Nobuyoshi Araki & Mikiko Hara: Website Evaluation & Comparision

 In this post I will be comparing the websites of Nobuyoshi Arak and Mikiko Hara.  I will be looking at the design, layout, colour palette, typography and also technical aspects such as navigation, ease of use, presentation of galleries and how easy it is to use and understand the artist.

Mikiko Hara

I will begin with Mikiko Hara and her website.  The website is clean and well presented on the homepage with a clear sans serif font on a white background.  The words are well spaced and it is easy to read the introduction to the artist.  The introduction sits on the left hand side and includes a small biography underneath on the right hand side where your eye is drawn to there is a still image of her work (Untitled 2008) This still like is representative of the work the artist creates and the colour tonality and frame emphasis the subtle beauty of her pieces.  In the header there is a clear navigation bar that includes all areas of her work and on the homepage there is a further navigation bar with links to those pages.  In the footer there is a wide range of social links and the copyright is up to date (2024) also placed in the footer. There is also a search bar in the footer which is useful. 

The next page that I clicked into was the Biography of the artist this page is laid out in a similar manner to the homepage and includes the same image, this is a pity, as it would have been more interesting to have a different image as the artist has a wide range of work.  The biography is laid out in Education, Exhibitions and Publications and does give a clear timeline of the artists work. 

The following pages - Press - this has just one item and it is in the left hand corer of the page and is from the exhibition ;Just visiting this Planet' from 2022, This perhaps could have been incorporated on another page or more reviews/press added as this is a bit of an empty page. The exhibitions page again is a just one exhibition the same as the press page with one image and an introduction this again is from 2022. The following page has events with three examples but again not resent ones. 

The more interesting pages are 'series' and 'works' both these pages contain the body of her works and so here there is a wide array of projects that can be viewed. for instance if I go into Angus Dei I can see all the images from this project and when I click  into the image this is presented well and expands with all the image details on the left hand side.  

I can even click 'view on wall' and see this in a domestic space, there is also an inquire button which mean I can inquire if I wish to buy this or any other print on the sit.  The works page is very similar this is just singular works but the page works and is presented in the same way. The last page is art fairs and shows two art fairs.  I do think there are perhaps too many pages here and some pages are not that useful and I personally would pare this down to present just the best work and stick to the gallery pages. Overall I enjoyed the website it was clean and easy to use and read and also I could fins all the information I wanted and view the artist work well through very good presentation of work. 

Nobuyoshi Araki

The second website I will be looking at is Nobuyoshi Araki .  This website starts with a painted photographic image of the artist as a welcome.  If you click on the image you enter the site. 

On the homepage There is information on the artists latest exhibition .  The page has been designed with a deep burgundy background and on the left hand side there is all the information this is written in sans serif text and is quite small in the left hand corner there is a flower image that bleeds into the page and this is am elegant design.  However all the works and pages are quite small and to the left hand side so there is a large right hand space that is just the deep burgundy colour. Araki's full name that looks like a painted signature is placed over the flower in the left hand corner and this is well designed and signifies that this is an artists website.  The  navigation bar is rather ugly and tiny and sits in a small black header that contains also an email address to contact the artist..  The homepage itself scrolls down through all the artists exhibitions with and images description, Araki has a ling history so the scrolling takes some time and ends with a few of his publications.  It is a pity this is laid out this way as this could be so much better presented.  At the bottom the page I found the copyright notice but this stated 2001-2006, so this site is rather out of date. 

I then went to 'special features' the second item on the navigation bar - this was a series of links to videos or Araki's work however none of these links works as the player is no longer supported probably due to the age of the website.  The layout is consistent in design, colour and typography to the homepage. 

The biography was next and this again is a an extremely long scroll to the bottom as it start in 1940 however, helpfully, there are links to years at the side so it is easy to jump through this with these links. Unfortunately on all these pages there is no back to top button so it is quite annoying to return to home. 

The contact page just open an email box and is not a page.  Overall this website is clearly out of date and has issues.  it is quite comprehensive in terms of recoding Araki's output through the years, however I am hoping he has a more up to date site available. This site came at the top of a google search so if there is a more up to date site it needs better meta tags and SEO. 

Comparing the two sites, obviously Mikiko Hara's is more up to date however there were too many pages and on some of these they were not new work but from 2 years ago and as the artist I around 56 years old I would have expected there would be more output recently.  Or it is better not to include these pages.  The presentation of work was really good with lovely expansion of images on the screen, good information about the pictures and good features like viewing in a room and the inquire button.  Araki's site did have lists of his work and images all the way through but not full collections and the user friendliness of his site left much to be desired, which is unfortunate when many of his works are so sensual and sumptuous. Araki is now 84 years old and i will be searching for a more up to date and joyful website  to view his work.  out the two clearly Hara's is preferable and much more user friendly and accessible for the audience to appreciate the work. 

