Which website do you prefer?

no worky

Any better?
Which doesn;t work?

bottom one no worky

Both work for me (mac, Safari).

Which of these sites do you prefer and why?

the first one, nicsartstuff

looks tidier, easier to navigate as I can see what to click from the menu to get me where I want.
The other one is a bit clunky, text and stuff is all too big and the menu seems a bit rubbish. That 'view portfolio' stays on the screen for a few seconds when scrolling which irritates me!

As they are, the first one, but lose the Home page, it adds nothing. The About page could be the homepage for the site.

Saying that, it is still a bit "90's homemade website" looking. The second one has the potential to look much more modern, but needs some work.

Second one for me. Looks more modern.

The first one is way better https://www.nicksartstuff.com/

Website address looks more pukka, the front page and subsequent navigation looks more professional

The second one looks like it was done 'in a shed'. Looks amateurish.

Saying that, it is still a bit “90’s homemade website” looking. The second one has the potential to look much more modern, but needs some work.

nicks...

Steal to order?

Didn't really enjoy that view of some randomer's nostrils 🙂

second one is shocking, sorry

I prefer the first one, but the 'Filter by' slider needs modifying as it goes between £90 to £999,999. Unless you're about to hit the big time, of course...

^^^ guessing that’s a bodge as OP can’t (or doesn’t know how) to mark something as sold/out-of-stock. Again, looks clunky/amateurish

Second one feels better but as with the first you need to arrive on the portfolio page and not the 'home' page.  Remove as many clicks as possible between someone arriving on your site and getting to see a painting.  If they look good then we'll read all about you

Second is nicer to navigate when looking through pictures.  The first requires two clicks to see each painting large enough, the second you should just be able to scroll through but then you also need to think about what to do with the descriptions.

On mobile the second is poor as you are using the hover over even to show the gallery names so they don't really show.

Don't really like either at the moment and I don't think they serve you very well.  Maybe take a look and see what squarespace has available if you aren't committed to wix

https://www.squarespace.com/tour/photography-websites

Probably #2 but so many things that need tweaking (mobile). Fonts size and spacing is all over the shot.

The first.

The whole "everything on one page with shit cleverly whizzing in and out" theme has been done to death. I prefer the pallet of the second though, the brown is a bit... brown.

Also, this:

nicks…

Steal to order?

Tha needs one of them apostrophes in "Nick's".

Probably the first for me, but 'nicks art stuff' sounds a bit village hall sale IMHO, and sounds more like you're selling art supplies.
What about 'your name Artist' for example?

I think the art is the star and so possibly a plain background works better. An image as a background is a bit busy I feel. The focus needs to be on your work.

It's hard to judge as the formatting is a bit off I think on both, but without wanting to offend as I know it can be hard laying out a website, I think they both look a bit amateurish and hobbyist.
However, getting feedback like you're doing is the right thing to do.

Here is mine, also done on Wix for comparison.

The photography, in my opinion, needs to be very high quality, otherwise its better off not being there at all.
Very quickly makes things look amateurish having poor images IMHO. 😊👍

The second one is more modern, the first one is a bit dated.

with that in mind, i'd probably get rid of the huge "Visit Portfolio" button and the picture of yourself, it's a bit imposing. Also the blurb top right, you repeat that on the Visit Us page.

If you're going to use Wix, take a look here to help you out, structure and layout of a website are as important as images and all of these have that in common, you can draw straight lines between the edges of navigation bars right down the edges of images to the data in the footer.  https://www.wix.com/blog/2016/03/wix-websites-examples/

Sketch out on paper what you want each page to have, they should be Ronseal - "What they say on the tin" - If It's "about", then make it all of that, including how to find us, your about page will probably have your address on it so why have it repeated elsewhere.

Okay. I think I will try to keep the first one but change it a little based on what you say about navigation,. fonts, brownness etc.

I will have a more thorough think about the design. So far, all I did was take their template and replace their pictures and text with my own.

I am stuck with NicksArtStuff.com for a while but might look to change it later. I really need access to a decent photographer but apparently they want payinG!!! and this is just a hobby for me.

