Ashlee Masons Group

Upon entering the first website, you are welcomed to a clean and modern navigation bar. The logo at the top is very good at telling you what the group is about, photography, videography, editing and podcasts. Then you have the navigation bar has rollover buttons as the sections change from black to white. I really like this colour combination as the black and white give the website a modern feel and the gold colour is used as a complementary colour as black and white can be boring on their own. Since looking at that website I have changed my website colours so that I could have a complementary colour and have added a light blue. They also consistently use the same font around their website, which I believe to be Cervino or Halvar Engschrift, as this makes their brand more unique and recognisable.

If it wasn't obvious already that this website was about photography and creativity, when you scroll down you are presented with someone taking a photo. Then the next section is separated by a gold band for reviews of their company. I really like this website so far as it is simple and not overwhelming. I also use the separating line myself between different pieces of content as I think that it works well to simply signify a change in topic.

On this section, I have clicked on to photography. On the left-hand side, there is a short introduction to the subject and then there is a slideshow of photos that they have taken. On the right of the website, there is a contact form which uses their complementary colour, gold, to entice the viewer into wanting to contact Ashlee Masons Group as that colour stands out from the white background.

One thing that I don't like about the website is the presentation on some of the pages like Videography & Editing. This is because I don't think is as professional and gives a wow factor like the front page does. The videos are just piled one on top of the other and I feel that there could be a bit of separation or something in between as I think it is missing something. In addition, all of the videos are on the left of the webpage and there is a large gap on the right that is blank. A small fix would have been to centre all the videos and give them each a Larger title.

Bespoke Banter

This website is for Bespoke Banter which is a company that specialises in creating video advertisements for large companies including Coca-Cola, Emporio Armani and Canon. Bespoke seems to be a very large company that creates very high quality videos and has a great reputation because lots of big brands use them. 

I really like this websites design because the layout is very user-friendly and the colour used is great. At the top of the website you are greeted with the company's logo, 6 different sections and a home page. These section headers aren't roll over buttons. However, they do turn purple once you have clicked on it to help signify what section you are on. As you scroll down the home page of the website, there is a video from the Founder and creative director, Scott Wimsett, and this is a great way to open your website as it tells the viewer about the company and what is on the website. On the other hand, they do forfeit a bit of the great design for the video as it could look slightly better like the apple website.

They have used the colours black, white and purple. The black and white give the website a modern tone and the purple, I believe, to represent royalty and high quality. The website is designed to be very minimalistic and I like that everything links well together with the same 3 colours and fonts. I believe that they use the font Neue Haas Grotesk, this font you have to pay for which helps their brand to stick out as it isn't a default font that you get with a computer. This font is very clear, it is very similar to the font Helvetica, which is quite a common font used by companies like: Microsoft, Harley Davidson, Jeep and Panasonic.

I like that they chose to use short sentences as it makes it easier to understand everything and they have made keywords bold to make them standout. By making keywords bold, it helps to make words standout and gain your focus on certain subjects.

On their website they have also used automatic animations, these are very eye catching as most websites are static and most videos require you to click on it first and people can ignore them. I like this type of video as, I think, people are more likely to watch a video if it starts without them doing anything than if they have to click or open a video; people can be lazy like that.

The ability to contact the company is very good. Like normal there is the ability to contact them at the bottom of the website with an email, phone number, office location and emailing list. The email list is a great idea as it works well to update viewers on what's happening and upcoming events and exclusives.

I prefer the Bespoke Banter website to the Ashlee Masons Group website because I prefer the layout that Bespoke Banter has used. I personally like it more as it eye catching and modern. However, I do like how AMG separates the sections with the different colours. I have struggled to find something that I don't like about Bespoke Banter's website because I think it is very well made and professional. I also prefer the different elements in this website compared to the AMG website. What I mean by different elements is all the animations and different sized shapes where as the AMG is more uniform with everything being nearly the same size.

John Brawley

John Brawley's website is a portfolio website for "one of Australia's most talented, innovative and collaborative Directors of Photography". His website is very professional and formal which makes me think this is directed for companies that are looking for a director of photography. 

The design and layout of the website is great. It has all of the sections at the top which all use hyperlinks to take you to a different part of the website. I think it is very user-friendly and you would find it hard to get lost as all you can do is scroll down to look at videos which is quite simplistic but I like that here. He also includes a back to top button in case which is good if you surprisingly get lost or are too lazy to scroll up manually. 

When I entered his website I was slightly confused to realise that the photo slide show was the only thing on the homepage. This has made me think he has chosen to use a very minimalistic approach to his website. I also think this because he doesn't use many colours. He has used white for the background, black for text and red for the rollover buttons. I think this was used so that the focus is on his work rather than on the website itself, I understand this approach as this is the same as what I did for my GCSE photography PowerPoint.

There aren't many interactive graphics here other than the slideshow on the home-page but you can't look through them yourself, it changes on its own. I think this is a great way to display his work, especially on a white background. I think that I will use this on my website to display my photography. 

To show off his work he uses videos. These videos are sorted into short clips and trailers from productions that he has worked on. I like this idea as it is better than using still images as I assume he works in film and tv. I will likely do this in my portfolio website however I will add a brief description to give some context to the videos. 

Overall, I think this is a great portfolio website. I wish there was a bit more content but I understand that Brawley has chosen to use a minimalist style, which still works and does tell me what I would need to know about him. Personally, I think that the "press", "about" and "contact" pages are all quite boring as they are just black text on a white background. I feel that a bit of colour would make the website visually more interesting. For his about page he could simply add a photo of him which is a good way for employers to know what he looks like.