dating. We chose our magazine to have a theme of modern relationships and perhaps more broadly, matters of youth culture, with our first issue being heavily themed around Tinder and internet dating.

We wanted our publication to tackle the topics not often explicitly talked about in young adults’ publications, with our magazine providing a platform to create a commentary on these new ways of living and connecting. The magazine will challenge norms and what is ‘acceptable’, giving a satirical, fun and light-hearted approach while also being a publication that readers can identify with.

promotion of campaign: social media

TWITTER1

After creating my campaign manifesto and lookbook I looked at how the brand would communicate and promote these ideas – Shrimps already has a fairly strong social media presence so I looked at utilising these platforms more effectively to promote the rebrand. I created mock-ups of the label’s Twitter and Instagram accounts to give an idea of how this would work, e.g. using a lookbook image as a header on Twitter, retweeting articles and what others are saying about the campaign, and using the #shrimpsxwomankind hashtag for the charity t-shirts.

TWITTER2

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.gif experimentation

I started to create simple .gif animations from my illustrations/collages. I looked at elements of the image I could make move or appear/disappear to create a more dynamic and exciting image that viewers would look at rather than scroll past. In this image I erased sections of the yellow brush stroke and saved the image at each stage before combining the frames into a .gif to show the scribble being ‘painted’ on the screen.

still up gif improved
I then experimented with this collage I made near the beginning of the module. I scanned the collage in and then used the clone tool and spot healing brush to fill in the curtain and flooring to make the ballet dancer disappear but still leave the photograph looking whole. This created a really eerie effect which I thought fit in with the Twitter text of ‘What’s happening?’.

ballet gif improved