- When it comes to a graphic designers website,
I like to follow the three S's.
Simple, simple, simple.
It's tempting to do something tricky and complex.
But just because you can,
doesn't mean you should.
This applies to the overall design,
the organization and site architecture.
Make the navigation as easy as possible.
If anything is unclear or complicated
the user will move on to the next site.
Here are three options for the organization
of a website.
The first is good to focus directly on your work
and who you are.
It's a good option if your body of work is not large yet.
It functions primarily as a strong portfolio.
The home page is the page for all projects or images.
The projects are depicted with thumbnails.
You may decide to add titles if the images seem unclear.
The second and only other page is about you
and should include contact information
or a contact form.
This site is direct and has clarity.
It communicates your brand directly through the work.
Another approach is to organize the projects by title.
Images with titles lead to another page for each project.
These pages include a brief project description
and several images showing the breadth of the work.
There will be instances when you have a project
with one image only,
such as a packaging project or logo.
That's fine.
Add a clear project description.
There should also be the page about you
and contact information.
If your body of work is large and diverse
in terms of media,
you may want to organize the work by title,
such as the names of clients
and also by the media of a project.
This way a user can go through your site looking
at projects specific to clients in one industry.
He or she can also find the work by media.
A publisher might be more interested in looking
at all the book design
rather than finding examples on different client pages.
If you have the content consider adding a page
with current news about your work
and professional activities.
These don't need to be as grand as being the keynote
speaker at the world's biggest design conference.
It can be as simple as a note about a recent project
with example images or visiting a design class
at a local college.
The goal with all of these is to create
a remarkably simple navigation.
We all know how frustrating it is
when a site is a chaotic mess.
All of us can give up quickly.
Keep it as easy to use as possible.
Minimize the choices
and always give the user a easy way to move around.
I like to imagine a user who is cranky
and impatient, barking at the computer.
Make it work for them.