Website Style Guide

Intent:

• The site intends to show and advertise the work of illustrator Jennifer Xiao via her editorial and personal illustrations, which include comics and animation. The site also promotes her merchandise company Mango Town.

Voice:

• Jennifer Xiao’s illustrations make use of a wide array of colors, clear shapes, and playful childlike imagery.
• The website can be summed up through many adjectives:
• Playful
• Quirky
• Imaginative
• Story-centered
• Confident
• Approachable

Tone:

• Home: The page is very visual and only has Xiao’s name with 6 icons representing the different parts of the site.
• Work: Content pages are very image-based with a small caption and title so the viewer can mainly focus on Xiao’s work quality and art abilities.
• About/Info: The only text-based page which includes contact information, a basic intro, a link to socials, and a short list of big-name clients.
• Shop: This page is different from the rest because it links directly to Xiao’s other merchandise dedicated website named Mango Town.

Brand:

• Xiao’s website brand is very consistent and has a casual yet professional feel with fun bright colors and a hand-drawn stylistic font. The unique icons that make expressions when pressed also really establish the childlike and playful brand that Xiao creates with her art.

Personas:

• Persona 1: Coraline
• Background: Illustration student at Parsons
• Coraline is doing research on editorial illustrators who also make products for her 2D studio class. She goes to Xiao’s page and is very inspired by the professionalism of her work and the design of her portfolio. Coraline then wants to find out more about Xiao’s process so she clicks on one of the illustrations. She finds that while there is a caption detailing the date and purpose of the illustration, there is no information on the process or images of the process. Coraline then takes a look at Xiao’s products and also finds little information on them but likes how visible they are on the page.
• Persona 1: Ellen
• Background: Hiring manager at The New York Times
• Ellen is looking to recruit an illustrator for a New York Times article about the indie music scene in Queens. She wants someone with a professional but playful style to fit the article’s energy. She clicks through Xiao’s comics and illustrations easily. She then goes to the about page and sees that Xiao has worked for The New York Times in the past and has an impressive list of clients. She does wish that there was a link to a professional resume or LinkedIn account but appreciates the social media link confirming that Xiao’s work is popular.
• Persona 1: Jinwoo
• Background: Video Essay YouTuber
• Jinwoo is a YouTuber who makes video essays on art-related topics and is looking for an illustrator to design a thumbnail for a new video. He finds Xiao’s website and clicks on her illustrations icon. He immediately likes her style and talent for digital art. He then clicks on her page and sees she has an email set up for business inquiries. He does wish that her email were a little easier to find but likes that she put it in a copy/paste format. He finds the website easy to navigate and very efficient in showing him the art style of Xiao.

Wireframe:

Copy Deck:

Works Pages

Title: Jennifer Xiao

Heading: Illustration

Body[grid arrangement]:

• Image 1

Caption: Laundry Day, Personal illustration

Links/Footer:

• Home
• Social Media

About/Contact Page

Title: Jennifer Xiao

Heading: About/contact

Body:

• Image 2

Text: Jennifer Xiao is an extremely talented, funny, cool, smart, professional, hardworking, humble, and award-winning freelance illustrator. She also likes to write, and sometimes this writing is paired with drawings to make comics and cartoons.

Let's work together (in exchange for fame or fortune, preferably both)!

jenniferxiao0@gmail.com

Select Clients (yes, I have the Corporate seal of approval):The New York Times, Tumblr, New Yorker, It's Nice That, Dropbox, Converse

Links/Footer:

• Home
• Social Media

Competition:

Xiao’s website stacks up well against the competition given her commercial success and large social media followings. That success can be attributed to her simplistic yet unique clean website design that immediately shows the viewer her work. The distinctive aspects of her website are the interactive navigation buttons illustrated by her and the incorporation of GIFs alongside still illustrations. The site is colorful, inviting, and user-friendly, which all contribute to Xiao’s illustrative style/brand. But, when looking at the competition there could be a more clear way to contact Xiao like adding an email address underneath the logo.