Long Nguyen

Alexis Smith’s New Website

I finally updated the web design category in my portfolio, with another completed project.

A while ago, I approached (in a matter of speaking) Alexis Smith and offered her to create a photo portfolio.

To get things started, she sent me another photographer’s portfolio that she likes. As I am not very fond of misuse of Flash, the Flash splash screen didn’t give a very good first impression. So, I went in a completely different direction for the initial design, but that’s a good thing, because when I start listening to people and do only what they say, it only means that I am annoyed and just want to get things over with.

The first design I made is a solid unflexible table-layout. The response I got was “It’s ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!”. You would think I was happy with that, but in that design, the only thing I really like is the first page. Overall, the design was clean and clear, easy to understand and navigate. Nonetheless…

The final design, created with the use of XHTML/CSS, makes it more obvious that it is a website about photos without the use of the word photography. Anybody close to me know how I don’t care much for words. I like things that are symbolic, things that speak for themselves. Clearly, in this design there are two separate menus: one is about the person and the other is about photography. At the bottom, I put the photobar. I added the soft green in the menus and around photos after asking Alexis her favorite colors. That’s just a personal touch.

The response I got for the last design was “YOU ARE AMAZING I LOVE IT! It must have taken forever!”. Well, obviously it didn’t take forever or I would still be on it, but it’s fun how things become easy and quick when you know exactly what to do.

I had a client who became a friend. Actually, a virtual friend, because we never met, but things went smoothly from the beginning to the end “through emails back and forth and phone calls”, as Alexis puts it.

So now, click on the official launch image, explore her portfolio, leave her a feedback of her work, come back here and leave me a feedback of my work. Negative comments might actually make me improve. If you ever need a photographer or a web designer, you know where to find us.