Portfolio Web Site Paradigm
A portfolio site has the following purposes:
- to present the artist's work;
- to inform the reader about the artist's background;
- to inform the reader what the artist is capable of doing, that is, the artist's skill set;
- to learn how to contact the artist;
- and, sometimes, to sell the artist's work.
There is no room for ramblings, which make one look silly. There is no room for tricks, such as moving text, flashing graphics, and other things of that ilk. There is no room for "mystery meat", those strange cryptic glyphs representing links which make no sense but supposedly take you somewhere.
People who visit portfolio Web sites want, as quickly as possible, to see what you can do, in order to make a decision about whether they like your body of work. If the navigation experience is painful, or if you come across as a long-winded gasbag, they will leave. Be brief. If your work is not good, they will leave, too. Learn from the good designers and keep improving.
Navigation Links
about
portfolio
skill set
contact
purchase
Layout Schemes
Splash page
On an artist's portfolio site, a "splash" page is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as it has enough information to identify the artist (so the visitor will know she is at the right site), and it contains all of the main navigation links, and this information can be easily found. There is no reason why an arty background cannot be used.