Nobuyoshi Araki & Georges Perec: Object & Image

 In Tokyo Still Life, Araki's images of women bound and in sexually provocative positions are juxtaposed by images of ordinary life in Tokyo, the trees, the market stalls, men on their way to work, children playing, people on trains, a woman standing at a crossing, boys going to school, a grandmother and her dog.  Araki states; 'If Tokyo is a city heading for death - "Isn't Tokyo a gigantic graveyard! Are we really alive!, Araki also thinks of the city as "the womb from which I was born, I don't imagine Tokyo as something abstract...but a place where I feel good."' (Araki:2001:8)

Tokyo Still Life (2001) Nobuyoshi Araki (P64)

These images present life Keehan states of the work; 'All these strands are cross-informed, so that daily life, the natural world and the fabric of the city assume powerful erotic qualities, all operating as metaphors for the body and relationships' (Keehan, 2014)  I would disagree with this statement as I don't think that these images of the city and its people all have erotic qualities, or are metaphors for the body.  These are people and things that are intertwined within the city, the fabric of the city, yes, they make wonder and life and the things that they touch and eat are important, the streets they walk on the buildings they inhabit.  I have been considering these things, the psychogeography of my own life as I walk my own city, knowing every crevice and pothole, seeing the same faces and scenes.  I also consider my own interior world inside my own home.  I have also been reading Perec's 'Things' Here there are descriptions of interiors; 'A bedside table, with an openwork copper band running round three of its sides, would support a silver candlestick lamp topped with a very pale grey silk shade, a square carriage clock, a rose in a stem vase.' (Perec: 2011:23) These to me are like the photographs of Araki they are the things we live with, that surround us, perhaps engulf us, expand us and suffocate us. 

 

Subway Love (1963-72) Nobuyoshi Araki

Prior to Tokyo Still Life Araki; 'obsessively photographed fellow passengers during his daily trips to and from work on the Tokyo subway. Yawning businessmen, women dozing with their legs splayed, kids who guessed what he was up to and mugged for the camera – Araki captured them all on film and without using a viewfinder.' (Exibart Street, 2019) this need to capture life within the lens to keep it and savour it, to snap and not see to be surprised.  This is the joy of these kinds of images, people unaware, themselves in public but within themselves. 

The things that interest me here are the descriptive images and text, the ordinary things that are our lives.  I am interested in the inner life of the domestic environment and often as I walk into my own home when I am alone I have totemistic objects all over the home I touch these things every day.  They are part of me and I become part of them.  I want to write about these things and photograph these and the exterior things that are part of my psyche in the city.  I will begin with both words and text and I will post the beginnings of these thoughts and pictures and see where they might lead.

In preparation for using Blurb I just checked and updated my profile 

I have chosen the book size which will be a small square 18cm x 18cm to match the formatting of the images. I have also begun to think about the text and the message I want to convey through the work as above.

References

Araki N. (2001) Tokyo Still Life, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham

Exibart Street (2019). Subway Love - Nobuyoshi Araki - Exibart Street. [online] Exibart Street. Available at: https://www.exibartstreet.com/news/subway-love-nobuyoshi-araki/ [Accessed 3 Nov. 2024].

Keehan, R. (2014). ESSAY: Nobuyoshi Araki’s photographs | QAGOMA Collection Online. [online] Qld.gov.au. Available at: https://collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au/node/48890 [Accessed 3 Nov. 2024].

Perec G. (2011) Things/A Story of the Sixties with A Man Asleep, Vintage, Random House, London.

Creating a Website: Contact Page & Social Media

 Today I created my contact page and I began by creating a new page I did this by clicking on the left hand side menu button for menu and pages.  I then clicked on 'add page' and created a new 'contact' page.  I then added added a new contact form by clicking on the left hand side menu 'Add' button and choosing 'Contact and forms'.  I then began customsing my form.  I did this by clicking on 'settings' and I went 'design'  I then went through the menu to change the font to 'Playfair display ' I adjusted the title to 40pts and I adjusted background colour.

As my page was not working well I deleted the above page and started again with a new page and contact form.  I adjusted the form as per above.  I then added an image my going to 'Add' image and chose an image I had uploaded to my site files.

I then saved all my changes and previewed to check the page was working correctly and looked good for when it will be published. 

I then added my social media links which were blogger, Youtube, Linkedin and X.  I have placed these in my header so they are visible and easy to find on each page. 

I saved all my work and then previewed the site and previewed each link to check that it was working.  I will check these again once published prior to assessment. 

