Advanced MultiMedia

Advanced Multimedia -
Production Log
Brandon Boyd N0703554

Contents Page - Research, Design & Create
RESEARCH:
1 - Introduction to the Brief
2 - Idea & Target Audience
3 - Website Builders
4 - Existing Websites
5 - Redesigning a Website
6- Why make yourself a website
7 - Existing Portfolios
8 - Portraits
9 - Moodboard of Ideas
10 - Conclusion of Research
(and a checklist of what to include for my website)
DESIGN:
1 - Brand Identity & Logo
2 - ‘Landing’ Page
3 - Biography / ‘About Me’ Page
4 - Choosing a Portrait
5 - Showreel
6 - Colour Scheme
CREATE:
1 - ‘Landing’ Page
2 - Biography / ‘About Me’ Page
3 - Achievements / Publications
4 - Portrait Picture
5 - Gallery
6 - Social Media / ‘Contact Me’ Links
7 - Showreel
8 - Website Link

Introduction to the Brief
Research

Our Task
This module ‘Advanced Multimedia’ aims for us to build a platform to promote ourselves
effectively, showcasing work which would be beneficial to our employment in the future. The task is
to create a website, with a showreel and a professional photo. We have been tasked to create a
‘digital identity’ through both the content and design of an online platform. In terms of the actual
content for the website, we have been advised to choose one media type to specialise in, even if
you partake in other media forms as well.
In the module we also have to complete a variety of research from other websites or blogs that
may either inspire us to create our website in a particular way, or indeed deter us from using
specific aspects and components when creating our own site.

Idea & Target Audience
Research

In terms of approaching this module, my aim is to narrow my skills to just one aspect, so that if I
was applying for a specific job, the website would show off the skills specific for that job. I am
interested in a variety of different media formats including video, photography, modelling, social media,
but if I was to create a website showcasing all of those skills and then apply to a photography role, I
wouldn’t be successful, due to not tailoring my experience.
When thinking about the target audience for my website, I believe it would be for other media
creatives in the industry, but also to future employers. I would want to make sure that I stand out
from other creatives and prove that I had a passion for a particular type of media from showcasing my
experience. It could also be beneficial for current students with an interest in photography or that
study a subject like photography or art, so that can get inspiration for how to create a successful
website.

Which one is the best?
There are a variety of websites builders that can
help you create the perfect website, but some of
the most important features include
-Being able to showcase your work through the
ability to upload video or photographic content
-Ability to add different features, including a
personal store, community forums, social
network links
-Simple layout structures or templates with
easy navigation from page to page
I took a look at ‘WIX’ a website builder
that I have only started to use for growing
my own personal brand. I have two
websites, and I use WIX as my blog site,
and Wordpress for my professional page.

Mental Health Pages...
For the formative task, we were told to look into some pre
existing websites and think about changes that we
could make to the site. I decided to look at Mental Health
pages with Georgia and Aisling, as we are surrounded by
students, young members of staff and other young people
who experience struggles. It’s a topic that we are all
passionate about raising awareness for also.
● Time To Change - time-to-change.org.uk
● Mental Health Foundation - mentalhealth.org.uk
● Together - together-uk.org
● Centre for Mental Health - centreformentalhealth.org.uk
● Mind - mind.org.uk
● Mental Health UK - mentalhealth-uk.org
● SANE - sane.org.uk
● Rethink Mental Illness - rethink.org
● YoungMinds - youngminds.org.uk
A lot of these pre existing websites DON’T SEEM TO HAVE MANY PHOTOS OR MUCH VIDEO CONTENT.
-Does that make the website less personal for the viewer?

Successful Common Elements
● It’s clear to see that all of the websites we looked at had a CLEAR ‘Donate’
BUTTON
-The button was clearly displayed at the top of every page (mostly top right
hand side)
● Each website had very ACCESSIBLE AND INFORMATIVE sections called
‘Help and Support’
-Sections including dedicated helplines, ability to partake in live chats and
community forums
-Valuable sources of comfort and guidance for people struggling with health
concerns
-Fast responsible answers
-Simple user journeys around the website so that visitors can find what they
are looking for (including for mobile devices and tablets)
● They are clear about their company’s LONG TERM
GOALS
-Downloadable strategy plan of what they aim to
achieve over the next five years
-Clear about their main company factors, including
long-term donors, supporters and legacy givers
● Lots of the charities DON’T HAVE A CAPITAL
LETTER at the start of their names (For Example:
‘together & mind’)
-Informal language can create more of an open and
welcoming environment for users
SUCCESSSUCCESS

