Personal Promotions

http://www.kerrywilliampurcell.com


The first example I chose was Kerry William Purcell's website. He is a writer, design critic, and historian based in England. I met Kerry while studying abroad in London this summer and had the opportunity to visit design studios with him and the rest of the graphic design students.

I like how he uses an actual diagram of a brain on the first page of the website because the image makes the viewer immediately think intellect and knowledge and then associate those attributes with Kerry. I found his website to be quite extensive, but extremely organized. Kerry uses a very schematic layout with five black and white line drawings to represent the main navigation and also uses lines that act as a grid structure throughout the website.

Some areas are a little text heavy, especially the home page. However, I think it is appropriate because he is a writer and he's showing a few excerpts from his work with links to other pages on his site or other websites where the articles, books, and reviews are published. Kerry shares both his work and a bit of his personal life with viewers. He includes a page called Swim Challenge, with a blog where he discusses his goal of swimming across the English Channel and documents his training. The blog gives the reader a real sense of Kerry's personality and humor.



http://www.sararemington.net/index.html

The second example I found is the website for the photographer Sara Remington. Her website is very simple and elegant, and focuses on her work. The first image is a great example of her skill at photographing food in a very natural way. The variety of textures, the color combinations and the interesting use of depth of field in the first photograph are done in such a beautiful way that it makes the viewer want to see more of her work.

The layout of the website is very simple. There is a rectangular box in the middle of the page in which all of the content is viewed. Above the rectangle is her name and below is the main navigation. She does not allow the viewer to look at the photographs all at once as small thumbnails, which might bother some people. Instead, you have to click through each one to view them all. By choosing this method, she forces people to slow down and truly appreciate each photograph in her series. There is a nice transition between the photographs as one fades out and then the next fades in. Her photographs are all displayed side by side. Most of these combinations show prepared food next to the bare ingredients, like apples next to an apple pie.

Sara's About page offers the viewer a little insight into her background, her inspiration as a photographer, a current project she is working on, and some of her interests.

I really like this website because I think it reflects the photographer and her work. She is interested in showing the purity and beauty of nature, which we normally overlook in our hectic lives. Her website makes us pause and appreciate transient moments.