Blog 9
Reflection on my website design:
For the third part of the Vocational Practice assignment, we have had to make a website, of which these blogs are on. This was exciting for me as it meant that the assignment itself will lead on to something more permanent and useful for me in the future, because I've been wanting to make a new website for a while. I had a photography website a few years ago before university, but I stopped using it and updating it before taking it offline. Partly because I changed mediums and became more interdisciplinary, more multimedia and I didn't just want a photography website. Also, I just didn't get on with the design and felt that social media was a better platform for me to put my work on at the time. Now I've had more experience, I've realised that I do want to have a website to reach people that I might not reach on Instagram and to have that professional visibility that could be useful for any career in the arts.
I used Wix last time which I didn't really like, and I saw a few artist websites that I liked the look of which used Squarespace, so I decided to go with them to build this new website. I wanted a clean, uncluttered and minimal look to the website that showcases my work and my experience well and I chose my recent grad show work as the main visual and colour scheme for the website which gave it a consistent style. For the most part I enjoyed designing and making the website as I like setting things up, working out what looks best. However, what I struggle with is thinking about the more technical web designer side of the SEO, formatting, coding and working out how to make the website stand out. That is something I want to do for this website in the future, to best make the most of it.
For this version, I focused on the practicality and the aesthetics, making it a great place to view my portfolio and work experience. I would like to then get into the practice of updating the website regularly, definitely with images of work, but possibly with a blog as well. I really enjoy writing, but it's one of those things that you must have the motivation to do and then to get a following for to make it seem worthwhile, which then motivates me more. It's getting into that cycle of interest, that’s what I need for it to be successful for me.