Analysis of ‘Mind.org.uk’ (1.0)
● Go for a more SIMPLE WEBSITE MENU with only a couple of sections.
-Makes the route more simple and targeted
-Creates a powerful user journey
-Demonstrates what the site priorities and goals are
● Use STRONG AND EMOTIVE IMAGES and video content to make the site more
relatable
-Allows the users to understand any issues that are presented and how they are being
tackled
● Ensure that there is a good TONE OF VOICE throughout the website to make visitors
feel welcome
-Tone should be upbeat, empowering, supportive as well as informative.
-When focusing on topics like mental health, it is important to focus on the positives
● Including PERSONAL STORIES is a good way for
engaging viewers to stay on the website for longer.
-Allows visitors to respond strongly to stories that they
can relate to and emphasize with
-4 to 5 menus on the header with a variety of drop down
menus; could be better to simplify the amount of options
-Clear navigation system is really important with fewer
but clearer calls to action
● Overall, ‘Mind.org.uk’ is a great website with
amazing content and clear priorities/goals, but
there’s TOO MUCH INFORMATION.

Analysis of ‘Mind.org.uk’ (2.0)
● Understand the USER PRIORITIES and DESIGN for the website
-Although Mind.org.uk has lots of information, it is focused on
individual user’s priorities and goals
-They have an user friendly guide: ‘A-Z of Mental Health’ which
has a huge list of useful resources on a range of different topics
-A page dedicated to ‘How they spend their money’ as the
general public’s trust in charities is currently at a record low, so
to see mind.org.uk tackling this up-front with very detailed
information would reassure people and persuade them to donate
● From the landing page, there are CLEAR BUTTONS including
‘Talk to us’ and ‘I need urgent help’ with clear arrows pointing to
where the user can begin browsing
● Lots of ADVICE AND SUPPORT with other aspects including
fundraising, news and membership which are all easily accessible as
secondary options
-Excellent example of a website working for the users, rather than
just for the charities goals (such as for fundraising for example)
● Interactive sections; one called called ‘Your Stories’ where;
(1) ANYONE CAN SUBMIT A BLOG relating to mental health or
about the mental health charity, and another where
(2) USERS CAN SUBMIT POSTCARDS of places that make them
feel good
-Long list of topics in which you can filter through relevant articles
of your choice
-Great way to build engagement with members of the public and
visitors and collect user-generated content for the website
-Gives a voice to those who don’t feel like they are being heard

Redesigning a Website
Research

Updating the ‘Mind’ Logo...
● Creating a NEW LOGO for the website
-From looking at the website for ‘Mind’, we can see that they have
a lot of blues and greys as their main colour scheme, so we decided
to incorporate a navy blue logo design.
-We decided to update the logo for the charity from the classic
squiggle logo seen in previous slides to a clearer and more modern
logo.
-Our new logo features a HAND INSIDE ANOTHER HAND. This is
to represent the charity being a ‘helping hand’ to people in need. It
also symbolises a sense of community for people who may be
feeling lonely, lost or searching for guidance
-We also CHANGED THE FONT to a clearer to read font in capital
letters to make the logo and charity stand out, as most charities
only use lower case in their fonts. The clearer font also is more
accessible for all users.

Adding pages - ‘Home’
● When recreating the Mind website, the first thing we
needed to think about was creating a HOME PAGE
-One of the things we didn’t like about the original
site, was that it wasn’t very child friendly/visually
pleasing, and it seemed very overpowered by words
than images...
-There were also too many DROP DOWN MENUS and
options so we decided to keep the relevant ones
● Our home page design for the NEW WEBSITE
-Simple image of a child with a clear title
‘WELCOME TO MIND’ on a grey
background…(with ‘Donate’ button faded
so it’s not forceful, and ‘Live chat’ feature)
-Brief information on ‘WHAT WE DO’ with
more detailed paragraphs on ‘Strategy’,
‘Achievements’ and ‘Impact’
-QUOTE (in this case Beyonce) to
understand that this is a serious case
- -‘CONTACT US’ form
Other pages

Adding pages - ‘Strategy’, ‘Impact’ & ‘Achievements’

‘Our Strategy’
● For the ‘OUR STRATEGY’ page, we
wanted to ensure that we had some
visual content and limited text
-We included a real story from Josh
(with a YouTube hyperlink to his
story) to make the page interactive
and realistic
● LESS WORDS, MORE SPACE was a
rule that we decided to follow for
this page.
-Bullet pointed notes for what their
strategy is; including their Vision,
Mission and Top 5 Values as a
charity…
● Sticking with the COLOUR SCHEME
-Stuck with the navy blue colour scheme
● SIGNPOSTING to other resources/documents
-Added a link to the full .PDF file (taken from
the official Mind website) with a list of their
strategy plan over the next years

