Problem Statement

A conversation with Ksu, a seasoned photographer and my avid collaborator, started when she shared that she was planning to make her photography business official. She had a website with Wix, business cards and a vague idea about which type of photography to specialize it. The problem was that she enjoyed all photography, period. Nature, portraits, architecture, food, street photography, photojournalism, day and night, bright and subtle, and her website reflected this.

The first problem was that Ksu had six photography categories (Outdoors, Studio, Food Photography, Events, Street Photography, Architecture) plus three Photo albums (Nature Photography, Night Photography, and a People of museums project. When creating a website, she wanted to see which type of photography will be most popular. However, it made the overall UI cluttered which crowds out what the site should be about - the photographs, which made it hard for Ksu to find her unique proposition and establish a market niche.

Another problem was the design of the home page itself. It only included a horizontal slider with three pictures and quotes, followed by a footer block. I’m not a huge fan of horizontal sliders because research suggests that people tend to often disregard them or view as secondary or optional information. Besides, I think that for a photography website, it is important to show the content immediately to get people engaged and interested.

The third problem with the website was that there was no story behind Ksu’s pictures. Galleries consisted of just the photos, with no comments to them and no life. I have worked with Ksu on various creative projects before and I knew that every single photo did have an amazing story behind. These story simply needed to be told, especially after Ksu came back from the volunteering trip to Indonesia!

In addition, Book Online and Pricing pages was cluttered, contained repetitive information, displayed twelve different booking options, and mentioned exact prices. It was likely to impose heavy cognitive load on visitors, and it also didn’t take into account factors like logistics. For example, her clients could be located far away from her studio, so mentioning exact price for a photoshoot wouldn’t take into account travel and other expenses. Besides, some businesses would love to use her services, but perhaps at a different price point. Setting price publicly precludes these businesses from reaching out, which would’ve allowed Ksu to decide whether to proceed instead of never hearing from them.

The client’s business cards were overall matching the website palette but lacked a logo. What I loved about them is the simplicity of the back, a map element and a typeface of the cover.

Branding Strategy

The first step was to find out how the client envisioned her branding identity. I created a Pinterest board with the logo, branding and website ideas, and shared it with Ksu. Below is a mood board that reflects inspirational pictures that stood out for the client.

So, what motives we had by then that would guide our branding ideas?

The motives were floral elements, a camera lens, a circle, a letter, traveling, and a vintage map. In terms of the color palette there was black, lighter pink, and shades of mustard and gold. All these elements were consistent with Ksu’s original branding and reflected her aspiration for traveling, adventures, photography, and nature.

During this stage of branding ideation we also talked a lot about what kind of photography Ksu wants to specialize in. She was excellent at many genres but we wanted to chose the ones that would make her happy and financially stable. Ksu shared that her dream is to work as a freelance photographer for National Geographic. She wanted her website to include articles on the photojournalistic projects she has been working on. Besides editorial, she also loved doing commercial photography, capturing her two biggest inspirations - people and food. With this in mind, I started sketching logo ideas and getting to feel the brand coming alive, with every stroke of the pencil.

Five logos were selected from the sketches, and I started exploring each one in more depth. A couple more rounds of iterations and refinement later, we reached a mutual conclusion: a small letter “k” combined with a camera lens will become Kasimira Photography new logo because it reflects her initials, photography, and the globe. One can even see there a bird or a sliced cheese that stands for Ksu’s food photography.

In terms of the website redesign, we made the decision to move to Squarespace as it was more user friendly than Wix. The task was to select a template that will a) display projects on the Home page; b) display descriptions under pictures and create projects; c) avoid horizontal sliders.

Design Solutions | Branding

A month later we arrived at the complete design system aimed to reflect the very best of Kasimira Photography brand’s heart and soul.

LOGO

A small letter “k” was the winner. Combined with a camera lens, it magically reflects Ksu’s initials, photography, and the traveling around globe that she loved. We created a version of it with the branded graphics, a parrot pattern, as well - just for use on special occasions.

COLORS

Ksu absolutely fell in love with the mustard color I suggested because it meant nature, sun, and optimism. A darker blue was a color of a sunset sky, while a lighter pink was a color of a magnificent sunset, strawberry ice cream and the feminine touch. A darker brown worked well for some of the website headers, resembled original branding colors, and reminded Ksu of her previous specialty - soil sciences and geography.

TYPOGRAPHY

I chose Elido as a main typeface because it has a vintage feel that matched the vintage map graphics. Ksu also shared that she liked typefaces like American Typewriter. For the website Katerine font was chosen because it also somewhat resembles typewriting, but with a modern twist. A gorgeous typeface Liana is used for decorative elements in the logo, business cards and thank you cards, creating a personal touch.

Design Solutions | Website

The most challenging part of the website design was to solve the problem of selecting photography genres because they were to guide the Information Architecture. After much research and conversation, the decision was made to structure the content around editorial photography. Which included photojournalism, nature, architecture, people, and commercial photography consisting of food photography and other projects. After the redesign the home page immerses us into photography immediately, additional projects can then be scrolled into view.

The images were carefully selected, optimized and organized either in galleries (Nature photography, Architecture, etc.) or as projects (Sumba Happiness Journey). This gave the client opportunities to use image and project descriptions - which the previous website lacked. I also did copywriting for website and translated all client’s text from Russian into English.

I wanted the About page to reflect client’s personality and values, that’s why I selected a picture that shows Ksu traveling and a text with a short bio and mission statement. Since her strongest project - a photojournalism project about an orphanage on Sumba, Indonesia, - was a very inspirational one, I suggested donating some of the client’s future profits to it. Ksu loved the idea!

Lastly, the services page also went through transformations. I made the decision to omit complex services and pricing descriptions because the client wanted to be aware of more potential opportunities. She also wanted the design be simpler and more elegant. Now the services page has two main categories, editorial and commercial photography, with short descriptions of each. There is also a “fin” gif set as a banner, reflecting playfulness in Kasimira Photography brand.

Website Walkthrough Video

Below is a quick walkthrough video capturing the most important pages on Kasimira Photography website. Feel free to browse the website: www.kasimiraphotography.com.

Final Notes

Much of Kasimira Photography branding project was about helping the client explore what she and her services are about. Coming into the project, Ksu wasn’t sure which type of photography to specialize in, but towards the end, we finally figured it out. Working with the content was both very interesting and challenging because the client had hundreds of beautiful picture to chose from. And then of course, was the storytelling. Each picture, each project, each page had a mission to tell a story, and I hope that the new website solved this challenge successfully. Bon Voyage, Kasimira Photography!