Portfolio of Daniel Bulli

Great interface design for this photography site submitted by Daniel Bulli, who designed and built the site himself. He set up his website with scalability in mind, so that it’s really easy to add new photographs on an ongoing basis. Which is good since his mission is to post a photograph each day.

http://photos.nuff-respec.com/

The Website of Photographer, James Quantz Jr.

Building a story, that’s what James Quantz Jr. does.
Taking what starts as a concept, James skillfully crafts what he captures in the camera into a one-of-a-kind visual production that grabs hold of the imagination in a truly remarkable way.

James’ terrific new online portfolio and iPhone website was created by the talented Michael McDonald, founder and creative director of Organic Grid. Michael was recently kind enough to answer a few questions for No Plastic Sleeves about online portfolio design and development. You can read that interview here.

http://www.quantzphoto.com/

Turning a passion for your own work into a promotional event

This wonderful project was sent to us by Callie Lipkin of Callie Lipkin Photography. She’s doing all the right things to market herself, and it sounds like she’s having a good time doing it. It helps that she’s engaged in her local artist community and creating her own personal work. From there she helps organize what sounds like a spectacular event of burlesque dancing, live music, food and cocktails. And to top it off, she has created a number of fabulous films to promote the event and her studio.

In Callie’s own words – “I thought you might be interested in a non-traditional promotion we do at my studio. Its an annual event that is themed around a personal body of work I have been creating for the past few years. Every year I create new work based on my local burlesque troupe who I love dearly, and then in the spring they perform at my event which I market towards clients and potential clients using this personal work. This year, I shot 2 original short films using my HDSLR and sent out eblasts to my RSVP page which featured the different videos. One of them is currently featured on my site minus the invitation theme, the others are awaiting music licensing. Every year this brings in a huge boost to my business, this year is no different. It has helped me get to know clients who would otherwise be off limits to me by showing off my personal work and passion for production (the event itself is a large production) and a good time, and not making it all about viewing my portfolio during an office meeting alone.”

Scratch & Sniff Promotion Campaign & Video

Melissa Hennessy of Hennessy Represents recently shared their unique direct mail campaign & a very funny short spot they created to help promote the campaign. Definitely memorable.

Melissa had this to say about the project –
“In the 6 years I’ve been an agent we’ve sent out everything from postcards to water bottles, to expensive multi-page books, etc., hoping to make the “keep” pile of creatives. What seemed to be a hit were our scratch n sniff postcards- a single image card, with no plastic sleeve, & a one inch circle that invited you to “scratch here.” So with our second print run, we thought why not put out a teaser video? It could announce the mailing date so creatives could be on the lookout, and we’ll play off of the interactive nature of the sniff/scent circle & the types of things creative receive in the mail. We’re really poking fun at ourselves, but saying we understand how much stuff is sent out. The feedback so far has been very positive & we’re glad that it’s being viewed as something purely meant in jest, with no suggestion that plants of any nature inspire creativity ”

Where Are They Now: Anthony Georgis

About a year ago my co-author, Larry Volk, contacted Anthony Georgis about including his compelling promotional book, “Blood Makes the Grass Grow” (a photo essay about the high school girl’s rugby league in Portland) in our book. The project’s website can be found here: http://www.bloodmakesthegrassgrow.com/.

A few weeks ago Anthony emailed to let me know about a cool new project he recently completed – Levi’s “Go Forth” campaign. He also created a stand alone website for the project which won him a feature in this month’s PDN Photo Annual.

I asked Anthony if he would share a bit about the Levi’s project and what he’s been up to since “Blood Makes the Grass Grow.” This is what he had to say:

The past year has been really amazing. I had been getting quite a bit of interest in my work based on my photo essay “Blood Makes the Grass Grow” about the high school girl’s rugby league in Portland. It was really rewarding to get noticed for something that I’d shot as a personal project and it was nice to have that translate into some assignments. One of the clients I started working with on a regular basis is Nike. I’ve been shooting with them quite a bit and that’s pretty much a direct result of the rugby project.

I’ve been working on a couple personal projects that have to stay under wraps for now, but that I’m really excited about. If I’ve learned anything in the past year, it’s that you just have to keep working on the things you’re truly passionate about, and everything else will fall into place.

