How to Create the Best Artist Website Design
Art is a form of expression that an artist imagines and puts onto paper, canvas, or wood. Along with art galleries and exhibition, there are other ways of showcasing your talent and, nowadays, digital art has seen an increase in popularity.
You can express and showcase your talent through various art websites; however, there are innumerable options, and yours needs to stand out. You must include a combination of creativity, art, and digital knowledge to create the perfect website design.
How to Make an Artist Website Design
Many artists ask the question: how to create an art website? It’s simple! In reality, making a site with a great design is not as difficult as it seems. We will provide you with some useful tips that we’ve researched and tested that will help you come up with a phenomenal design.
Designs are different for each field. A medical website has an easy and informative outlook but a football one has a more visual background. Similarly, website design for artists should be creative and imaginative, while simultaneously related directly to the audience.
8 Tips to Make an Artist Website Design
When you create an artist website design, a few basic rules must be followed. Let’s review the top tips and tricks.
1. Get the Basics Right
When creating a website design, people tend to forget the basics – like your name and logo. How will people find you if the website name is not your name or your company’s name?
An artist is a brand in him- or herself which you should showcase as much as possible. Therefore, it’s ideal to use the same name as the title of the webpage. Make sure you send a message to the audience about your style of art through the style of the title.
Moreover, understanding what the brand is all about is essential in creating a great design. Therefore, pay attention to your logo. You should focus on professional graphics when implementing logo design and logo branding.
2. Clear Navigation
Even though it is an art website and you have all the rights to mold it according to your imagination, navigation through artworks and galleries must also be clear. Use clear and concise headings and pictures to navigate to different parts of the pages.
You may add some styles to it or add artistic elements to the hamburger menu, but make sure the audience doesn’t get confused. People like to see beautiful things but, if they want to go to one particular page, the route to get there should be simple.
3. Color Combinations
You must have noticed that some color pairings have an intensity that attracts the eye instantly. The same goes for art websites. An artist understands this point better than anyone else, and the importance of color should not be limited to artwork alone.
Colors have the power to induce depression, sadness, happiness or positivity in one’s life. The artist’s website color palette should be vibrant and contain hues of cool blues, warm yellows, and calm greens. Although this color scheme is simple and flexible, it also brings hope and confidence.
4. High-quality Pictures
Pictures are the highlight of your website. You must be very careful with the kind of images you upload and their appearance. First of all, make sure the image opens on all devices, like computers or mobile phones. People like to use mobile phones more because they are convenient.
Be aware that, while making the images compatible, the quality should not be compromised. If the images are too small in size, blurry, or photographs of your drawings are taken in low light, people won’t give you much credit as an artist. What’s the reason behind this? Very simple – users need to be able to see your art properly. So, your art should be bright, big in size, and should be in high definition. You might also want to create art digitally. This will save you time rather than photographing hard copies of your work.
5. Artwork Details
These details are actually the reason people will visit your site. Many art enthusiasts will see your website pop up in an advert or on Google. After catching a glimpse of your talent, they will likely visit one of your exhibitions or may even be interested in making a purchase in person or online.
As such, we recommend that you add all the necessary details to your pieces and art listings, as follows:
- Title of Artwork;
- Medium;
- Dimensions;
- Price;
- Year of Creation;
- Availability (for sale, not available).
These separate details will help your website with increased search prominence on Google. Once Google recognizes your website, it will appear as recommendations, too.
6. Artist Details
If you want to use your website as a portfolio, then you should put your autobiography or CV on the website, ensuring it has a great design. Do not put it on the main webpage but, rather, add it as an option in the menu. Make sure your CV is brief, to the point, and highlights your creative works.
An autobiography, on the other hand, is a difficult thing to create since it requires time and patience. You may show it as a movie or a written account – many individuals like to use other art mediums to showcase their journey.
Contact information is quite important because a potential buyer might be looking at your website. At the end, or in the menu (as “Contact”), you can add your phone number, email, and address. If you are active on social media, make sure you add the links to those sites, too and, if possible, add them as icons to highlight your design skills.
7. Organization of an Artist Site
If you are building your website from scratch, it is important to build it schematically. Some pages must be included on the website and others are considered additional. An organized website will help your audience easily navigate through a plethora of artwork and still find exactly what they are looking for.
Let us give you some easy-to-navigate website tips that are the most popular here.
- Homepage – this is the main web page that opens up when you enter the URL of your website. This should include the title of your company or your name, a few pieces of beautiful art, and a hamburger menu. You can either add one piece of artwork or many in the form of a slideshow. You may decide among different types of hamburger animations, as well. When the menu icon is clicked, several options will open up.
