On the about page, we talk about the Polar Clan Initiative
About
A. Documentation of the Development Process
The website design is focused on the creative work of the Polar Clan Initiative. The product is created through the innovation and creative endeavors of the makers involved in the Polar Clan Initiative. The website will act as a gallery for the work and adventures of the Polar Clan. The Polar Clan Initiative is a small group of artists, makers, musicians, and engineers that create and share their crafts and adventures. Local artists create works of art, share their personal journeys, share their musical talent, or grow and cultivate with a maker mentality. All to support themselves and nurture their creative talents. The purpose of the Polar Clan Initiative website is to create an online gallery space to highlight local artists works, and provide a mechanism for supporters to purchase work from those artists. The website will eventually provide a marketing channel, an ecommerce solution, as well as a networking community. There will be monthly gallery changes to allow for frequent introductions and attractions, while still maintaining highlights and attractive marketing for previous featured artists. During the project, I researched great art gallery websites. I found several highly rated sites in a few digital art magazines, and found inspiration in elements upon visiting those sites. I also read several articles discussing artist websites, and the best design philosophy for this type of site. This lead to the neutral, white-box, showcasing nature of the Polar Clan Initiative site design.
B. Defense of the Final Product
The general page design for the Polar Clan Initiative website follows the same wireframe throughout the site. This will help the user to navigate the site more easily. The Polar Clan Initiative logo will stay focused in the upper left-hand corner. The search box will appear in the upper right-hand corner of the site. The footer will contain links to special pages and will remain constant throughout the site. The home page template will place the a sub-level navigation menu in the right-hand column, with the main container taking up 2/3 of the page, hosting a graphic image to draw the user’s attention. Other pages within the website will maintain a static header, with the main site navigation menu available, and the right-hand navigation menu hosting links to other pages within that section of the site. This will allow for more screen real estate to be devoted to the artist’s work. The design on the additional site pages will allow the artist work to be highlighted, but also allow for quick and easy access to related information. For the Polar Clan Initiative website, the color palette is be subdued. The purpose of the website is to showcase the work of the members similar to an online gallery setting. White boxes to highlight the work of artists, with cool neutral blues, greys, and black. These colors will not only mimic the colors of the polar bear’s environment but will also allow a natural gallery for the photos. Using a neutral blue, grey, and black will allow for typography to be applied on top of background images for better visibility. Highlight colors will be driven by the featured artist’s work, this will allow for the visual appeal to be inspired by the product and allow the website colors to be a supporting cast.