Check out the Levi’s Go Forth campaign at: http://www.anthonygeorgis.com/

Photographs from the Campaign
All images copyright Anthony Georgis ©2010

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The Web & Print Portfolio of Winni Wintermeyer

Winni Wintermeyer, Photographer

Photographer Winni Wintermeyer recently submitted his portfolio to No Plastic Sleeves. In addition, I thought so highly of his website that I’m featuring it as a “Site of the Week”. Check it out at http://www.3am.net.

About the print portfolio, Winni commented, “It’s a Pina Zangaro Machina portfolio. My previous portfolio was square and completely homemade out of plywood…. [With the new one ] I wanted a warmer feel to it and finished the outside with a bamboo plywood. A couple photo editors have told me that they’re not too crazy about all metal portfolios since they tend to scratch furniture if not handled extra careful. Turns out that my customization wasn’t such an original idea because Pina Zangaro now has bamboo portfolios as well … but not in square, so I still have one that’s unique.”

Regarding his website Winni says, “I designed it so that on the front page you can get a quick overview of the work with big thumbnails. We all know that photo editors don’t have much time and everything loads pretty quickly just with HTML. The design of the individual galleries is very stripped down and I created a fluid layout that scales to different sizes and still looks good on a 30″ monitor. There’s also an option to go full screen and navigate with the arrow keys. Image captions are hidden and only become available when the user rolls into the upper portion of the image. Even though it’s done in flash it “deep links” to each individual image. That way the viewer can bookmark and forward links of their favorites – a request I heard from a few art buyers.”

Tony Garcia’s Promotional Video & Mailers

Really fun promotional idea from LA based photographer, Tony Garcia. Now that’s a mailer you’ll remember.
http://www.tonygarcia.com/

Tony Garcia Photography Promotional video from Tony Garcia on Vimeo.

This is a video displaying Tony Garcia’s Promotional mailers.

Interview with Organic Grid’s Michael McDonald

I’m excited to share with you a recent interview I conducted with Organic Grid founder and creative director, Michael McDonald. His work includes numerous award-winning portfolio websites and has been featured in numerous international design reference books and magazines including: logo lounge, communication arts, layout workbook, interface, netdiver, www design, in your face too, simple websites, best websites from around the world, adobe flash film festival, graphic design usa, art directors club, media inspiration awards, print magazine, .net magazine, web designing magazine japan, web marketing association, flash essentials, web designer uk, practical web design magazine, sxsw web awards, and the fwa: favourite website awards.

Q&A
Organic Grid has designed and developed a number of really successful portfolio sites for photographers and other creatives. What do you think the key qualities are that distinguish a successful portfolio site?

The key qualities that distinguishes a successful portfolio site are the following: a minimalist interface and page layout, and large full-screen imagery that has good composition and is well compressed so that it downloads relatively quickly. The interface and overall design of the website should play a secondary and supporting role to the actual content and imagery of the website design. The content should be the most important element and design on the site. The website should be easy to update, edit or change with a (CMS) Content Management System so that the website appears to be fresh with new content, “Content is King”…

Are there any current trends in web design that you would recommend someone take a look at or perhaps stay away from?

There’s no real innovative or mind boggling web trends for 2010, but perhaps having an iPhone/Android/Blackberry version of their website available on mobile devices will be a key in reaching new audiences. The trend for large full-screen imagery, cinematic style websites and minimalism will continue to blossom in 2010 as consumers become more educated and get tired of viewing poorly design websites that look like everyone else’s websites. I have observed and becoming increasingly concerned that too many websites are being designed with boilerplate website templates. “They are cheap, dilute your brand and look amateurish”…

For a photographer or designer who’s in a situation where they have to design and develop their own site, what advice would you give them? Are there inexpensive resources you would recommend that could help?

Building a simple and free blog from one of the numerous resources available today i.e. WordPress. Publishing your work/portfolio on the various social media websites i.e. (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc…) are effective ways of getting your ideas, work, name and brand established. Purchasing a template from Livebooks.com is also quick and inexpensive alternative to getting your portfolio published quickly, the only downside to using something like LiveBooks is that there are hundreds if not thousands of photographers that will be sharing the same identical template “look and feel” as you. Simplifying your website and portfolio will always serve you best in establishing and differentiating yourself from other artists. Creative directors, art directors, and media buyers alike do not have time to look through hundreds of photographs and or figure out how to use your website, “Less is More”…

I noticed that most if not all of your portfolio site designs are created in Adobe Flash. What do you think the benefits are to creating a portfolio site in Flash (versus a CSS/HTML type site)? Are there any drawbacks to using Flash?

