Recently I was speaking with a friend who is a former art director-turned-photographer and the topic of websites came up. Her own website had just been completed and she was working on the few remaining details. One comment she made that struck me was that, in her experience, many novice photographers make the mistake of not art directing their website. This just refers to designing your website so it best communicates what you want to communicate to your audience. As a photographer, you have so little time to make a positive impression that if you're website is difficult to navigate or confusing, potential clients are likely to get frustrated and move on.
Her advice is to "organize your thoughts with the same care you use when you organize your physical portfolio, but remember the viewer has about a tenth of the time/patience to look when online. Know your audience. Know who you want to look at your site or get jobs from. How do they like to view work? Generally, edit your content and organize with simple titles and brief descriptions (if at all). Make sure your contact information is easy to read."
This post has some great points about
how not to display your artwork on the web.
