Brutal critique requested

[melanie_kern]

i recently redesigned my Zenfolio site and would love some brutal honest feedback concerning layout, font, ease of use, etc. Thank you!!

 

<p><a href="http://mkfphotos.com">http://mkfphotos.com</a>

[Hector Javkin]

<p>You asked for brutal critique, so here goes: It's awful that you don't have more photos, since I like the ones I saw very much.</p>

<p>Seriously, the top page scrolls in an odd way on my Firefox 30.0.1 (should be current): the step increase in movement once you go beyond the arrows is disconcerting. Actually, I don't know that it helps to have that scrolling at all. If one uses the menus, the site is fairly straightforward. Your aware, of course, that the web address reflects to the former name of your company, not the present one.</p>

 

[melanie_kern]

Thank you! It's funny, I saw a webcast that Scott Kelby gave recently about website design and just loved that scrolling

homepage. That was why I added it. But I've had more people complain about it than not, so I think I'll remove it.

 

I'm not sure how to fix the web address issue. If you type in mkfphotos.com it will redirect you to spiffypix.com. I guess I

have to swap it. Have spiffypix redirect to MKF photos. My head explodes just thinking about trying to do that.

 

Thanks do much for the criticism and kind words!

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I took a quick peek this afternoon via my tablet, and again just now on the desktop PC.</p>

<p>The site seems optimized for a conventional computer and browser. Looked good overall, although the very first photo on the homepage was partially obscured by the left sidebar.</p>

<p>The typography was a bit tiny and hard to read on the tablet. The photos looked good but scrolling seemed odd on the tablet, although that might be a quirk of the Kindle Fire HD's Silk browser.</p>

<p>You have some excellent photos, particularly the landscapes. But the default presentation is a hodge podge of landscapes and still lifes. If I was passing by with no preconceived notions I wouldn't have any idea what your passion is. For example, I know of a few photographers who excel in both candid photography of people, and fine art or conceptual imagery. Some of them set up different websites to differentiate between these identities. If they use hodge-podge type sites to display a sampling of all their work, it's usually on someplace like Behance, smugmug, Flickr, 500px, etc.</p>

<p>Also, you have a listing of genres or categories (the snowflakes are remarkable!). But the category for black and white feels like an afterthought. Many of us who grew up with b&w and still use film or print in the darkroom regard b&w as a medium, an aesthetic, but not a genre or category. The "imagine" page seems like another hodge podge, including a single infrared landscape.</p>

<p>Overall, it feels like a typical display/critique section on photo.net, Flickr or 500px, rather than a carefully curated gallery to display a well focused selection of your very best work for sale. Hodge podge displays are fine for peer review sites where the primary audience is fellow photographers from whom we're seeking feedback. But a marketing gallery should be pared down to some distinct projects, themes or genres and show only your very best work (although that's admittedly difficult for us to identify in our own work).</p>

<p>Regarding prints, it looks like you're using mpix for print fulfillment. But I'm not seeing options for mounting, framing, etc. I would guess that most prospective buyers would prefer mounted and framed.</p>

<p>Also, have you considered options for sales of thematically similar work, such as your snowflake photos? Perhaps an option for a print on demand coffee table book, or diptych or triptych framed display.</p>

<p>Good stuff, I'd just suggest working to distinguish your website from the zillions of others out there.</p>

[melanie_kern]

<p>That was a fantastic Critique, Lex. Thank you for taking the time to look at the site and for your insight. <br /><br />I will definitely work on site optimization. I miss the days when it was just Netscape or Internet Explorer!<br /><br />The homepage - I recently watched Scott Kelby's show where he was critiqing peoples' sites. He absolutely loved that scrolling home page thing that I'm using. But most people I've spoken to seem not to like it, so i think I will remove it.<br /><br />I consider myself just an enthusiastic amateur. If I see an image that i like, I immediately dive into that new kind of photography and try to do it myself (infrared, still life, high speed water drop photography, snowflakes, etc). But I tend to bore easily and move on quickly to the next challenge. It leaves me with a lot of images that I'm happy with, but it also leaves me with the hodge-podge that you mentioned. I don't really specialize in anything. Nor do i think I would want to. But how should I handle this website-wise? If I had multiple websites, I would need to maintain them and i don't get any traffic on my current site, so it's hard for me to think that i would get traffic on multiple sites. (I completely agree with your hodge podge assessment btw.)<br /><br />I agree about the b/w category and i'll remove it.<br /><br />The 'imagine' page is a catch-all for all of the images that don't fit in the other specific categories. I'm not sure how to fix this issue without deleting the images altogether, and i'm not sure I want to do that just yet.<br /><br />I make, on average, one sale a year (yes, you read that right). Just enough to pay to maintain the site. It's a chicken/egg scenario for me. Why put time into setting up sales if I'm not getting any...or am I not getting any because my sales aren't set up properly? Sigh...Do people at my amateur level even sell images? <br /><br />Again, Lex, thanks for the fantastic critique. I loved it!<br /><br />Melanie<br /><br /><br /></p>

 

[studio460]

<p>I recently redesigned my own SmugMug page [<a href="http://ralphoshiro.com/">http://ralphoshiro.com/</a>], and have been wrestling with many of the same issues as you. I'll just point out some personal irks I have with websites in general, so don't take these too personally:</p>

<p>• Your splash image is gorgeous! Extra points there!<br /> • You should brand each page. I think direct-contact info (i.e., a phone number) should be everywhere.<br /> • If relevant to your type of business, identify your location.<br /> • I'm not a fan of "about" pages. I think there are cleverer ways to do this.<br /> • Similarly, I'm not a fan of "contact" pages, and, <em>especially,</em> not a fan of contact <em>forms</em>.<br /> • In general, don't make your visitors click too much (personally, I went very minimalist).<br /> • Along that vein, try to reduce the segregation of your work (too much clicking!).<br>

• Generally, the lower the amount of required clicks, the lower your bounce rate.<br /> • Overall, yours is an attractive site with even more attractive images. Simplify and brand. Done!</p>

[melanie_kern]

<p>Excellent critique and great ideas, Ralph. Thank you!!</p>

[studio460]

<p>You're welcome! Again, your work is quite beautiful! However, since selling unsolicited work on the internet is a bit of a shot in the dark, I would recommend alternative marketing avenues: soliciting local hotels, bars, restaurants, corporate offices, etc. (though, still a hard sell). Another idea is to print framed copies of your work and display them in whatever nicely styled interiors you can gain access to, and shoot your work hanging in these interiors (sort of like you'd see in an issue of <em>Dwell</em> or in an Ikea catalog), using those final images to complement your website selling pages. More difficult to pull off, but would show your work more in-context.</p>