The benefits of creating a portfolio based website using Adobe Flash simply outweighs building a website in CSS/HTML, in my personal opinion. Adobe Flash allows me the opportunity of creating an immersive, seamless, full-screen, and cinematic experience that creates a visual impact and helps show off the artists’ work and talent. The drawbacks of using Adobe Flash to build a portfolio based website is that currently there is currently no Adobe Flash plug-in support for the iPhone, and that the time & cost to building a custom Flash website is more expensive than building a traditional website in CSS/HTML.

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

I personally enjoy working and collaborating with other talented and like minded creatives who value good design, and are willing to take calculated risks. I really enjoy creating simple, effective, elegant and meaningful interactive experiences that help my clients sell their work, build their brand, and expose their talents to wider audiences on a international scale.

Kenneth Hamlett Promotional Video

Architectural photographer, Kenneth Hamlett recently worked with TurnHere to create the following promotional video. The storyline leads to a shot setup and then shows the final image – demonstrating the power of “seeing” an image, capturing, and transforming it. Kenneth Hamlett’s website: http://www.kennethhamlett.com/. Also, check out his blog, “I shoot things” at http://kennethhamlett.com/wordpress/.

Pixels & Pulp Promotional Video

Pixels & Pulp is a design firm specializing in branding, print collateral and web design. They work with individuals and organizations–locally and globally–who are environmentally and socially responsible and those who are just plain passionate about what they do. Check out their latest promotional video – a cheeky 50′s style “commercial”. Also fun that both design principals, Elise Weeks and Megan Keogh, are in the video.
http://www.pixelsandpulp.com/

Site of the Week: Jean Malek

Jean Malek, Montreal Photographer
http://www.jeanmalek.com/
Credits: http://www.akufen.ca/

I really enjoy the large close-up images and zoom in/out features when viewing the work. Interface is mostly intuitive, although once we get into the projects I would prefer to see thumbnails (hidden until rollover) indicating how many photographs there are in a project sequence and what the next project looks like. The primary navigation of interlocking triangles is interesting and adds a uniqueness to the site. This triangle motif carries through to the transition between images, which is interesting to look at. I did find the load time between images a little long. The video section, with full screen video makes for a nice addition to the content.

Site of the Week: Student Portfolio

Shaun Utter
http://www.shaunutter.com/

Very impressive portfolio website from Rochester Institute of Technology BFA student Shaun Utter. His major is New Media Design and Imaging and he plans to graduate this May.

Site of the Week: Peter Schafrick Photography

Peter Schafrick
http://www.peterschafrick.com/

Peter Schafrick is a commercial photographer with studios in New York, Toronto and Chicago. He specializes in shooting products with an emphasis on liquids. He has won several international awards. His website was designed by Organic Grid. It’s an excellent example of a portfolio site design. The interface is intuitive, seamless and unobtrusive. The images are large and clearly the focus of the site design. There’s also some nice integration of “behind the scenes” video. The site was recently featured on the DesignCharts Weekly Top 40.

*Click images for larger view

How Do You Say ‘Thank You’?

Grow Interactive in Norfolk, VA says ‘Thank You’ with a really cool T-shirt. Here’s their fun and interactive ‘Thank You Begins with a T’ website. Great site and great t-shirts (Grow was nice enough to send me one).

‘Thank You begins with T.’ was created as a token of appreciation for the friends, family, clients, and colleagues of Grow. Each of the “thanked” received a unique URL that opened a personalized version of the website, thanking that person and inviting him to select a free “T” of his choosing. – http://www.thisisgrow.com/#/work/selectedwork/thankyou

Here’s a promotional video from their campaign.

All Hail Josh! from Grow Interactive on Vimeo.