If you want to pop back over the coming days you will hopefully see some improvements so feel free to add more feedback here

Site being updated : https://nclarksouthampton.wixsite.com/nicksartstuff2

Site being updated

Same again, the first page you land on is all about you and we want to see paintings.  It's a classic web thing where the designer thinks in terms of what they want to show rather than what the person visiting wants to see.  No way do you land on and amazon home page and get the life story of Jeff or all about Amazon - they do their best to show you what you are likely to be looking for.  Put up nice pics with a direct link to each gallery, don't make us search through a menu.  One of them can be a pick of you and your bio but not the top one please

He's right, people visiting your site want to see your work, their interest in you is secondary.

A very quick example of an another artist's site I've used and bought from - from the very first page you see examples of her work

https://www.clareallanart.com/

Agreed - I published after only changing the back page and combining the old Home and About pages.

The plan is that the Full Gallery will be the landing page and what is currently called HOME will be About and also include current Shipping and Contact page info.

I got called away by my day job but mor eupdates happening in the next hour

A very quick example of an another artist’s site I’ve used and bought from – from the very first page you see examples of her work

https://www.clareallanart.com//a >

That's very nice.  Above the fold there are pictures in a rotating carosel.  Below you have links to the different sections as well as space for a link to news (rather than news itself), e.g. the christmas delivery stuff or in your wca's case the next market he is exposing himself at (ehem)

The plan is that the Full Gallery will be the landing page

I'm not sure that is the best idea.  The above site is a bit better where you have some pictures to whet the appetite, then links to things like news, individual galleries etc.  Try and think of who your visitors are and what they might be looking for, make it easy for them.  eg.

People who randomly come across your site -> want to see your paintings and then maybe who you are

People who already know you and are coming back to your site ->  Your latest paintings, where you will be next, any special offers

People with galleries/shops looking to exihibit -> your paintings, your contact details, anywhere else you already display paintings

Then try and design your site around what these visitors want to see and make it easy for them to find the info.  Don't think first about what you want to tell them and how to nicely structure it, think about the visitor journey

So a landing site with picture links for the menu and as changing main image of some of the latest stuff?

I will try and sort out my stock, quantities and pricing which is all over then place at the moment and then consider that.

Thanks

1) There is now a new landing page
2) The clutter is removed
3) The stock control now shows what is sold
4) The colour scheme is simplified and standardised
5) The duplicated text is removed and where possible pages are combined.
6) It doesn't look terrible on my Windows/Chrome or my Samsung/Android browsers.

https://nclarksouthampton.wixsite.com/nicksartstuff2

Further comments and criticism welcome while I go get some dinner. Back about 9pm to read your comments with interest.

Reduce the font size on that home page. There are about 20 words and I need to scroll to read them. The size used from the gallery box subtext is a better size.

That looks loads better I think.

Reduce the font size on that home page

Aye.

Not too sure about the images of the paintings being in frames.
Most artist sites have just the actual artwork as frames are perhaps a distraction and something of a personal choice.

Looks much better though imho.

Font reduced

Pictures in frameS and general photo stuff
At the moment I am using the photos that I have so some in frames, some not. I have made a whole selection of different frames which are used in my personal gallery but I am also making a series of plain white float/box frames that will be used for exhibitions. As soon as I can find someone who can take pictures for free/beer money then I will be using the plain white frames for the main photo for each painting. I also want to get a 'passport photo' for each painting where it is simply a square on photo followed by a series of placed photos with the picture hanging in different rooms to give some context to it.

Starting to look very nice now (on mobile anyway,not near a puter at mo)

Thanks - that is why I love STW, it is a great place to get lots of different views and diverse feedback before launching my masterpiece on the disinterested public

Font size is better but smaller again would be betterer 🤪. The bold second level title should be bigger than the text under it (1 size bigger). The lack of full stops is bugging me, as is the sentences laid out as paragraphs.

Can you reduce the size of the header cart icon and hamburger? Again they dominate the space a little too much.

I don't like that the gallery names go over the images on the first page. If they absolutely have to, use a translucent background?

Typo - divine not devine inspiration

On the homepage galleries it looks like only the image is a link to the gallery. At a minimum the title should also link as this is the most obvious think to click (/touch).

1) Header resized and shrunk a bit.
2) Full stops added and lines per paragraph increased.
3) Sales cart removed. no-one buys this stuff anyway 🙂 or rather, they always phone or email to discuss it first.
4) Header menu disappears as you scroll up.
5) Text linked to galleries as well as the pictures. Can't link to whole white box for no apparent reason.

