The website I chose to critique is that of a Vancouver based photographer named Kir Berlie. As a photography website, it has a lot of elements that we’ve discussed in class that I really liked. It has the horizontal sidebar, common for a portfolio site, light, non-distracting colors, and clearly labeled categories. The navigation bar is a drop-down menu that divides elements up between three categories: portfolios, projects, and info. Her name is displayed at the top left of the screen, and there’s a custom logo above it (though I do think this logo is out of place as it doesn’t denote anything about the photographer, her location, or her profession).
What I like the most about this website is the ability to view each category as horizontal scroll or as an indexed grid. That’s a feature that I think is incredibly helpful as a freelancer because it allows employers (present and future) to see your work or quickly find a photograph that they like, and it allows anyone interested in buying your work to find a photo without scrolling through photos. It bothers me some that the responsive design doesn’t snap the photos to a grid that’s in a perfect square and even on all edges, but I understand that that is hard to do with photos of different widths and heights and is really just me being picky about symmetry.
The only real problem I have with this website is the navigation. There’s some overlap in the portfolio and projects category, but that doesn’t really bother me. What bothers me is that there’s a page titled “New” that takes you to the homepage, and directly beneath it a “Collection 1” that contains a collection of what I guess is her most recent photos. Without context, I think it’s really confusing to have this collection, especially as she lists a blog under the “info” section that updates will all the recent work. I would reorganize these pages and get rid of the collection if I had the time, but also recognize that sometimes you just need to dump some new work on a site and organize it later.
Electronic Photojournalism 