On Showing Your Work
Wednesday 9th April 2014
I very rarely show work in progress, especially work I’m not happy with. This is because it’s hard. In fact I find it excruciating. It’s something I need to get better at, so in the spirit of showing your work I’m listing below designs I’ve been working on as part of a personal project. These designs need refining but they represent where I’m currently at with the project, warts and all.
I’ve set up a page where you can view these designs at their actual size. Hopefully someone might find some value in them.
Before I get back to working on them I want to explain why I’m not happy. Overall the design feels very weak. A minimal design which served the content was one of my goals but I’m really not comfortable with the resulting aesthetic. It’s too bland. I want the design to be subtle, something you’d notice on a second look — once you’ve taken in the photography of course. I’m also not very happy with the logo. I’ve detailed my process and I thought I had something but it’s just not there yet. A camera as an extension of the eye was the concept but I’m not sure I’ve communicated that clearly.
To hold my self accountable I’m listing out my next steps. It’ll also be nice to refer back to this list and see if I actually shipped.
- Refine the logo so as it better communicates a camera as being an extension of the human eye. If you are interested you can read all about where this concept came from.
- Organise the homepage by series name. Indicate what the hover state will look like.
- Use current homepage layout as the photo series landing page
- Experiment with adding an accent colour to lift the design and add interest.
- Forget about the timeline design. This is going no where.
- Add about information as a slide out panel.
Now onwards.