Comments on: Help an artist with his style?

Question: Help an artist with his style?

InsanePenguin — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:42:25 -0800

PortfolioWebsiteFilter: I need some examples of aesthetically pleasing websites! Ok Hivemind, so despite being an artist (and therefore, apparently, creative) I want to build a website to document my art portfolio for colleges and future job opportunities and I just can't figure out what basic layout would work the best for ease-of use and generally looking nice. I have a solid knowledge of HTML (archaic, I know,) and am learning CSS quickly and without any issues.

So, sidebar, header bar, or no over-all structure, instead individual pages?

Anyone have any good examples of a good-looking website (particularly ones with a large amount of graphics and style) ?

Also, any resources on building a sturdy (for lack of a better word) and easily-maintainable sites?

Thanks in advance!

Oh, and if any sites are given that require slightly more than what I know, let me know if you can! I'm in no way opposed to learning more about design, development, or programming!

By: mikeyk

mikeyk — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:53:34 -0800

The CSSVault has a nice collection of sites that show off a variety of styles. You can also check out the CSS Zen Garden for a variety of styles applied to the same page.

You could have something similar - build up the portfolio pages (if there are a few different media you're working with, you might want to have subpages for each, with a navigation bar horizontally laid out at the top, or vertically along the side depending on what dimension you need to maximize.) Then, come up with a good-looking default CSS style for the page, and a few nice alternates, and somewhere unobtrusive, allow users to change them around.

As for tools, I like Dreamweaver for its ability to get out of the way when I'm working with the code, but in my experience the built-in renderer is iffy and you're best off previewing in external browsers.

By: LuckySeven~

LuckySeven~ — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 12:11:42 -0800

If you don't want to build it yourself, have a look at Big Black Bag. They have some sample websites here and a page comparing their services to their competitors here. The prices on the comparison page aren't very current, but you can follow the links and see what other creatives are doing on their sites. Good luck!

By: koeselitz

koeselitz — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:25:14 -0800

I've always really liked the design of David Watson's CADTutor. [That's why I've linked it before.] And not only is it a pretty site; it also has some resources on web building.

By: krautland

krautland — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:32:19 -0800

http://orlyolivier.com

By: algreer

algreer — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:35:12 -0800

This one is dead simple, no flashy code, lots of space:
http://www.insectlabstudio.com/index.php/

By: fletchmuy

fletchmuy — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:55:01 -0800

Snagt is a nice one.

By: Brittanie

Brittanie — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 14:04:14 -0800

Keri Smith's, also an artist

By: idledebonair

idledebonair — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:15:16 -0800

http://www.clintbalcom.com/

Although it is in a transitional phase right now, it is stellar design. Look for the "In the meantime, you can still view our previous portfolio(s) here" link.

By: bukvich

bukvich — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 16:17:47 -0800

I took Tufte's one day class this year and he said the gold standard for website with graphics is "google news".

By: Memo

Memo — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:10:15 -0800

Please... please, avoid flash based designs.

By: hortense

hortense — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:22:19 -0800

Here is a flash page that got good reviews a while back.

By: jbickers

jbickers — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:35:07 -0800

Definitely check out Noah Grey's site (he of Greymatter fame).

By: milarepa

milarepa — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:06:10 -0800

Here is a fickr gallery of over 300 websites. Some of them are the most beautiful I've ever seen.