Filmaker's Portfolio
I was hired by a filmmaker and close friend, Skyler Knutzen, to redesign his portfolio website to better showcase himself and his work. He felt his website was fine as it was and mainly wanted to get an aesthetic update to it. In doing that I also notice a few things that could be improved in the overall accessibility and functionality of his site. The changes and updates I made were slight but they ultimately improve the structure of his website while providing the updated design he want.
Looking through his website I noticed that everything was on one page. I didn't feel like his 'about me' section or 'stills' section were given much attention or thought on the homepage. In the redesign I wanted to give each of these sections their own screen to better showcase them. The next thing I saw was his header. The navigation menu was hard to spot. It was several tiny little circles in the top right corner. It was not really necessary on a fullscreen desktop site. I also felt that the social media buttons would look better in a footer, which his current site was lacking.
In my first iteration, I gave his portfolio some new colors that still fit into his existing site's energy. I split it into three webpages giving the homepage exclusively to showcasing his films. I ran the films down the middle of the screen with no space between to somewhat a film reel. I also created a grainy film texture in Photoshop to use over the backgrounds of each page. You can see that his name and titles are the same just different colors. The top nav is three buttons. The bottom nav is in footer showcases his email and his socials. Its simple and to the point displaying what it needs to display to anyone who may want to explore his works.
Skyler reviewed the product and ultimately decided he wanted to keep his original color palette and keep some spacing between the films. The other changes I implemented he loved and wanted to move forward with.
The new page for his photography features a horizontal scroll of his favorite shots. All accessible upon opening the page no need to scroll down to see more. The header and footer remain the same throughout the site.
Skyler's new 'about' page features a different headshot, setting a more serious and professional tone that I felt better reflected him and what he does for a living. Attention is brought to his name with its varying font and size and then to his bio that follows.
Once you finish the bio his resume is right there at the bottom. I feel the page is set up to follow with the viewer as they read making it easy for them to access what they came to the 'about' page for.
The final design for his homepage closely resembles the original homepage that we saw. It is a blend of my first redesign iteration and his original. The redesign utilized the header and footer navigations that his website was previously lacking and it just showcases his films, removing the clutter of his bio and stills added to the bottom of the page.
This was my first job working with a client one-on-one. This was a great opportunity for me to work and gain some experience with that. Going back and forth with Skyler and getting his input was really helpful to me and guided me to make changes and iterations before arriving at a final product. At the end of the day I was able to create a product that both he and I were happy with and I'm glad I got to help a friend out while gaining some experience and work for my own portfolio.
Check out Skyler Knutzen's website and his work here.