‘Our Impact’
● For the ‘OUR IMPACT’ page, we wanted to include
a variety of real life stories (Taken from the Mind
website; the ‘Your Stories’ blog section...and have
the blog section for promoting campaigns
-INCLUDED REAL LIFE STORIES with brief
explanations (with a hyperlink to the full story via
the main website) - obviously we would have
individual pages per story, but we don’t have time
to create them
-Use of UNDERLINE, BOLD &
QUOTATION/SPEECH marks (visually pleasing)
-Clear IMAGES used
-COLOUR SCHEME followed (mainly white, blue
and grey)

‘Our Impact’ (CONT’D)
● For the ‘OUR ACHIEVEMENTS’
page, we added past successes
from over the past few years
(Didn’t want to include anything
older than 2009 otherwise it
becomes irrelevant)
-We decided to move the link for
this page to the landing page.
-The page is easier for visitors to
view
● If website visitors are able to VIEW
THE SUCCESSFUL
THINGS/PROJECTS that the
charity has done in the last few
years, they may be more inclined to
donate to them.
-We took screenshots of said
achievements from the original Mind
website and copied them onto our
achievements page.
-We decided that this was the best way
to lay out this page as we could not find
a suitable template from wix that
allowed us to have a wide portion of
text. Due to this, the template text
made it seem as if there was too much
writing and it was difficult to read.

‘The Blog’ (1.0)
● For the ‘OUR BLOG’ page, we wanted to include a
variety of the campaigns that Mind have run or
been a part of (Instead of the ‘Your Stories’
because it’s not clear that ‘blog’ means real
stories...
-In the SEO settings, we TURNED ON
ACCELERATED MOBILE PAGES (AMP) to
remove any useless elements that would slow the
website down. It guarantees to bring in more
visitors if the website runs smoothly.
-The screenshots show that we created a
‘TEMPLATE BLOG PAGE’ for the campaigns, and
that the most recent blog posts are also featured
at the bottom of the main page so they are easily
accessible.

-Example of one of the posts: (before we made
changes). We decided to lay out the posts in a way that
was more visually pleasing, with less paragraphs of text...

After After
Before Before

Why make yourself a website?
Research

Having an online portfolio such as a website or a blog is very beneficial, as it means you can
showcase all of your best work in one place, with links to other projects you have worked on. I like
to think of websites as a ‘central base’ where you can focus on one media aspect you enjoy, but link
people to other pages if they are looking for someone with multiple skills or qualities.
Most people find work nowadays through social media, word of mouth or from simple job applications
online, but to have a website which you can just send somebody a link to, is probably the
quickest and most efficient way to be noticed. Another benefit about websites is that there isn’t a
‘closing time’ and can be accessed on any device (including phones, tablets or laptops)

Anna Pantelia
One of the first photographers that I decided to look into was Anna
Pantelia. I like the simplicity of the website and the fact that there
isn’t too much text (apart from on her blogging page). The home
page shows a variety of her work, along with recent work that
she has completed. She also had five clear sections along the top
of her website including ‘Stories’, ‘On Media’, ‘About Me’ and
Her ‘Stories’ page is her blogging page where
she showcases a variety of places she has visited,
with a few paragraphs of text and some
photography alongside. She explains why she
was so interested in the projects and some
background information behind the images.
On the page ‘On Media’, I don’t like how all of her work has been
centered in the middle of the page. This is probably something I
would try to avoid when creating my own photography portfolio.
Until you click on the image itself, you don’t know what each
news story is about, and even then, once you’ve clicked onto one,
you can’t click back out unless you go back a page in your browser.

Martin Schoeller
I also decided to look at Martin Schoeller as his photography work is
very interesting and I wanted to see what his portfolio looked like.
Similarly to Anna Pantelia, he has quite a plain style, letting the
images speak without the need of a complicated background style.
His pages are nicely laid out in a column
format down the side of the screen. He lays
him images out in either a grid format or
a slideshow of images which allows you to
click on the previous or next images. His
social media links are also at the bottom of
the page (which are his Photography
Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and his
Photography Studio Instagram).
Schoeller also has a separate page with an ‘About Martin’
section which is good to introduce the photographer,
how they got into photography but also what other skills,
interests and hobbies they have. The portrait image
alongside the text is in black and white with a nice shadow,
highlighting the middle of his forehead.
In terms of the writing on my
website, I feel it would be more
beneficial for me to have
capital letters for the title as
well as my name. I am also going
to try and limit the text I have
on my website so the images
can get more focus. I will
probably only include details of
who the models are and the
location of where the images
were taken.
One of the other
aspects that I like
is that he has split
up his work into
different sections
of portrait
photography than
just one type of
portrait.
Example sections of his work include
‘Identical’ and ‘Portraits’ which showcase
different styles/types of images and his
portfolio doesn’t limit him to a particular
theme of portrait. This helps him stand out
from the crowd and future
employers/professionals or other creatives
will see that he has a talent for taking images.