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Site of the Week: Photographer Corey Arnold

Corey Arnold, Photographer, Portland, Oregon
http://www.coreyfishes.com/

This is just a beautifully designed site. It’s got a distinct visual look, without being overdone. The interface is clean, efficient and even looks good. And it really adheres to the primary objective of a portfolio site – to show the breadth and depth of a person’s work easily and cleanly. The designer is JD Hooge of Gridplane.

For the primary navigation, this site takes advantage of a design principle called layering and separation. If used strategically it can help one integrate and organize multiple levels of visual and functional information into the same space without clutter or confusion. In this example, upon rollover, the main menu smoothly transitions down to reveal navigational elements. It’s “layered” on top of the content underneath. By simply rolling off of the menu or clicking a link, this area then hides again – allowing the space to be fully utilized to present content. This technique really allows one to maximize the compositional space available “above the fold” - which (considering screen resolution and browser size) is limited when dealing with the web.

Through the use of interactivity, this site offers two different ways to view Corey’s photographs. Upon clicking on a collection title in the main menu, one is first presented with a group of thumbnails – providing the user with a quick overview of the entire collection within that category. Upon clicking an image, the user is then presented with a larger view of that one individual photograph. The photograph is presented very cleanly within the space as text and additional navigation is “hidden” until rolled over. At this point, the user can choose to go back to the collection of images or stay where they are and linearly move forwards or backwards through a sequence of larger individual images.

About Corey Arnold (taken from his website):
“Corey Arnold is a photographer and Alaskan commercial fisherman. During the winter, he can be found aboard the F/V Rollo in the Bering Sea and more recently catching salmon in Bristol Bay. The off season is filled with travel, gallery exhibitions, magazine and ad photography assignments with a bit of backyard gardening, cat maintenance, and skateboarding in Portland, Oregon.

He is currently working on a life long project entitled “Fish-Work” which chronicles the commercial fishing lifestyle throughout the world. Since 2003, he’s been documenting the crab fishery in the Bering Sea. Most recently he was nominated for the Aperture West Book Prize, the Santa Fe Prize for Photography, and named one of PDN’s 30 for 2009. The work has been featured in The Paris Review, Juxtapoz, Esquire, Italian Rolling Stone and Artweek. in 2005, he received an American Scandinavian Foundation grant to photograph the fishermen and whalers of Northern Norway.”

Promotional Video: Martin Adolfsson

Check out this fun and well put together promotional video recently submitted to No Plastic Sleeves by Martin Adolfsson, a Swedish photographer based in NYC. Martin wrote, “[This is] my new video promo that I created together with the very talented video editor Johan Syriänen. The video consists of more then 300 images dating back to my childhood Sweden and up until present. The video is now finally done after a few month of hard work.”

http://martinadolfsson.com/index.php?/info/promo/

Site of the Week: Fernando Guerra, Architectural Photographer

Fernando Guerra, Lisbon, Portugal
http://ultimasreportagens.com

About the site
This site was recently submitted to No Plastic Sleeves by Fernando Guerra.

Fernando says, “My site was ready just last month after a year of (in-house) work. The thing here was how to show almost 400 projects on an interface that is nice and sleek but above all: it works. We are the number one place to see what´s new regarding architecture and we have to be very easy to consult and search on.”

In Print by FG+SG, founded by Fernando Guerra and Sérgio Guerra
Book 04 – Santa Marta Lighthouse Museum, Cascais | Aires Mateus

“Fernando Guerra and Sérgio Guerra founded studio FG+SG – Fotografia de Arquitectura in 1999. They have been responsible in large part for disseminating contemporary Portuguese architecture over the last 10 years. Fernando Guerra photographs the architecture, while Sérgio Guerra is responsible for producing the articles and managing the atelier. After 5 years of activity, they decided to establish ‘FG+SG – Livros de Imagem’ publishers to promulgate the various architectural works they photograph.” – http://ultimasreportagens.com/bio.php

Site of the Week: James Meakin, Photographer

James Meakin, London, UK
http://www.james-meakin.com/

Great use of thumbnails and full-screen images. Navigation works well. Nice extra touch with the fade transition between photographs.

PIXELINGLIFE, Creation & Production Digital Agency

PIXELINGLIFE Website, Valencia, Spain
www.pixelinglife.com

Really interesting visualization on homepage.

Andreas Smetana, Photography Website

Andreas Smetana, Photographer, Sydney, Australia
http://www.smetana.net/