Flash Inspired Photography Websites

http://www.andrewfphotography.com/

• I like this site for its smooth use of flash from each section (the dark grey part of the page moves up and down)
• I like the simple use of black white and grey
• The white title works well to draw your attention to his name

http://www.jessicahilltout.com/

• The 'hand made' feel makes it feel personal
• Also the polaroid shots make the photos look 'real', again emphasising the personal look.

http://www.bottlebellphotography.com/about.aspx

• Simple yet has a good impact with the flash introduction. Also lets teh viewr know what the website is about whilst offering tehn an interesting form of interaction

http://www.tomhoops.com/latest.html

• Simple, clean cut design with a bold edge.
• My favourite part of the website is the typography for the logo

http://www.krijtenberg.nl/

Social networking
Many photographers have a page on Facebook, or a Flickr or Twitter account.

Flash
Flash-based websites can be beautiful and effective, freeing the web designer from the limitations of HTML and CSS. The downside is that they’re expensive to create, can take time to download and aren’t good for SEO. Often used by pro photographers who will send their url to interested parties and need a spectacular showcase for their images.

HUGE photos
Photography websites are naturally dominated by images. A recent trend is to display large photos for maximum impact.

Sophisticated design
Photographers are visual artists and need the design of their websites to reflect this. Good design often works in the background by making websites quick to load, easy to navigate and search engine friendly.

Content over design
No matter how good the design, content is king. It may look pretty, but if it doesn’t inform and entertain, your visitors won’t return. Some of the most popular photography websites are nothing more than a free Blogger blog.

Arts and Organisation website

Some of Saira Macleod's photography.

My second brief entails designing and coding a 5page website, validated against WC3 standards with at least 3 interactive flash pages, widgets and banners of various sizes. I will need to include-

• Diary/journal page in CSS/XHTML that will draw on a MYSQL database using php.
• Server side scripting and database
• CSS and XHTML will work as the frame work for interactivity
• I need to consider the data that my application needs to store, key operations that the application must perform
• The client must be able to update their journal
• Display their art form
• And finally the site should be a tool for gaining further fans, customers and visitors.

I have chosen Saira Macleod, a documentary (2ND year photographer at Nottingham Trent) to be the client for my website. She currently networks both in person and digitally but wants to take digital networking to the next level with a website that focuses purely on her photography with a minimalist edge to the overall design. She uses facebook, twitter and blogger to network and track her photographic journey. See http://sairamacleod.blogspot.com/

At the moment we are discussing design plans, aims for the site, accessiblity and interactity for her site so I will keep you all updated of it's progress.

Design Exercise 14: Social Network Integration

http://www.thatindiedude.com/
http://www.madfrogdesigns.com/

Two uses of Social Network integration (research twitter and rss scripts).

At the end of the day social networking, like most things in this world comes down to money and power. Many people have become 'addicted' to Facebook through the sense of power they get from spying on peoples lives but there is something else deeper to social network integration. The RSS subscriber chooses what they want to see, and what information they wish to receive. Knowing they have full control, and that they do not have to provide any personal information to subscribe, they will be more likely to opt-in therefore social networks can be used for advertising. Advertising can be used through pop-ups or in the form of rss. RSS can be a good for of information based advertising because people are subconsciously taking in the information as a form of news that businesses can select pieces of information to influence their audiences decision whether to buy a product etc.

Also as we all know twitter is a good form of networking with employers for many types of jobs but it is slowly being integrated into everyday use of all websites as widgets are being worked into the design to attract people. Bringing the widgets into the design builds up momentum as more and more people start to talk about your company, product or job etc...

Relevant Social Networks For My Photography Client

www.flickr.com
http://www.photography-network.net/
http://twitter.com/photo_network

Journal Task: Social Networks

What does it look like?

I have chosen the following three website as they are all passions of fine in some shape or form but i haven't been on any of their social networks before. As far as all 3 sites go they are all well organised and easy to use. This is helped by the intense colours that attract the users to different sections. The colours also provide a reflection of what the sites are like e.g. the skydiving one is firey and intense compared to the digital artists website which has more subdued colours due to its thought nature.

I have found that all 3 websites use photos and film in different forms to attract the users and let them know quickly what the site is about, for example the artist website and music festival site use slide shows of pictures and logos. i think this is a a good way of attracting people as the more eye catching the image the longer they will stay on your site.

Is it easy to use?

All three are easy to use as the links are clear and presented near the title so that you don't have to look very far.

How relevant is the content of the site?

http://www.welovefestivals.com is mostly relevant as it suggests festivals, ratings, peoples opinion of it etc. In all all you'd need to know about a festival but some of the pictures are a bit irrelevant as to me they are just random peoples photos of each other. if I was to change anything about the site I would add more about the DJ etc.

http://www.visualprogression.com- I found some of the content surprising. There was a lot on the home page about how to write dissertations and where to find fake ones however that was a small amount of the site. I enjoyed looking at peoples work.

http://skydivernetwork.ning.com. As for this website I found nothing on there very unexpected, it all connected well and led on to more extreme sports.

(http://skydivernetwork.ning.com/)
http://www.visualprogression.com/
http://www.welovefestivals.com/