Squarespace portfolio website design for artists
For artists, photographers and other creatives having a portfolio site is crucial to your success. Squarespace makes it easy to create a showcase for your work and also sell prints through its e-commerce features. Many artists will connect to a print-on-demand service taking the commerce details out of their direct responsibility.
Here are some tips to make your artist portfolio site standout in a sea of artist sites:
Use large scale banner images: Bring visitors into your world by using full width banner images. Go big and even add spacers or stretch out that section using Fluid Engine, Squarespace’s newest editing platform.
Tell your story immediately: Don’t let users wait until they click on your About page for them to get to know a little bit about you. Add an intro to the homepage so they can get a sense of what drives you to create.
Get creative with your site because you are a creative: If your website doesn’t look like an artist created it, it’s not a good look. Use design elements that aren’t predictable. With Fluid Engine you can push boundaries. Try overlapping text and images. Push some image blocks to the edges of a section. Employ a range of scales and proportions to your design. Add background images that provide subtle visual interest.
Use the lightbox feature: Make sure you click on the lightbox feature for individual image block and within your gallery sections. This allows the user to click on an image and view it in a larger size and if it’s a gallery section, scroll through the series. This allows visitors to enjoy your work on a larger scale if they aren’t showcased as banner images.
Blog to show your philosophy and upcoming events: Adding additional content beyond the main pages is a smart way to highlight certain aspects of your art. Perhaps choose to focus on one piece, explaining its significance. Or tell people about an upcoming exhibit or collaboration. Provide insight into your world and process.
One of the best features of Squarespace 7.1 for artists is the Portfolio section option. The format allows you to create subsections that lead into more expansive pages that can be designed in any manner. For artists, you can categorize your work, perhaps it’s paintings from different periods or themes. Visitors can get a quick overview of the types of work you produce and explore each category. The Portfolio section allows visitors to scroll from section to section within your portfolio.
To start getting ideas for your artist site, simply explore other artist sites and create a list of features you like and don’t like. Apply the design elements you identify with. Why reinvent the wheel? Borrow but add your own take.
Squarespace plugins for artists
Two add-ons that can be very helpful to artist sites are the plugins Lightbox Anything and Mega Menu. The Lightbox Anything add-on allows you to create a pop-up window when a user clicks on a line of text or image. This lets visitors stay on the page while browsing your site. For example, if a particular piece of art you want to sell is shown in a gallery section you can create a pop-up to your product page for that piece. The genius of the plugin is that you can use any page format as your destination for the pop-up. If the user wants to explore they can stay on the page where a variety of your work is featured.
The Mega Menu plugin by Will Myers allows you to use a top navigation style that is visually appealing. For example, if you are an artist that has paintings, drawings and sculptures you can create a large drown down section when a user hovers over one of your top navigation items. Users can see at a glance a preview of each type of your work before clicking into a particular section.
Both plugins are relatively easy to install and use, but like anything Squarespace related the more you try and get familiar with the Settings, you will be able to master your site.
