A new start-up business with no existing website, looking to build an online presence. The company initially wanted to start with a simple brochure website, before moving onto a full-scale e-commerce site to sell photographs taken by the client.
A new start-up business with no existing website, looking to build an online presence. The company initially wanted to start with a simple brochure website, before moving onto a full-scale e-commerce site to sell photographs taken by the client.
The client was a hobbyist photographer, though he had completed various informal yet professional photography jobs over the past decade until he and his partner decided to start a fully-fledged photography business. Having done photography as a hobby for many years, the client also had amassed a collection of photographs that he sought to sell as stock images and art.
As a small company comprising of a sole director / business owner and administration assistant, stakeholders in this project were limited. As a photography enthusiast, the business owner was keen to engage in the project throughout, particularly when discussing new ideas for generating new revenue from his existing photography collection.
Key tools utilised throughout the project included Axure for wireframes, Adobe Photoshop for design, Invision for basic clickable prototype development, and WordPress for website development.
WordPress was chosen as the content management system on which to build the website, as this would permit easy expansion to an e-commerce site utilising a relevant e-commerce plugin.
The project kicked off with a client questionnaire, followed by a tailored half-day requirement gathering workshop. Further workshops were conducted over the course of the project, in particular when deciding which photographs to use as feature and gallery images on the website.
Competitor analysis and user research enabled the site map and features / functions list to be assembled. The client did not want to go to the expense of full user research, so forums such as wedding and event planning discussions were used to form the user research component of this stage.
Utilisation of all of the parts from the first two phases to build a wireframe and sketch some initial design ideas for the website.
A style scape provided a visual guide for the client, consisting mainly of fonts and colours. This enabled the client to decide on company colouring and start building a brand identity.
Photoshop designs and Invision clickable prototypes aided the client in choosing which photographs to use as feature and gallery images.
Following 2 design iterations whilst exploring different options for the utilisation of existing photographs, the project moved into the development stage. The website was built using a WordPress theme.
