Strategy
I created a website to introduce people to my business and services. It can also be used to present my designs and work and to show what services and products I offer. This will be for clients old and new to come take a look at the range of work I offer and ask any questions about price or designs etc, it will also be useful for me to manage my business as the internet immediately gets me in touch with a broader audience at a limited cost. It will also give me a chance to show any offers, new products or any future plans I may have.
People are most likely to check your website and gallery before contacting or using you it is a permanent advertisement. I wanted to make sure my logo was sharp but friendly and that the site was fresh looking, simple and easy to use so that potential new clients are happy to look and navigate around it.
I have made personas of a range of people who I think will use my site and who I think will return or tell others in the same profession as them about myself and site. I’m hoping my website and social media presence will help me drum up some business and get my brand circulating now, during and after I graduate.
Scope
My site will first of all have a home page with my logo, banner and links to all my social sites. My logo and tag line will be situated at the top of the page over my banner. I have chosen to use black, white and grey colours to give it a touch of class. I didn’t want it too bright, so all the pages are consistent with one another. It will need an about me page to help present myself. A blog page which I will update weekly with any articles, media or updates about myself and my work. I want it to be very easy and straight forward to use and for each page to be simple to navigate.
It will need a contact page with a simple form to fill out, so that customers can get in touch or leave feedback etc, it will also need to have a creative services page with all the available services and products I offer, each one of these will have a separate link attached which effortlessly takes them straight to an album of the specific products they are interested in. My gallery page will have the full range of my work and images on a slideshow and also in separate albums for easy viewing. This will also help people having to search through the full gallery to find what they’re looking for, if a potential client is looking for a design i.e. a poster design, they will not want to search through the full gallery to view them. Each landing page will also have links to direct them to my social pages.
Structure
I want users to be able to see clearly, locate what they are looking for and be able to easily move forward when needed. The links on each page and image will all be double checked before and after it goes live, and I will ensure that all items, articles and images are all in the correct place, page and area of the site. (some in more places than one)
- I want to be sure people can navigate the site without issues or errors.
- To be simple and extremely clear to use.
- If an error does occur to be quickly contactable and promptly dealt with.
- Will notify of any errors immediately
- Will notify of any changes or maintenance to the website via email and on the site prior to.
- I will not fill it with loads of un necessary texts or images
Skeleton
Visually my site will look classy and tasteful, with light, friendly colours. Grey and whites with clear crisp professional looking banners and a new fresh, welcoming logo. The landing page (home) will introduce myself and tell the client a little bit about me and my journey without too much text. All pages on my site will have links to each one of my social sites which will all also have the same colour and classy grey scaled theme running through. Underneath my logo and banner will be a menu bar with tabs for each page.
Home page– will introduce myself and give a little information about me and include an illustration and link to my blog site.
Blog– This will have my recent and previous blog attached and a link to the blog page. This will be updated weekly and feature the latest articles and news.
Contact– Quick simple contact form to fill out which will automatically be sent to me and responded to within 24 hours
Gallery – will include all my work, designs and images in a slideshow and also in separate albums.
Creative services– will provide a list of services I offer; each service will be linked to an album in the gallery with images of that particular product. Will also have a link which takes you to the contact page for prices etc.
I don’t want to confuse users with too many menus and categories or turn them off by the look or feel so will make it look creative and stylish whilst still making it feel friendly, interesting, obvious and clear.
The site will not have too much content to filter through so will be easy to move around and find things quickly.
Surface
My finished product should look friendly, approachable and stylish. It will have a professional feel but also be quite simple and very clear to understand. My chosen colour palette (black, white and grey) will make it look extremely professional and should complement my simple but powerful logo and banners perfectly.
The gallery is probably the most important aspect of the whole site to showcase my art, designs and work, so this has to be perfect and look impeccable. Whilst I only have a small about of images for the gallery these will be placed into a slideshow album, eventually I will have an album for each individual service, so people can easily find and view exactly what they’re looking for.
The layout I have chosen is a basic well used style which makes it easy for people to use and acclimatise to. I have chosen a standard font that is consistent throughout the full site. When using a desktop computer, the layout will have the menu straight across and is very clear and easy to search, when using a mobile it is a little different but is familiar to most people who use mobiles to browse so shouldn’t be any more difficult to use.
I am hoping the site runs quite fast and is easy to find and load pages as it is not overrun with text and content.
Victoria Clegg 