Marco Bolognesi
This site is portfolio site for a photographer named Marco Bolognesi. I was reviewing some of the sites that this designer Popmatik made and this one I found the most intriguing. The first page is a splash page of the Marco’s name and emblem. There is a row of information along the bottom that I find mostly unnecessary. The five things are contact info, resolution requirements for the site, a link to download a required flash plugin, the website designer Popmatik, and an explanation that you must click on the shield emblem to enter the site. I’m ok with the contact information so the splash page can kind of serve as a business card if the user is already familiar Marco’s work. The minimum resolution info, download plugin link, and explanation on how to enter the site I feel are all unnecessary and bog down the splash page. If the user doesn’t have the flash plugin, then have something pop up to guide him to the download rather than include it on the splash page. And there should be no need for an explanation on how to enter the site, it’s is pretty obvious or just put the word enter under his name.

splash page

There is only one primary navigation system along the left side of every page. The four links of the primary nav are about, gallery, news, and contact. The short list makes the site seem concise, simple, and clean. The rollover state is a nice bright pink bar that glides quickly over the link; the selected state is also the pink background bar. The bright pink selected state lets you know where you are in the site at all times so the user is never confused. The home page is the about page and there is never a point where you cannot go back to it. You cannot, however, go back to the splash page without using the browser’s back button or retyping the site address.

about page

The site does not have a deep architecture, there are not that many pages and it only goes past a second level in the gallery section. The architecture can be considered mostly flat except for the gallery pages. You can access the other three primary nav pages whenever you want. The gallery has a second level of different galleries and within each gallery is a pagination of different images. I think it’s a good architecture and it makes logical sense to the user.
One problem I have with the site is the lack of hierarchy of typography. It makes the content on the about and news pages seem really congested and considering its white type on a black background, it definitely makes me not want to read any of it. The only designation between the two levels of typography is the more prominent heading is bold. I would definitely change the color of the headings from white to perhaps the bright pink color that’s already in the site, just to make the content more readable and appealing.

News page

Even though there are only four labels, they are clear and contain accurate information.
The structure/grid of the pages stays consistent on every page. The emblem and name remain in the top left corner with the primary nav under it. The focal point of every page is the content. The framework of the site is simple and subtle; therefore the large content area becomes the focal point of every page, especially in gallery section because the large area allows for big images.
The photos in the gallery are definitely the main focal point of the entire site. They are really the only source of information about Marco. The news and about pages don’t really give the user anything about Marco as a person. The about just has past exhibitions he was a part of. Therefore the photos are very important to showoff Marco’s talent. The images themselves are very stunning and have a large area to showcase them within the site. However I have a very big problem with almost all of the iconography within the gallery section. First there are only five galleries to look through yet three of them are on one page and the other two are on another. Therefore there is a previous screen, screen 1 of 2, and next screen buttons on the bottom which are completely unnecessary. I would much rather just have the five galleries more compressed and on the same screen and do away with those buttons along the bottom. Also along the top there are six icons that have a muted pink color and don’t do anything.

gallery page

Once inside a gallery the six icons regain the bright pink color to help you navigate through the pictures. So from left to right, the first icon is a grid icon that I understood to be a link back to the galleries. The second and fifth icons remain a muted pink of left and right arrows that I still do not know what they do. You would think they would be to navigate through the pictures but that’s what icons three and four do as plus and minus signs. For the purpose of scrolling back and forth through photos, I would just use arrow icons, since plus and minus icons are less clear. The last icon is another arrow icon pointing to the right. At first I thought it was the navigation button to move onto the next photo but it was instead a play button for a slide show. And lastly, there are a row of numbers along the bottom signaling the different photos within the gallery and when you rollover them a small thumbnail pops up which I liked, since it gave more space for the large main image while still allowing the user to see a preview of the photo. However, the numbers do not have a selected state which doesn’t let you know which photo you are on within the list. I would suggest keeping the first icon, losing the plus and minus icons and instead use the arrows to scroll back and forth, moving the play slideshow icon to the middle where the play button usually resides on most layouts and also having the gallery start as a slideshow so the play/pause button can start out as a pause button which is more clear and won’t become confused as with the other button pointing in that direction, and finally having the numbers have a selected state.

Page in a gallery

In the news and about sections the content has a scroll bar which is a very elegant thing pink rectangle that slides along a line down the page. I really like the look of his scroll bar, it’s very subtle and clean.
The only colors on this site are grey, white, black, and pink. I actually like the color choice, I think the pink really stands out and compliments the black background. The black background gives a gothic/artsy type of feel to the site which I believe is extremely appropriate considering the genre of photography Marco does. I think these colors were chosen to keep the site simple and elegant yet dark and mysterious. The primary nav is separated from the content very subtly by different shades of metallic dark grey and a thin black line.
The objective of the site is to be a portfolio to market and promote the works of Marco Bolognesi. It is not a very big site so there is no need for a search feature. I found the gallery the most useful feature only because it was the best source of information for Marco’s talents and skills, but like I said before I found the gallery icons extremely confusing and hard to use. There are several aspects of the site that I have suggested changing, however, I like the overall look of the site. It’s extremely clean and elegant. I like the use of the bright pink highlights and black background; I think they really compliment Marco’s style of photography. And I like the large area dedicated for his images, which are the central piece to his portfolio site.