A couple of months back we worked with Miami-based Richard Silver on the first step of his branding overhaul, which included a graphic identity. Once we had finished up the first step we moved on to a web template customization and web edit. The last step of his branding overhaul would be a print promo and an emailer so keep an eye out for a post about those sometime soon. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s get back to the development of Richard’s new site.
We love collaboration here at Wonderful Machine and it’s awesome when we get to team up. This time around we worked with one of our very talented photo editors, Stacy Swiderski. While we were busy handling Richard’s web template customization, Stacy got started on a web edit.
Here are a few shots from Richards’s old site:
With our suggestion, Richard decided to make the switch to a Squarespace site. Squarespace is the template site we recommend most often because it offers a variety of customizable options that are fully responsive. We settled on the “wells” template because it allows for larger images as well as thumbnail views. After the template was determined, we looked to Stacy for the finished edit of Richard’s main galleries. Here is what she had to say about the process.
Working with Richard Silver and sorting through an archive of over 2500 images was a great way to push my editing skills to the max! After getting familiar with his work and style, I was able to create solid, professional, and commercially viable galleries of images for him to present to clients. Seeing the edit and the web template customization come together to emphasize the work he is most passionate about was icing on the cake!
Once the edit was all finished we were able to dive into the customization. The first thing we tackled throughout the site was the typography and making sure it stylistically matched Richard’s branding. We went with a san-serif font that was similar to the one used in his branding, using orange as the active state and light grey as the hover state. We also went in and established a system for his captions that are featured in his fine art galleries.
Next was Richard’s blog. One of the great things about Squarespace is that all of its templates include blogs that are integrated directly into the site. We implemented his branding onto his blog as well. Rounding out the customization was Richard’s About, Contact, and Prints pages. We cut down the content that Richard included as well as added some hierarchy to make it all easier to read and understand. And last but not least we added his signature orange plane as his favicon.
Here is a shot from Richard’s new About page:
For a complete before and after critique of Richard’s site you can watch our screencast below:
Richard’s site is now live and is looking great! So be sure to check it out at richardsilverphoto.com.
Need help with web template customization or web edit of your own? Reach out!