Website Critique

http://www.artsmithphotography.com/

Art Smith's studio is in downtown Columbia and I have passed by it a few times. The studio looks really low-key but the website is impressive. The color combination of homepage is fashionable and the image helps avoid the dullness of simple black-white. Big-sized texts make it highly readable. It is easy for viewers to know at first glance whose site it is, what it is about, what the photographer's business includes and how to contact.

It is good to see some recent work from the photographer; horse show pictures are really cool. But I get a little bit lost when I click the big title of "Art Smith" on the top and expect I would be guided back to homepage. Unexpectedly it comes to another different page which seems to be Spanish.

The About page is fine but one problem is that when I click on the "homepage" link at the bottom and return, the top image does not load. Same problem occurs every time when I want to go back to homepage from any other page's bottom link. However, apart from the image problem, the design of the bottom links is really user-friendly; it ensures that viewers can go anywhere at any point when wandering the website.

Portfolio is super cool but some images just do not come out. Another point is the pictures are a little too big, so when I want to go to next picture, I have to scroll down the page and then find the "previous" or "next" button. Except for this, the portfolio part is excellent. It is easy for viewers to enlarge the image or get back to normal size just within one click; it is also convenient to go anywhere in the site from any part of the portfolio, such as back to homepage, go to next category, or see other pictures in the same category.

Capability page and price page are fine; I do appreciate the big size and bright color contrast of the texts, which allows my eyes to keep comfortable when reading such a big block of texts. Contact information is also done well; the email address is both copy-able and clickable. Overall the website is well-designed and the photographer's personal style can be seen from it.