Diane Arbus
Annie Leibovitz
Cindy Sherman
David Bailey
When deciding on what portrait style to go for, I thought I would instantly look at black and white
portraits (which would contrast from the colour images that I tend to create). Here are some of my
photography inspirations & lists of things to think about when trying to get the right portrait.
Traditional:
-Painting
-Drawings
-Sculptures
-Fine Print
-Music and Song
-Written bio (or poetry)
New:
-Photography
-Moving Images
-Performance
-Sound
-CGI
-Mixed Media (using found media)
-Multi media installation
Self Portrait:
-Personal Expression
-Deciding the image to project
-Controlling setting and light
-Controlling the style
-Determined by your creative and
technical skills
Portrait:
-Image ‘mediated’ by a second
party
-Skills and stylish approach
-Budget/Time
-Environment/Place/Season/Day
-Space/Light/Props/Interactions
Subject:
-Gesture
-Body Language
-Expression
-Physical Appearance
-Clothing
-Personal artifacts and accessories
Technical Approaches:
-Artists/Photographers will have a
style or a voice
-Use of lens
-Use of time
-Use of light
-Use of colour/black and white
-Post production techniques
I also managed to find a few photographers who create
photography work with the use of neon lights. Some of
my photography work uses this similar style and I
would definitely think about adding some of my neon
work to my photography portfolio and my showreel.
Neon Photography - Slava Thisset
Neon Photography - Tom Dewh

After doing a search online, here are some
other examples of photography portfolios that I
thought looked really professional, and I liked
the simplicity of the backgrounds.
For my portrait image, I was inspired mainly by
images of Dorothea Lange and Annie Leibovitz,
and I didn’t necessarily want a black and white
image, but I would prefer to use a portrait
image that was more than just my face.

The first showreel
that we were shown
was Richard Oakes
-
‘Cinematographer’.
I noticed straight
away that he didn’t
include the word
‘showreel’ as it’s
obvious what he is
trying to show. I like
the simplicity of the
text and the fact that
he has used capital
letters rather than
lower case.
The music is very
dramatic and builds
up throughout the
showreel and I like
how he includes
several similar clips
together with a nice
The second showreel we
watched was Adam
Falconer - ‘Factual
Programmer’. Firstly,
the title is too vague
and he shouldn’t have
included the words
‘Showreel’ at the
beginning.
In terms of the content,
there are categories for
work he has done which
is fine, but the work
showcased is very poor
quality. On his video
montages at a
nightclub, the video is
silent.
The showreel also goes
on for 4 minutes
which is too long.

I decided to look at some other photography showreels and see
which aspects I wanted to try and include within my own, and
which things I would leave out. I decided to look at David
Tabagari’s photography showreel. One of the main things that
I noticed was that the images were in time with the beat of
the music and changed with every beat. He also varied with how
many pictures were shown on screen at the same time.
The only problem that I faced when watching his showreel, was that
if I wanted to hire him for a specific photography role, I wouldn’t be
sure what he would be an expert in. For me, this isn’t a problem, as
my showreel is going to focus solely on portrait photography rather
than abstracts, environments or any other type of portrait.
This is another photography showreel that was created in a slightly
different way. Mark Duffy focuses more on using transitions in his
showreel and includes a few pictures of himself. The interesting
aspect of his portraits is that he has a blurred background which is
the main photo, but repeated. I think this is a really cool concept that I
would either use within my showreel, or on my portfolio.

Conclusion of Research
(and a checklist of what to include for my own website)
Research

From completing a vast amount of research. There are the key aspects
that I want to include in my own photography portfolio:
-Simple website layout / colour scheme
(most likely white, so the photography stands out)
-A suitable logo and portrait image to represent myself
-Appropriate typography and text
(bold/capital letters for title and my name)
-Showreel of my own work
(showcase a variety of my portrait photography work; such as the neon/indoor shots)
-An ‘About Me’ page with a simple introduction
of who I am
-Titled galleries of my own work
(with names of the models/contributors/locations)
-Social media links
(Probably Facebook, Twitter, my Photography Instagram and LinkedIn)

‘Brand Identity’ vs ‘Brand Image’
Looking into your identity as a company or a professional is very important, as
it can set you aside from your competitors. Having a strong identity will help
you grow and therefore improve the image and popularity of your brand.
Brand Identity - Looking at how the actual brand works. What
features make that specific brand successful/unsuccessful and what can
the business do to present itself more professionally behind the scenes.
Brand Image - What the customers/general public see in terms of
posts of social media, branding, marketing, websites etc. Does the
‘image’ of the brand look positive or negative. What has that specific
company/brand done to improve/worsen their brand image or popularity.

