Web Design & Fine Art Portfolios
Sunday, January 30th, 2011
As a disclaimer, this is entirely my own opinion based on six years working with web designers, being a professional web designer / developer, and having the experience of developing a number of fine art web portfolios for local artists and art groups.
Also, my partner of a decade is a fine art printmaker with an Master of Fine Art (MFA)… we sell, ship and talk art… and I enjoy and have exhibited fine art photography. In this context my exposure to art and design portfolios has been extremely large. My first question when I go to – or get sent to – a design portfolio is “Who the fuck are they”? Seriously, they’ve got some pretty pictures on a planet of 6 billion people… about 100 million are probably artists or designers… about 90+ million are artists or designers with an online portfolio – “Who the fuck are they”? [My numbers were probably ultra-conservative]
Fine Art Portfolios should include an Artist Photo
Let’s agree before we go any further – this artist probably isn’t Banksy. Unless it’s Banksy.
Nor are they Google or Ebay and I refuse to acknowledge such an ill-educated argument on this website because the audience here is web design literate. If this is an artist making billions of dollars with their own minimalist search engine… maybe they ARE Google. But otherwise that whole direction of conversation is so far beneath a professional vocabulary about web design that it would be demeaning to continue the discussion. Advice to that effect: Study web design; All businesses are not equal; All artists and designers are not Banksy.
Also note that I am not saying artists must include a picture of themselves. But if you track back to the business plan and the marketing plan (if they exist) then the answer pops out. Who is the website for? Why does it exist? What is the intention and expectation and how can we measure it for ROI (Return on Investment) over time?
The Reason an Artist or Design Portfolio Exists…
From experience most artists will say the website is for themselves. Bollocks, they simply haven’t been forced to think about it. Yes artists have every right to get a friend to whack up a useless Internet beach towel. Great. And I have every right to ask them again – “What is the reason for your website”?
