Task 1: Analyse Requirements
Summary
I’ve decided to go with Broken Lens Photography as my project from the client pack. Broken Lens Photography is a one-person operation, run by Francis McDougal. Francis specialises in wedding photography and is looking for a website to display her work and for customers to easily get into contact with her.
Client requirements and goals
The main focus of this website is Francis work which is her photographs. So they will be the main focus of the webpage with social media options for the client to interact with potential customers and reach a larger audience:
1. Clients images displayed on main page
2. Clients logo present
3. Social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram)
4. Blog platform integrated into website
5. Contact information displayed
Target Audience
The target audience of this website will be couples soon to be married. Majority of the client’s customers will be younger couples so the images will reflect that with romantic and the appropriate colour scheme within the website
Technical Requirements
I was going to build my website with CMS but after a lot of consideration I decided to build a custom site as it will fit better with the assessment and better suit the client’s needs.
The website will use HTML/CSS and Javascript on the front end.
Market Research
http://www.fredandhannah.com/ is a local photography website with a similar look I am going for. It has a fixed menu with a hero image that can change images. The individual images highlight with project name and link to the full project. The website is clean and easy to follow and has social media integrated into it.
Another websites I have researched is http://hpphotography.net/ this is a simple index page with a hero image and a header most of my design ideas follow this website it’s simple and clean and get the customers attention.
Proposal
The website will have 4 pages (including main) with a hero image followed by photos from Instagram, there will be a simple blog post page followed by links to Facebook page and Medium.
Evaluating Social Media Options
Pros and Cons integrating social media
Integrating social media is a great way to gain an audience and a number of new clients but can be difficult to track negative comments that are false. One bad comment can ruin a small business.
Some benefits are:
1. More exposure
2. Feedback
3. Free advertising
Some cons are:
1. Negative comments from customers
2. False representation on social media (vulnerable)
Website that do it well and some that don’t
Some websites that work well with social media are sites like Spotify which allow you to login without having to create an email this allows a larger audience see your recommendations and spread awareness more sites are including this. Some websites have to much Facebook and twitter integrated into there website which will leave the user annoyed with the layout of the page.
Project goals
My goal is to provide an easy way for the website viewers to gain knowledge on my client’s projects which will be achieved with integrating Instagram into the website for an easy way for the client to add new content to the website and adding social share buttons to help spread the awareness of the company and the work.
Types of social media
I will be using Facebook, Instagram and Medium into my client’s website. As my client’s website is focused towards wedding photography, Instagram is a great fit for the client to add new images easily and for potential customers to view. Facebook will also help spread the awareness of the site and allow customer to send feedback. As my client has requested a blog platform I believe Medium will be a great fit for business professional looking to attract a new audience.
Design Sketches
The Homepage will display a hero image (100%)with a fixed header and footer with social buttons in the footer, the main focus will be the middle where it will display the clients logo as requested and a brief sentence.
The about page will display the client in a 100% background photo with a about me to the left of the page with a link to their email.
Projects page will display the clients photographs of weddings that are linked with Instagram and display them in a nicely formatted table on the webpage.
The contact page will follow the same theme as the following pages with a method of contacting the client by email to the left of page.
The blog page will as per request of the client i will be integrating Medium and considering using WordPress for this as it will be easy to maintain but since i’m building this from scratch this might not be possible.