Looking at examples of professional photography logos
Here are a variety of logos that I
found online for people who
advertise themselves as a
‘photographer’. As you can see, all
of them have some form of
camera, and I didn’t want to follow
in the same repetitive pattern.

Creating my own ‘Brand’
In terms of creating my own logo, I wanted to experiment with using my initials for my first and surname, and then by the online
persona I have been creating work under for the past few years. My favourite colour is blue, so I thought I would try out a variety of
different shades of blue, and experimenting with text colours, shapes and fonts. I am leaning towards the third option the most.

Before I added the chosen logo to my portfolio, I
wanted to experiment with whether I liked the logo
as a circle or a square. I opened both of the logos up
on the website and also decided to ask people on my
social media accounts which ones they prefer.
As you can see here, I decided to share both of my logo designs
onto my Instagram story to see what my followers thought of
both of them! I received messages saying that the square was
potentially better due to the similarity to other logos that are
square based. I thought this would make my logo a disadvantage
as it wouldn’t have any uniqueness to it, and from the results
63% of people agreed with me.

The first photoshop experiment that I decided to do with the logo was simple. I
wanted to have my name in the middle of the page with a variety of blue
backgrounds. I also decided to add some shapes (decided to try circles but it didn’t
look that great, so went with circles instead).
The final design looks pretty good, and I prefer how the text is in capitals rather than
without capital letters. I do feel that the background is very colourful and creative,
but takes away from the text. Also, the little box behind the text is a little bit of an
odd colour, so reflecting on this design, there would be some serious editing needed.

The second photoshop design that I created was a more complicated
logo. I started out with a gradient background and decided to mess
around with the natural colours, rather than bold colours (such as red
or blue). Then, I inserted an ellipse shape and made it cover the entire
area for where I was planning on having the logo. I inserted some text
with my brand name.
Then I opened shapes and experimented with the ‘Tree’ and ‘Grass’
shapes. I used a watercolour paint brush to paint the shape onto the
background of my logo. After this, I cropped the logo to turn it into a
circle rather than having it as a square, and this is the final design.
I think this works much better than my previous two logos (also below),
and it doesn’t give too much away about me. As the logo is the first
thing that the guests will see on my portfolio, it’s definitely the best
way to push those visitors to browse the rest of my photography
website.
Previous logo designs

‘Landing Page’ Design
For the creation of my landing page, I decided to keep it simple but also
include a variety of my best photography work as it will be the first page that
the visitors of my website will see. I have decided to have 5 sections on my
page;
‘About Me’ - which will have a few paragraphs about who I am, where I am
from and what this blog is about (with a portrait image and my photography
showreel)
‘Work’ - some of my photography work in separate galleries
‘Models’ - showcasing the variety of models I have worked with
‘Exhibitions’ - speaking about where my work has been shown and also
videos talking about my photography
‘Contact’ - a page that will have a form for people to contact me by email
(or the social media links on the bottom left hand side of the screen)

‘About Me’ - which will have a few paragraphs about who I am, where I am from
and what this blog is about (with a portrait image and my photography showreel)
‘Work’ - some of my photography work in separate galleries
‘Exhibitions’ - speaking about where my work has been shown and also videos
talking about my photography
‘Blog’ - a page with a weekly blog post talking about something I have
researched that week (film/photographer/social media post)
‘Contact’ - a page that will have a form for people to contact me by email (or
the social media links on the bottom left hand side of the screen)
When analysing my landing page, I decided
that I wanted to scrap the ‘models’ page,
as I would be including their name on the
images and didn’t need to waste a page. I
decided to replace this page with a blog
for which I would be regularly updating
with what I have been learning through the
module, and from any outside research
completed independently.
I am also planning on having a plain white
page as the initial landing page, which will
take you onto this page.
I decided to rename the ‘Work’
page to ‘Gallery’ as that’s what
photographers are most likely
to name their work section.
‘Maryland’ was the template design that I
wanted to use as it was the closest layout to my
initial Photoshop design. I wanted to showcase a
variety of images rather than just one or two.
The main difference
between my design and the
template is that the
template’s menus are across
the top rather than down
the side, but after
experimenting, I preferred
the menus at the top.
In terms of the social media icons, I would
probably want them to feature on the
‘About Me’ page, and I would have a
separate page called ‘Contact/Contact
Me’ which will have the option to send a
message to my email address.