- Galleries – after showing a few pieces of artwork on the main page, dedicate one whole segment of the website to the rest. Divide them into several albums depending on style, year, or place of exhibition. Do not have more than 30 high-quality images on one webpage. Include the details of each piece and highlight the significance. Having a comment section is a way to get audience feedback, and you should also ensure you have a specific link to place orders.
- Other parts of the menu – a webpage describing the artist’s history and profession can be a part of it this area, titled “About the Artist” or “About Me”. Another important part is the contact page where all the contact details are provided.
8. Update your Website
Every online activity is measured by the number of updates it has. The same goes for a website. If you create it once and it stays redundant, then Google will not show it among its popular pages.
Of course, it is difficult to come up with art every day that can be uploaded. Maybe you can add a blog or describe your art, add a quick intro before each piece or update the website with details of an upcoming exhibition.
You can also consider reviewing other artworks or publish your thoughts about a recent incident that inspired you. Constant activity on a site will leave people eager to see what the artist will do next.
How to Create an Artist Website Design
The above tips will help you get the basics of building a website, but you also need to see a few examples to actually understand what we are talking about. We will provide some examples of the best art websites out there.
Also, if you find it difficult to create a website on your own because it is not your forte (which we understand), you may use a website builder and templates or ask for some online help from professional web designers. You’ll just need to tell them your requirements to have them create exactly what you need. It can be cheap and easy.
Examples of the Best Artist Website Designs
With technological advancements, artists are also evolving. As promised, we will give some examples of state-of-the-art websites that are regularly updated and look wonderful. A number of artist website design examples exist, so it’s undoubtedly good to check them out:
1. Floatingcanvas
This is a perfect example of an art site that is focused on a web art gallery and delivering imaginative and creative portraits to visitors. With a subtle white background and light design, the site aims at focusing on the work examples.
The website opens with great animation and it provides clear navigation. With Floating Canvas, you will definitely find great art and illustrations, while enjoying a clean, flat, and responsive design with infinite scroll.
2. Rzcollection
If you are looking for an animated project menu, take a look at Rzcollection with its great UI animation and micro-interactions. Such websites are ideal for creative artists who want to highlight their artwork. The creators of this site have come up with the most innovative idea among all our reviewed artist website design ideas.
3. Natasha Wescoat
Natasha makes sure that her website looks pretty and people buy her work. The theme of the website matches her style of art and shows a great example of an art portfolio website. Also, the navigation menu looks pretty obvious at the top.
Your perfect art website design can look like this, to start. The best thing we like about this site is that she made it clear what she does and what her style is. The artist is interested in selling her artwork, so she has provided details and her contact information right there on the top corner.
4. Wim Delvoye
Wim Delvoye created a professional website which is another example of a creative illustration of his imagination. Through his painting, he is trying to show various art galleries. Apart from that, the menu at the top resolves other queries like exhibitions, contact data, and more. The search button on the top right corner helps viewers search for what exactly they are looking for. This, obviously, saves time.
5. Ann Rea
This website gives off the vibe of a famous artist. It is more of an art gallery website design than a single artist. She wrote what the painting is about, its price and the other details that we’ve already mentioned are important. There is also a tab to shop directly from her art gallery. Artworks are shown in high quality and it is possible to see each in a larger size.
6. David Hockney
This one is a rather simple website with a plain white background. You must have noticed by now that all the painters we’ve reviewed have used their own names when building an artist website and selecting a brand and domain. This is done to increase their popularity.
On the homepage, there is a simple image with a menu, and, overall, it looks slightly empty. Contact details or social media page links could be added at the bottom of the page, as an option.
7. Lapeaudelours
This is a website for a community dedicated to contemporary art, and the design is great. Along with a showcase of the art, there is more to this website. The webpages follow one theme which brings uniformity to the surface.
Here, you can find a lot of useful information along with the art gallery itself. You can also find an exclusive example of the menu, which is related to the art with a style combining the artist portfolio website and art gallery website design. You’ll probably love the way the website is filled with colors, animation, and pictures.
8. Amber Jean
Amber Jean works with wood to create art (remember, art is not limited to paper and paints!) Wood, sand, photography, water – art is everywhere. This website proves how hard Amber works with wood to create her designs.
You will be in absolute awe of the landing page. It has everything that we described above. There is one nice HD picture, a clear menu, a few of her works on showcase, an Instagram page link, and contact information. The background suits her love for wood. Overall, this site is a great example to refer to if you want to learn more about how to design an artist’s website.
Conclusion
Art is not limited to these tips and examples, alone. Let your imagination flow, but try to follow the basic necessities of understandable navigation, high-quality images, and constant updates. If you have further queries while creating an artist website or portfolio, then you can contact Fireart.Studio. We hope your website will be featured in our next article!