**Engage cruel to be kind, tough but fair mode...**

Nick's Art Stuff

is still a dreadful name for the site

Welcome to this portal into the work and mind of Nick Clark

Lose this, you sound like a dick

prolific and diverse Southampton based artist.

'living and working in Southaampton' sounds better and more 'rooted' than 'Southampton-based'

There are also details on where to see Nick's work, how to commission a piece and just how to meet for a chat.

not 'meet for a chat', 'contact Nick if you would like to discuss anything'

find that divine inspiration

You sound like a dick

The wilder side of the mind left free to wander, returning with these strange but compelling results

Ditto

There look like about five or six different fonts on the homepage, pick one and use it

IHN - Comments and advice like yours is never cruel, just you opinion stated clearly.

Text - Formalised and de-Dicked as adv ised. Well, as best I can. you have met me so you know I tend to default to dick and it works quite well in the pretentious art world.

Keep it coming,. We are close to go live I think.

Just say what you feel IHN 😂

It's difficult to do straight off the bat. You're getting there 😊👍

Oh - NicksArtStuff and a name is stuck for a while due to payments and business cards* etc which I need to clear before a re-boot. I want to get the basic layout and text good and then the reboot should just be better pictures and a new name.

*I ordered 10,000 business cards** instead of 1,000 so have a few to get through.

**This was before I quit drinking 15 months ago so they should be gone about the same time I need to renew the site URL

Much better now. Final thing, some of the links on the hompage are all underlined which looks a bit messy, the Full Gallery one isn't and looks better. I don't think you really need any underlining at all though to be honest, it's a bit 90s webpage.

Second. But add a filter for the classes of the first instead. Scrolling down to sold is much better than a separate page.

Underlines removed - they defaulted to underlined when I added the link and I didn't spot it, so thanks.

TIRed - Not totally clear what you mean.

The main gallery shows all paintings but has a filter to let you either see everything or filter by a particular category - Observed, Imagined or Previous Work. The Observed and Imagined galleries only show the works in their specific category that is currently available whilst the Previous Work lets you see everything that has been sold. I can't easily see how to get a painting to be in 2 categories - Observed and Previous Work. I guess I could just remove the Previous Work category but then I can't get it to filter out the sold work.

I appreciate this might not be ideal but my hope is that general browsing people will look at the full gallery to see the kind of stuff I do. If they decide they want to buy something then they can still use the Full Gallery or jump to the Imagined & Observed galleries to limit the list to only those still for sale. I want the option of seeing what has been sold previously to help people wanting to commission stuff.

I hope this makes sense but if it doesn't answer your suggestion them please try to explain it to me one more time 🙂

I prefer the palette of #1 but the number of different fonts jars badly. Typographically #2 is better, but the colours not so good for me.

Hope that helps!

not ‘meet for a chat’, ‘contact Nick if you would like to discuss anything’

find that divine inspiration

I agree with IHN on some stuff and disagree on the others.  On the two things above I would absolutely agree if it were my website on my work but for an artist it is just fine, I expect you to write differently, I'm completely fine with divine inspiration and chat.  I like that it sounds wrong

Take your pick and don't go too wild.  The main thing is that people can see your stuff as quickly as possible and that it displays well.  People aren't great at reading any more and don't sweat the small stuff, they are buying your paintings and not your words.  Work out how to show them well and take good photos of them

I am thinking that IF I can add some audio description to the paintings, they can be less formal and more flamboyant while the text remains more formal. The trouble with the phrases I originally had is that they sound great when said out loud with style and context but in isolation they can read poorly.

If I can sort that out, I will try and transfer the whole lot to the 'live' site tomorrow

Colours are deliberately more muted as there has been various feedback, not just on here, that the backgrounds compromised the paintings, hence the more muted tones.

More updates going in from about 9pm tonight when I have finished working on the car, jewellery, garage project, my day job and my dinner.

@tlr has come up with a great, really clean portfolio site using (funnily enough!) Adobe Portfolio: https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/adobe-portfolio/

wasn't going to mention it here as assumed it was expensive if you weren't already getting it free, but having just looked it's only actually a tenner a month for the hosted site [I]and[/I] the latest Photoshop + Lightroom which actually sounds pretty good (no idea how much Wix is in comparison, or is it free?)
The only downside is it's not aimed at e-commerce so if you did need to add that on, would need some 3rd party solution so may be more expensive/complex/not as slick.