Logo

Today I will be compiling my sketches and designs for my logo:

These were a few preliminary ideas i sketched out, then onto photoshop or illustrator to develop further graphically.

I have now realised that my logo is too big and too and too comlex. It will also not look right when it is scaled down, therefore I need to make it more compact and simple.

I have put together a simple sample logo to test which was made from 2 clipart images.

(logo of camera and lime)

This I would like to simplify even more to just use a slice of lime with a couple of initials : “p-f” which would be short for photographer-food.

On looking where the logo will go, I have found that there is no consistent area where my logo will fit in the proportions of the WordPress theme. This seems to be one of the limitations of theme “Striking”.

Therefore the website colour design will have to be consistent with my branding for the Business Cards, Letterheads and Compliment slips.

I have decided to not use a logo in my website.

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Customising Theme “Striking”

The theme once installed had a simple generic “Dashboard” which was familiar to most ‘WordPress” sites.

Colour, font, galleries and widgets were simple to set up and the the theme seemed to be fairly up-to-date with the newest social networking such as “Google+”

Choosing a WordPress Theme

Today I will be looking at choosing a theme.

As well as this I have to download the generic “WordPress” template to be able to use a theme.

I have downloaded WordPress to my hard drive and I will be following the instructions on the links my tutor had sent me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nse3Gdtvs4

Recommended Hosting  – Hostican
http://www.hostican.com/web-hosting/index.php
FTP Client he mentioned: Make sure you download and install the Mac version

You will need the website FTP user name and password to connect.
http://cyberduck.ch/
Once installed on your web hosting

Here is a video on changing themes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPuBLvP8c6g

The WordPress theme that I have chosen was “Stiking” as shown below.

I chose this theme for a number of reasons; firstly it was pleasing to look at and simple in structure, hover extremely customisable with being very user friendly.

The theme cost me $40.

The web theme: http://kaptinlin.com/themes/striking/

Deciding on which website builder to use?

I have decided to use WordPress as my web builder due to the vast number of themes/templates available. All I have to do now is choose a web address, hosting and a WordPress theme.

The structure of the website I hope to build will be on the format I designed in the Muse application below:

 

Looking at Website Builders

I have started to look at some web builders as recommended by John Grindley our course tutor.

Presently as I have not built a website from scratch before, I will be looking at a number of different components at the same time:

Will the web builder be user friendly, fit the criteria for what I need as a gallery based site rather than text heavy, will the website once finished be simple and straightforward to update. Cost will be a factor as I do not wish to invest in a monthly subscription. I also wish to be able to customise my site that it will integrate easily with social media such as a business Facebook page, twitter micro blogging, flickr and the newer Google + business web pages.

I have considered the following web builders so far:

http://www.wix.com
http://www.clikpic.com
http://muse.adobe.com
http://www.moonfruit.com
http://www.photoshelter.com
http://wordpress.org
http://www.squarespace.com

The first web builder I tested was “Clikpic”, it is sensible in cost, fairly user friendly however it only has about 15 or so templates which are fairly restrictive. If all else fails, this is a good one to fall back on, however I will try other web builders in comparison.

The next web builder I tried was “Squarespace” and like “Clikpic” this also gave me many restrictions to window sizes, colours, however had more templates and good social media integration.

I also tried Adobe’s new beta version of “Muse” however, being new I found that there were not enough video tutorials and the on-line reviews were not favourable.

Muse did have a very good website planning software which I used to map my  pages as I would have done in Photoshop. Another downside to Muse was that there would be a monthly subscription to maintain the site for the whole term of use, which could prove expensive in the long run.

Her is my sample website from Muse which helped me plan my structure:

I also looked at iWeb which was extremely simple to use and fairly integrated with my mac software but it seemed unreliable and reviews say that it will be finishing together with the “MobileMe” accounts next year;

The very first web builder I considered was “WordPress” and I had to do a full circle and investigate a number of other web builders to decide that “WordPress” was the most suitable for my food photography website.

Other food websites

I have browsed the internet looking at some other websites under the title of food photography and have come up with a varied number of styles. I have screen grabbed the front pages of a number of sites and I am really looking at the initial visual production which I hope will give me some ideas on what colours and layouts I like. This is important as the first page, as “first impressions” will cause a viewer retention and entice a putter click to enter the site.

The designs of the ones I like are simple, not too much text, colour are kind on the eyes and not to detract from the food, simple to navigate and are generally visually pleasing which makes me want to stay on the site much longer and look further.

FdA Photographic Practice Level 5

This blog is my research, composition, development and documentation for the Digital Portfolio Unit for Level 5 of my FdA Photographic Practice Unit. It will include annotated visual reseach on the form of links, screen grabs and my opinions as why certain aspects may or may not work in the development of my website.

This will be a workbook-type format and a collection of information which I have found in magazines, journals, internet sites or other websites.

The website I have produced is a professional food photography website which will be my digital portfolio where clients will be able to see a sample of my food photography, some information about me and a contact page.

Generally, what I need to do is:

• Choose and Register a Domain Name
• Choose a web builder
• Choose a web hosting provider
• Setup Hosting Space and Email Addresses
• Design the framework of my website, pages, sub pages, galleries, etc…
• Install and Configure a number of web pages from the chosen web builder
• Add  Content and images
• Set up social networks, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Flickr
• Connect links to the above social networks
• Set up blog associated with the food photography website