I then checked my mobile view.  I just adjusted the positioning of the contact form and reattached the image as this had become detached.  I then removed any gaps and saved. 

I then previewed and check ed that everything worked - I will check again later when we complete UX testing. 

Project Plan: Photography & Mortality

 This is my major project plan on my photographic project: Photography and Mortality.  I created this on Visme as infographic.

Project Plan: Photography & Mortality

Project Plan: Photography & Death

 I created this plan on Visme using an infographic template.  To create a visual timeline for my project. 

Project Plan: Death & Photography

Creating Website: About Page

 Zoe’s Bio

Zoe began life in the flatlands of the fens, in school she lived in the black box and performed, wrote and directed plays.  Once she escaped at 16 and flew away to Germany, she knew she had to keep creating by any means.  Zoe fell in love with the camera from an early age, and still considers it a magic box. Zoe has kept the first photograph she ever took (a blurry Christmas Tree), when her father gave her a camera aged seven.  Zoe’s photography, writing and films explore themes of womanhood, feminism, the strange and surprising.  Zoe now lives in a high tower in Leicester looking down on the ravaged city, considering her disappearance into the final frame.

Zoe also teaches art, design, and media at DMU International College.  Zoe has a first degree in English and Media She also achieved an MA with Distinction in Creative Media Arts (Photography) from the London South Bank University. Zoe's film 'Let's Eat Hair' was shown at the Phoenix Cinema in Leicester.

I created this About Page I will change the image and redesign later however this gives me a good idea of how it will look.

I have checked my mobile view on my About Page and I just needed to reposition the image from the bottom to the top so I just used the move too to do this. I then clicked on the text and used the text size buttons to reduce the size of my text so that it was smaller as it was the mobile view.

I then saved this and previewed and checked this would work live. I will check again once I have changed this to the final image.

When I sourced a good image that I could use I changed the picture so my final About page looks as below:

This seems to work quite well and I thought was consistent with the page design. I also checked the mobile view

This did not need adjustment and again works well with this page, so for the moment I am happy with this.

Creating a Website: Art & Photography

 Today I am starting to make my website on Wix.  This will be in my 'progression' route art and photography. 

I began by choosing a website template that I thought would work in structure for my work.  

I changed the navigation(menu) bar and customised this by clicking on the bar and then clicking on the design icon changed the font size, changed it it bold and chose the font I would use throughout the website.  I then went to 'manage menu' and I clicked on the Home page and in the drop down box I clicked on 'show on menu'.  

I then changed the position of the title and subtitle by using the move tool and dragged this to the Header so that i could be seen on each page.  I then double clicked on the title and changed the font to 'Palatino Linotype' at 74pts.  I also made this bold.  The subtitle was in the same font at 46pts.

I then centred all the text and the navigation bar - I may change this later depending on how my design looks when I have added the image. 

I then uploaded my own image onto the site files.  I did this by clicking on 'image' and 'upload image'.  I then went to teh site files and edited it so I had a black and white copy in case I decide to use a black and white image on my home page.

I then right clicked on the background and changed the background image from my site files.  I then went o the header and changed the colour on the header by clicking on 'change' background' and colour and I chose an appropriate colour from the color palette. 

I went to the footer and changed ten colour to match the header by right clicking and then clicking on 'change background' and 'colour'  I then used the colour that had saved from the colour palette.  I then clicked on the copyright text and changed to my name and edited the font to Palatino Linotype and the correct year.  

I have saved all my changed by clicking on the save button in the right hand top corner and then I have previewed the site to check all ages are working and everything is appearing correctly.  There was an issue with my footer not appearing on each page so I right clicked on the footer and went to the 'show on all pages' button'.  Once this was completed I saved again and then previewed for a final check.  

I will be continuing to post my progress on creating my website through the term. 

While I was thinking about how to improve my homepage I added a quotation by Susan Sontag which I think compliments my work that I intend to put on here.

I am now going to look and edit my mobile view. I will start with my homepage.  This is how it looks when I started

I edited the image in the Wix editor to create a portrait image.  I the tried to add this as background by changing the background and there were issues with this so I will come back to the image.

I changed the header items by going into the left hand side menu and checked through the buttons and settings to check everything was where it should be and nothing was hidden.  I then clicked on the text and adjusted the alignment and adjusted the size and positioning to ensure that the text was correct on the header which will show on each page. 

I then saved and previewed this to check that it worked correctly. I then found a work around the image problem by just adding the image over the top and then rearranging the positioning of the writing by right clicking and clicking on 'arrange' and bring to front' in the drop down box. 

I will see if I can find a better solution to this but for now this is okay.