Online Portfolios for Photographers
Amy Gelfand, Web designer
Gelfand Design
Overview
- Why Do I Need an Online Portfolio?
- Design Trends in Photography Web Sites
- To Flash or Not to Flash...
- Professional Designer or DIY?
- What to Look for When Hiring a Designer
- DIY Solutions
- Overall Recommendations
- Questions?
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Why Do I Need an Online Portfolio?
- Sign of professionalism
- Be visible to the whole world 24/7.
- Connect with your audience and establish a reputation as a trusted advisor.
- Everybody else is doing it (so you should too).
- Online sales opportunities
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Design Trends in Photography Web Sites
- Style: Really Flash-y and edgy
- Style: Minimalist
- One-page portfolios
- Photoblogs
- Flickr Photostreams
- Combination of traditional business site, blog, social networking venues
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Design Trends: Keep It Simple
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Design Trends: Less than Ideal
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To Flash or Not to Flash?
- Not everyone will have correct Flash plug-in or be able to download it (lack of knowledge, office IT rules).
- Is it worth maintaining alternate content or excluding some visitors?
- Is Flash really necessary to achieve your goals?
- DEMO: AJAX examples
- Let your designer recommend best technology for achieving your business goals.
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Professional Designer or DIY?
It depends on your priorities and goals. Ask yourself:
- Do I need this site for my business?
- How much time and money am I willing to invest to establish an online presence?
- Am I willing and able to make a site that is better than what a professional would provide?
- Do I need online marketing advice?
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What to Look for when Hiring a Designer
- Hand-codes XHTML with CSS layout (or is proficient in ActionScript, if you want an all-Flash site)
- Is concerned about accessibility/device independence
- Adores Web standards
- Does not offer bargain basement prices
- Asks you about your business goals/audience/content before proposing a design
- Ask around; check out referrals.
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DIY Solutions
- Portfolio services such as Carbonmade (free and pro plans)—portfolio home, detail page, metadata, about page)
- Free hosted blog (such as Wordpress.com or Blogger.com)
- Host your own blog with no theme customization
- Generate gallery with Photoshop/Lightroom
- Flickr
- Photobucket, another high-traffic social site for artists and photographers
- Pros: Free or cheap, low/no maintenance, no technical skills necessary
- Cons: Less control, less customization, sloppy code, you don't own your domain
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Don't Forget...
- Know your audience and give them what they want.
- It's OK to start small and build up your site later on.
- You get what you pay for.
- Don't force visitors to work hard to find what they want on your site.
- Generate good karma.
- Learn as much as you can about online marketing and managing your own site.
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Questions?
Slideshow available at http://www.gelfanddesign.com/feb8presentation.
Additional resources available at http://blog.gelfanddesign.com.
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