Assignment One

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Victouria Moura Photo

Intent

to sell skills, specifically photography and art direction.

Voice

Direct, casual, laid back. Victoria Moura is a california-based photographer, and victoriamouraphoto.com is her professional website showing her own work. The website is more of a gallery or lookbook of past work that shows an overall style of photography separate from other professionals. Though there is a blog component this feels underdeveloped, and it is deeply nested in a menu and therefore the personal commentary and stories can be considered secondary to displaying her work.

When there is written content, it is direct and to the point; usually it serves to inform on how to hire or who worked on a particular shoot.

Victoria Moura is creative, direct, professional and laid back.

Tone

There is little copy throughout the website outside of hiring and contact info and one blog. The blog is more ‘stream of consciousness’ and is an afterthought buried in layers of the website. Outside of that, the text relies on lists and links to provide quick information. Because of the photographs this reads as laid back, but in terms of information providing it is very direct and to the point at the same time.

Photo pages do not have captions, but have an informative title and a small amount of copy at the top listing people who contributed to a project and vital information about the project (locations, anything that might need to be attributed such as music in a video)

The about page is dominated by a list of clients. It also includes a short intro to the work, summing it up in three sentences. It also provides contact/booking information. This page in particular is very to-the-point and reads more professional than conversational.

Brand

The overall brand is youthful, creative and visually oriented. Because little time is spent on the writing, the images are highlighted. This can at times feel like it lacks context, but taken as a whole it is meant to showcase the work and provide quick and easy booking information rather than give a full biography and timeline. In line with much of what is ‘youthful’ today, too much writing is often ignored and this solution serves to both counteract that and easily provide action-based information to clients. This gives it a very professional feel without taking away from the creativity emphasized in the photo layouts.

Persona:

Addressing other photographers, potential corporate clients, photographers and designers looking for inspiration, gallerists, magazine editors…

Persona 1: Other Photographer

• Name: Charlie (female)
• Age: 27

Background: Self-taught photographer working with independent brands and weddings. Looking at competition and potential inspiration.

Behaviors: follows where inspiration takes them. As likely to find an inspiration from a magazine as from social media; pays attention to environmental inspiration and advertising. Can often be distracted and jumps from thing to thing.

Experience with site: She comes across the photographer’s name from a campaign in the magazine Love. Curious, she looks up Moura’s instagram from her computer and then clicks the webpage. She scrolls through the homepage, seeing a variety of shoots and then moves to the work menu, selecting at random and noting the client list. She likely saves or screenshots a few images. She takes a look at the ‘about’ page hoping for information on how Moura got to her current level of work, but finds little to takeaway on the subject. Ultimately, she gets a few inspirational images but does not delve deeper into the site.

Persona 2: Potential client - Magazine, Hypebeast

• Name: Grant
• Age: 36

Background: Chicago-based Grant has worked with a variety of publications and brands, and spent time managing a few musicians that did not make it big. He moved to New York to continue working with a few friends and eventually became a creative director at both Hypebeast and on a consulting basis for a few smaller streetwear brands. While he feels he is getting a bit too old for the scene, he prides himself in researching what the 16-24 year olds find trendy as it often helps inform the direction of ‘trendy’ in the next few years. He does much of this online, as he is no longer immersed directly in the culture.

Behaviors: Has a special soft spot for print media, and prefers to find inspiration there rather than online. He begrudgingly spends several hours online and on social media tracking new trends, usually asking his younger siblings for tips or throwing ideas off their friends and filtering it through his own tastes and his coworkers before it can be considered further. He knows that he can make something big by including it in the magazine but is wary of how long he will be able to do it.

Experience with site: Grant loves editorial work and is impressed by the creative layout on the homepage; it reminds him more of a magazine than a website. The lo-fi here is comforting. He looks on the ‘about’ to see who has used Moura in campaigns or shoots, and sees some good names that align with the magazine’s brand. Because he does a lot of research and reach out on a daily basis, he scrolls through the instagram from the link at the bottom for a moment to get a read on the aesthetic, and sends an inquiry email for booking to see where it leads. Then, onto the next site.

Persona 3: Gallerist

• Name: Erica
• Age: 32

Background: Erica was born in Austin, lived in New York for a while, and ended up in California following a gallery opportunity. She does not own the gallery but is looking to become a partner, and tries to make sure she is finding new artists that appeal to the California aesthetic. This is sometimes hard for her as she is not a native, and the gallery’s price point is lower and younger and much more casual.

Behaviors: Erica is often frustrated by the gallery, as it does not play to her collaborative nature being from a southern music hub nor does it play to the New York minimalist aesthetic she took on while living in Manhattan. She has her gallery’s preferences down to a science and knows that they love to sell prints and parties rather than big ticket items.

Experience with site: Erica came across Moura’s site on a tip from a previous photographer the gallery featured. That photographer did well and sold many print pieces, so Erica is predisposed to liking anything she is tipped off to. She looks through ever one of the ‘work’ pages and notes a few familiar models and stylists. She flags and saves a few pieces she feels are in line with the gallery but notes they were client work. After combing through the galleries she looks at the contact information and reaches out to the agent, preferring to work directly with the agent rather than a contact page. She attaches the images she flagged and asks after licensing and other rights to see if Moura’s work is financially beneficial to the gallery. She leaves the site and sends a thank-you email to the previous photographer for sending recommendations.

Copy Deck

Since there is little copy I used one of the work pages, ‘Life Without Andy’

Title

lifewithoutandy presents: tuesdays without you

Bulleted List

• Client/ Life Without Andy
• Model/ Brittany Hoffner
• Styling/ Victoria Moura
• MUA+Hair/ Mia Bean

Body Copy

Tuesdays Without: Brittany above the hustle of one of the most famous intersections in the world.

Call to Action

Full story found on lifewithoutandy.com

Subcopoy

Venice, California

October - 2019

Competition

Compared to competition, this website has a unique way of presenting the images. While many photographers prefer galleries with lots of images and gadgets like slider galleries etc, this is simple and feels like a more editorial or print approach.

It has less information than many sites and relies on the images to speak for themselves which could be risky for attracting casual interest viewers.