First Research

Once I had learned what the brief entailed, I immediately went to the library for research and what I quickly learned was that there was very little dedicated literature on either websites for artists or showreel making. Evidently this was because it was a small niche of website design and that there had been very few books written on websites for artists or showreels.

So what I decided to do was read what I could on website design in general and adapt the teaching to my particular design.

One of the first principles of website design that I learned was that 'simple is better'. That's not to say that the design should just be black and white and dull but as Syed (2004) explains "A good website is one that does not bog itself down with fancy animations and graphics but is clear and simple to navigate with out being dull" (p35).

This was a fine line to draw as I wanted my website to look good but I didn't want the website visitor to be put off by overly fancy graphics.

Another important principle that was stated in many website design books was that "The purpose of the website must be evident at all times" Pochran (2005:64). This principle was one I considered very carefully, I had to be aware that my website's purpose was to 'sell' me as a illustrator/concept designer. So it had to display my artwork as best it could and make them the focus. So my wesite had to be simple enough in design, without looking like a template and had to keep the focus centred on my art.

My nest step would be to look at existing websites for artists and see what made them work.