Portfolio Development - Making My Website

I decided to create my website through Wix. Before making it I did research by looking at other peoples websites and looking at what works well, doesn't work well, how easy they were to navigate around and if I liked/disliked the overall site. Once I had done that I had a clear vision of what I wanted mine to look like. I started by setting up a new account with the site and then set about finding and selecting a template. The website is great as you can select what your website is for and it will give you templates set on what others in that field have made. It took me about half an hour to look through and find one I liked. I then started to edit it and change everything in the layout. This is my welcoming page, it is what you will see when you first load the website...

I have gone for what I think is a simple yet effective design. I want to make people curious and want to enter deeper into the website to view more of my work, which is why I have chosen this image to go on the front page. I have chosen 3 simple options at the top of the page (home, portfolio, about). 

When you click on portfolio you are taken to a page with 3 options on so far. I have chosen a strong image from each of the subfolders to draw people in further to view more of my work. You have to run the mouse over the image to see where the images have been taken. This is the portfolio page...

I have gone for another simple yet effect design. I am not a big fan of loud patterned backgrounds, I think they are annoying and they draw your eye away from the main features of the page which should be the persons work. 

As I create more work I will be adding more folders and more images to this page. It will be something I will be updating every time I do any photographing. 

These next images show inside each of the 3 subfolders. It took a few attempts to choose the correct layout to show my images. I found this bit long because it has to be right. Its no good having a slideshow layout with a strip across the bottom of the image for you to write about the image if you don't have anything to write or don't want to. I tried several different ones until I settled on this one...

I like this one as you can see thumbnails to the left which it makes it easier for people to go back to an image if they like it or want to see it again. Also when you click on the image it goes into a slideshow of images on a black background so the viewer is only focusing on one image at a time and not glancing at the others on the left.

The final page I have is about. I have written a small amount of information about myself and included an image.

To the bottom of the page I have contact details show. There is an online webpage contact box where people can fill it in and send it to me that way for me to reply or they can contact me through my direct email address or phone number. I haven't used my normal phone number as I would prefer to keep that personal and have a separate work phone. I picked up a basic pay as you go sim card and a secondhand samsung which cost me a grand total of £30.

At the bottom of every page there are a 3 links. One is to my Twitter account, one to my Instagram and the other will be linked to my Vimeo once I set one up. I don't have Facebook otherwise I would add that as well. The only other important one which I haven't included is Linkedin. I won't be setting an account up in that until I have finished my course and I have returned to work as I don't want to get into trouble with the local authorities if they saw it.

Overall I am very pleased with my website so far and think it is more than adequate for me and my needs as well as being simple enough for people to use.


My very first professional website - hannahpidduck.wix.com/portfolio