Website Analysis 1 - Taryn Simons

I decided to take Taryn Simons as one of the photographers websites I would analyse, mainly because so far with in my year and a half of studying at UCS, she has been mentioned in almost every module of mine and been a great influence throughout.http://www.tarynsimon.com

The first thing I done was look at the first page, the one which tells you whether or not you want to continue to look at the site, or divert off of it due to the unpleasing aesthetics.

Taryn Simons introduction page at first glance looks pretty confusing, and full of information. Saying this, the background is plain black, and the writing is white which i think it a great way to keep something looking professional and simple. I think that lots of bold bright mixes of colours is to much and can sometimes misslead and put people off your website.
Her first page contains links on the left hand side which lead you to different areas of her work in a separate page, after a drop down menu gives you options of what you want to look at. Very quick, easy and efficent.

She also has photographs of her recent collaboration on the first page, styled in a grid format showing a ride range of the collection. This is good as it gives the viewer a varied taster of her work, but it also look quite overpowering and chaotic in contrast to the plain text and background colours. This part of her page gets updated regularly.

Further down the page there is a long list of all of her instillation views and where they were held. This gives us a great idea of the popularity ofTaryns work and alos allows us the correct information to research different areas. I think its great that this is included in her website, and its an important part, but I am not sure that it has to be shown on the very first page. Although there is a drop down menu titled "insillation views" i dont feel that it is needed twice on the website.

 

 

I deicded to then click on 'Works' and look at how she has presented her famous series 'A living man declared dead and other chapters'. The link worked really quickly and with one click I was directed to a page full pf writing, with a page number at the bottom and arrows each side. Daughting at first site seeing a few paragraphs but i began to realise it was a c lever way of allowing people to read into the work, before they view the photographs. You can self-direct the photographs and move along the collection as quickly or as slowly as you want. The worst thing on a website is when they have a set up slideshow which cannot be viewed at your own pace!

The images when viewing them are nice and big, and i think that not having 10 all on the same page, where you click each image to enlarge it is very effective and allows you to concentrate on each photograph individually. It also allows you to be suprised with each image to come, as you have not seen them all on the popular grid before hand.

Her biography is very simple and allows a quick read, which is what everyone is looking for, it also has very simple font and colours keeping it minimal and bareable.
The contact page on Taryn Simons website is easily accessible and allows you to write to her information services via email to ask any questions.

Overall I think although the website seems to be packed full of stuff, it still seems to hold simplicity well due to the colours and fonts used. The links to get to each required destination on the page afre very easy to see, and the fact that the drop down menu text is the biggest on the page helps us to navigate around easier.

I think its a great pleasure to look at Taryn Simons work online, and read all about her due to the 'everyone friendly' layout and content.