OUGD602 - Website Research

6A2.

In order to explore how others portray their brand, it was decided to looks at visual examples of existing branding and websites which could help inform the design of my own. One of these was Spin studio, whose website was made to look consistent with their branding by displaying each project in their portfolio as simple pictogram-like images.

Other studios, however, were found to display their work in a very different way. For instance, Middle Boop display an array of different projects directly on their homepage in order to give the user an instant glance at some of the work that they do.

These two website designs use completely different strategies, therefore I feel as though this is something which should be decided based on what works best for you, how you want to communicate your personal brand or yourself as a designer, and how you want your work to be seen. Both of these designs though will be considered in the design of my new website.

How to document your work:

From the event, Creative Convos, Christopher Moorby from Commission Studio gave a talk on how to effectively document your work and make it look good. Essentially he suggested that how you do this depends on your aesthetic as a designer, and that each individual holds the answer to how it should be documented. Moorby gave the example of a project for Old Spike Coffee Roasters. They wanted to do something different from the existing marketplace which all seemed to use brown paper packaging, which they did, so by photographing the packaging amongst coffee beans they made the product seem more alluring and unlike anything else in the marketplace. In simple terms, they created a mood. The first step in effectively documenting your work is to think about how you want the project to feel, do research, find visual references. For instance, in the Old Spike project, they used a rock as a plinth to display the packaging as a reference to the brand's logo and history. However, documentation should not stop there. Moorby also suggested an importance in updating imagery in order to keep the project relevant.

In terms of my documenting my work on my website then, it was thought that the projects should use engaging photographs or mock-ups, carefully selecting these and the methods of documentation to not only suit the context and content of the project, but also to show my work in the best possible light. Research into existing websites also found most designers and studios do this too, carefully curating their work and not just overloading the user with information. Like Moorby suggests, these photographs and projects will continue to be monitored and updated every so often in order to keep the projects relevant and engaging to both new and returning users of the site.