1. SETTING THE GROUND RULES

The main idea that she wanted for her website was for it to reflect her artwork and her designs. She wanted a page that was clean and simple. In addition to this, she wanted her site to give customers the ability to browse through her work, but not buy it. As it would take more of a gallery format, she preferred for the website to be mainly composed of pictures with little text.

2. WIREFRAMING

To begin, I mapped out a brief layout of the website pages, including the main aspects such as a Home Page with several different categories, an About Page, Contact Page, and a separate page to post about the art shows she was attending. I designed it so that the pages were clean with a white background and limited text. Before moving on, I confirmed with my client to see if there were any changes she wanted to make, and to clarify some questions I had about the layout.

3. SELECTING THEMES

Next, I compiled a list of different themes I found on SquareSpace to present to the client. They were all themes with big spaces for images and specific for photographic portfolios and websites. We skimmed through them all and she narrowed down the search. We also needed to use a responsive template because most of the clients researching the website would be looking at it through their phones.

4. CREATING THE PROTOTYPE

I filled in all of the information including pictures of her artwork that she sent to me categorized by collections, details on her upcoming art shows, her contact information, and a brief description of her business and working methods.

5. CUSTOMER VALIDATION

After finishing the first draft, I showed it to the client and she provided me with feedback on changes she wanted to make, and what she liked. I learned how to work closely with a client by verifying each step of the process and making changes based on feedback I received.

6. FINAL PRODUCT

After fixing the spots she suggested (editing the contact information/aligning the pictures/adding galleries in which her work is displayed), I confirmed the final product with her once again. In this project, I was in charge of designing the layout and prototype, as well as conducting research and testing.

In future projects like this one, I will try to work more independently from the client. At times, I was unsure of my ideas and I asked for confirmation too often instead of designing the website and then showing it to the customer, which may seem unprofessional. Despite this, I believe that clear communication with the client was very important.