Biography / ‘About Me’ Page
Design

‘About Me’ Design
For the ‘About Me’ page design, I decided to keep it
simple but still showcase myself as a professional
photographer than just a student who enjoys photography.
When designing the page at first, I didn’t necessarily have
any idea what I wanted to include for any of the text
sections (which is why there are individual words showing
what I had planned to write about for each section of this
page).
Motto: A motto/tagline is something that you
can sometimes include on a website or portfolio
to help make an individual stand out from the
crowd. In terms of my motto, I always like to
base it around my brand name ‘IsThatBrandon’,
so I decided to include the line; ‘IsThatBrandon?
Yes it is…’ as people used to be unsure on
whether they saw me in public, and that
became an instant reason to use it as my motto.
Intro Text: For the introduction section of
myself, I wanted to write a few simple lines
that could showcase my personality, rather
than writing a paragraph that makes me
sounds like anyone else.
‘Hey guys and welcome back to my channel!…Oh wait,
this isn’t a YouTube video! Anyways, hello and welcome
to my portfolio!
My name is Brandon and I’m a Nottingham based
photographer. Need some photos taken? I’m the perfect
choreographer’…
FAQ: After doing some research on the
variety of biographies included on
portfolios I decided to have a short facts
and questions section. I decided to include
a variety of questions that could be
relatable for a photographer but also show
off personality as well in my answers.
(Q) How would you introduce yourself in 5 words?
‘Hi, my name is Brandon’
(Q) Describe yourself in 4 words.
‘Fun, Sarcastic, Professional(ish) & Awkward’
(Q) Describe your photography in 3 words.
‘Creative, Colourful & Clear’
(Q) Name your 2 best achievements.
‘I never follow the rules so here’s three.
I’ve completed my Gold Duke of Edinburgh,
I’ve been paid to make videos on my
University’s official Instagram account &
I’ve met royalty but I don’t know which
one’
(Q) What is your main aim?
‘To be happy and make money, and to
make others happy with that money’
(Q) Other than Photography, what
else do you enjoy?
‘I don’t have that many other interests, but
the main ones include things like
videography, modelling, mentoring, public
speaking, content creation, social media,
digital marketing, blogging, interviewing,
music, celebrity news/gossip, sports,
health & fitness. That’s about it really.’
Portrait: When deciding which image to use as the
portrait, I wanted to experiment with whether the image
would be better in a square or circle format. I feel like my
decision will be helped once I decide which template I
want to use for my photography portfolio.
Social Media: For the social media platforms, I
decided that it would be best for them to be
under my portrait so it’s easy to access the
websites, rather than them being on every single
page of the portfolio.

In terms of portraits, I have a few ‘go to
images’ which are featured above. The only
problem is that none of them are images that
were taken recently enough, so I decided to have
another photo-shoot to search for a new portrait
shot.
My aim was to get a variety of close up, long
shots and varied emotions (including no smiles
and smiles). Here’s a variety of images that were
taken with the best few highlighted on this slide.

When selecting images for the showreel, I needed to ensure that the images I
chose had other images to compliment them. As you can see with the above
screenshots, there are lots of images to choose from, making it easy for me to
group images together for either the showreel or my main photography portfolio
In contrast, the images below don’t have much selection, and they don’t
really fit with any particular theme of portrait photography. Although
there are some individual images that have been photographed very
well, I won’t be showcasing ‘a collection’ of the images. Instead, I might
have a page with ‘other portraits’ which they might be able to fit under.

The next thing I had to decide for my photography portfolio was a colour
scheme, which for me could have gone either way. I do enjoy photography
with a colourful colour scheme I could have showcased a variety of my black
and white work. However, I had a lo more vibrant and colourful photos that I
wanted to have on my website, so after these little tests, I have decided that
I want to go for something more simple. I didn’t want the colour of the page
to clash with the colours on the image (no matter how light or dark they
were)
In terms of my ‘professional status’, I am in regular contact with a variety of
different creatives who enjoy having their photos taken so I would want to
try and showcase the best of my work to this date. I am quite an interesting
person and although that means ‘colour’, I thought I would have a simple
theme to allow people’s minds to make up their own perceptions about me.
This was a more simplistic colour palette of colours that I
was more likely to choose from. The colours vary from plain
white to a mid-light grey. The colours would compliment
vibrant/colourful images, but I still hadn’t decided whether
I wanted to have a simple or a plain portfolio.

