Artists and Gallery Website Design and Redesign
P A S T O R E
P R O F E S S O N A L S U M M A R Y
P A S T O R E
P R O F E S S O N A L S U M M A R Y
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W E B S I T E D E S I G N
Co-Concept Designer
Rehoboth Art League 2018
rehobothartleague.org
Like many websites designed in the early 2000s, the league's previous site was filled with heady, feel-good words, numerous menu options, and even more dropdown choices. Unfortunately, it left viewers feeling confused and struggling to find information. It also lacked images of artwork, exhibitions, events, the campus, and historic buildings. In short, it didn't give viewers a glimpse of what made the art league special.
Our goals:
1. Design the site map based on why visitors visited the website
2. Simple graphic hierarchy
3. Use imagery to enhance information
[ Detail, Home page of RAL website,
April 16, 2020 ]
Artist Website
Many artist and gallery websites contain lists of artists' projects or names of represented artists that visitors must first click to see imagery. This was the case with Barbara's previous website.
There are two reasons why I think it is important to establish a visual table of contents, providing a gestalt of an artist's body of work or a gallery's list of artists. The first is a design philosophy that promotes a visual entity should be visual. The second is based on studies that show a site must capture a viewer's attention within fifteen seconds or they will move on. It is a false assumption that visitors will take the time to open all of the links once they open a site, particularly if they are all text links.
Artist Website
martanammack.com
This website is an example of how using a simple template and adding a few small details can produce a professional-looking site. I embellished this site after the artist designed it.
David is a LA photographer whose work is urban and very colorful. This site is designed with full-screen imagery, basic gallery templates, and design elements that incorporate the artist's work. (The artist has since modified this site.)
Gallery Website
gallery50art.com
Not only was this website's design contemporized, but as part of redesigning the previous site, the list of artist names was replaced with a visual table of each artist's name and a representative image of their work.
Taking a dose of my medicine, I created a visual table of contents. I also started playing with headers and footers whose boundaries are not clear, which I find interesting.