In terms of creating my site, I decided to use wordpress, as I have previous
experience with it and it’s relatively simple to use. I decided to go for a
template theme called ‘Rivington’ which is similar to my initial draft.

These are a few screenshots from my first attempt of creating
a ‘Landing Page’. I wanted to include both my photography and
modelling work, but after speaking to several of my peers and
my lecturers, I decided to focus solely on my photography.
Other things I wanted to think about changing;
-Changing the title of the website
-Removing all the pictures of myself
-Having some text on each of the images to explain where they
have been taken and the name of the model

This is an updated version of the ‘Landing Page’. As you can see I
have removed all of the images of myself and renamed the portfolio
to ‘IsThatBrandon Photography’. I decided to add captions to each of
the images with some basic information rather than the images all
just looking completely random.
As you can above also, I decided to use the blurred background
concept and have that as a background for my photography images.
I also decided for the home page of my portfolio to be a blank white
screen with a button saying ‘Click here’ which will bring you to the
overview of my portfolio. I also included my photography logo.

Biography / ‘About Me’ Page
Create

This was my first attempt at creating an ‘About Me’
page. Reflecting on what I did, I am happy that I
decided to stick with a simple theme and limited
colour, as it makes the text stand out a lot clearer.
There are some good and bad aspects about this page.
-No need to include ‘Who Am I’,
because this is the page about me.
-I like the comedy aspect in the opening
line, but need to rephrase my bio.
-Clear links to social
media accounts
-For the ‘Skills, Interests and Hobbies’, I
could think about creating an infographic
or something a little more graphic
appealing or deleting it altogether
-Reword to ‘Portfolio’
rather than ‘Blog’
-Need to choose a
different portrait as this
image is quite outdated

-Updated portrait -Changed the intro line to
something more catchy
-Added a small FAQ section with
genuine answers that I would give
In terms of coming up with a new bio, I was actually introduced to ‘Mr
Bingo’’, and inspired by how he structured his about me section. I
didn’t want to copy his style, but instead just answer a few questions
that show off my personality instead of just listing my skills randomly.
I also decided to keep my introduction sentences simple and subtly
include some rhyme which I thought could be an interesting addition to
the page.
I also changed my profile picture to something a lot more
elegant/professional without using a picture of a camera/lighting
equipment to showcase my skill.

Achievements / Publications
Create

For the ‘Achievements and Publications’
page, I decided to post evidence of where
my photography work has been shared. I
included a few images from a photography
exhibition I did back during my A Levels,
along with two videos that analysed the
photography work I did (which was creating
4 sketchbooks researching a variety of
different photographers, using them to
inspire us to create our own work and then
go on to experiment with a variety of
different editing tools, colours etc.
I decided to add these images and videos to
the exhibition page as this was the start of
my interest for photography and it’s nice to
sometimes showcase the early stages of
photography work and then how far you
have progressed over the years.
I also decided to include a brief caption for each section of the
exhibition. The work has been split into three main sections,
and I speak more about the actual creation of the
photography/inspirations and developments in the videos
below.

When looking through the portraits I had taken from my
photo-shoot, I really liked them without any editing, but
wanted to see how they looked in black and white. The
photographer I worked with edited the images to black and
white and I was happier with the edited pictures so decided
to use one of them as my profile picture.

For the gallery page, I wanted to tease
people with just one image on the front
page (with separate pages showcasing
a variety of images from that shoot). All
of the shoots have been named sensibly
to help them stand out, rather than just
calling it ‘Shoot 1 - Sarah’ for example.
To make the thumbnails, I used Canva which is a website I am very familiar with, as I have
used it to create a variety of image based content. I decided to use one of the interesting
looking templates with spots that were different shades of blue. I ensured that the
intensity of the filter was 30-40% so that the background image wasn’t too dark, but that
it was also visible. I also experimented with coloured text on both a blurry/non blurry
image. After experimentation, bold betters with a white background, and a blurry image as
the background was the most effective way to showcase the work featured on my website
and would be accessible to those with any form of disorder (such as dyslexia).

One of the good things about wordpress, is that you select the
images that you want to use, and can reorder them before you click
‘Insert’. Here you can see I have 18 images about to be uploaded, as I
felt I wanted to include a variety of the models I took pictures of
since this was a group meet-up rather than an individual focused
photo-shoot.
Here are two examples of the ‘finished pages’ with a collection of images
and a short paragraph describing where the images were taken. I made sure
to include my personality in the short biography, as that’s what is going to
make people either scroll through the images, or click off of the portfolio.
When you are on the page and want to see the bigger versions of the images,
they will appear with a black background, and the option to go to the previous
or next images on the gallery. I have labelled each of the images with the name
of the model and which image of the gallery. For example, this is ‘Regina #1’, so
you know it is the first image of this model for this particular gallery.

Here are the 4 other
galleries of work that I
have decided to showcase

To create the social media links
active, I used the template that was
given to me and made sure that I put
the platforms in the right order. From
there, I had to click on the image,
‘link to’, and type in the full HTML
address including the ‘:’ and ‘/’
otherwise the page wouldn’t link.
I thought it would be beneficial for
the social media accounts to be
under the image on my ‘About Page’
so that all of my accounts were
accessible in the same place. I also
didn’t want to have them on every
single page because then it would
seem like I am forcing people to look
at my content.
I will also have a ‘Contact Me’ page
which will allow people to directly
contact me through a form.

When creating my showreel, I decided that I wanted to
split it into main sections based on the images I
wanted to use. Most of my images fall under the
portrait sub section of ‘club/neon’ photography or the
sub section of portraits around architecture/buildings.
I decided to begin experimenting with the layout of my
photography work. When first creating the showreel I
wanted to just have ‘IsThatBrandon’ as the
introduction. Then, I selected a few collections of
images that I wanted to transition together. I also
decided to include a few individual images that stood
out from the rest of the set.
I also decided to use the ‘Ruination 2’ music as the backing track
of my showreel. It was labelled as a Pop/Inspirational theme song.

For my contact page I thought I would keep the
theme simplistic and use basic colours. For the short
bio at the beginning, I decided to add a simple
sentence saying ‘Let’s talk. Don’t hesitate to
contact me if you want to reach out. I’m
embedded a form to my page as my social
media notifications are usually turned off..’.
I decided to include a wave emoji in the bio to
show that I have some personality and that I am
open to communicating with new people.
For the contact form, I decided to have three of the
four questions as ‘required’ answers so that I know
exactly who is contacting me. Having the name,
email and message fields make it easy for identity
an individual rather than having to ask all of those
questions anyway if somebody was to fill out the
form and contact me.
I also thought it would be a good idea to have
‘website’ as one of the options for people to
include the link of, just in case they had a
portfolio page as well or wanted to collaborate
and let me know which creative type they were.
Photographers and videographers would
sometimes want to work on a shoot at the same
time, and for models, they would want to
showcase some of their previous work.
For the left hand side column, I
didn’t want to include my
address because I’m originally
from London and want to sell
myself as a Nottingham based
photographer as I plan to stay
here after graduation. I also
didn’t feel it would be suitable
to include my address for my
student accommodation as I am
only going to be staying here for
another two months before I
move out and have to find
somewhere else to live. I
decided to use my personality to
sharply say ‘No address. Use
that side >’, guiding people to
fill out the form.
I included my second email address
so that I can keep my personal
emails separate from my work
related emails. I decided to not
include my phone number as people
can contact me through social media,
email or the contact form and we can
exchange details after getting to
know each-other first.
At the bottom of the contact form there is a
black button with the word ‘Submit’ written in
write font so that it is easy for people to know
when they are at the bottom of the form.

In terms of a blog for the portfolio,
I wanted to write at least one post
each week to show that I was
engaged with the module and was
able to do my own research outside
of the class. Here’s a screenshot of
what the blog posts page looks like.
I really like the simplicity of the
page, but think that it could have
been made a lot better if you were
able to see all of the posts at once,
rather than having to click on
‘previous’ and ‘next’ post.

During the Advanced Multimedia session on 27/03, I decided to show some of the work that I had produced
for this module; including my photo, portrait image and first draft of my photography portfolio. The overall
response was pretty good but there were some suggestions / additional comments that were discussed.
Think about adding a question mark
after my brand name to make it
clear that I am asking a question.
Think about re-arranging the elements
on the pre landing page & stick to a
consistent theme with images used.
Remove the word ‘ish’ after describing myself
as a professional or add more comedy words
and phrases elsewhere on the portfolio.
On the question ‘Name your 2 best
achievements; change University’s
Instagram to NTU because I won’t be a
student in two months.
For the Exhibitions page, remove the
images and let the videos speak for
themselves. Potentially think about
adding a more updated video.

Updated the logo
and changed
‘ISTHATBRANDON’
to ‘ITB’
Changed the layout of the
images on the landing page
Added a separate page
for my showreel
Changed a few of
my answers on my
‘About Page’
Removed the images
from the page as the
videos gave more detail
Adding a link to the
‘Landing Page’ on the
rest of the portfolio
Included ‘direct message’
into the paragraph as I
changed the title of
filling out the form to
‘Send me an IsThatBran-
DM’...

isthatbrandonphotography.wordpress.com

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