Source
r/photography•
SovietK

Graphic design and photography. Should I keep it separate?

I want to give my photography more online presence and I feel like I'm nearing the point where a website is in order. I am fortunate to be a graphic/web designer so building a pro site will cost me nothing but time. My issue right now is that I'm not sure to what degree I want my services to overlap and I would love to hear you guys opinions.

I obviously already have a portfolio for my design work, and I will definitely add photography as a service there as it will be valuable to jobs like personal/small company branding (I'm a student and have moderate succes as a freelancer on the side). The issue is I'm not sure if I should have a dedicated site for photography.

I want to take photography seriously, and I'm wondering if people in the photography world, and more importantly clients will take my services seriously if I just showcase my photos on my main site. I would love to hear from designers who also do photography. I would imagine there are quite a few of those.

Pros and cons I can come up with:

PROS:

  • Each service will provide exposure to the other (People who come looking for my photography will see my design services, and the other way around).

  • Less time spend maintaining brand, search optimization, and marketing for each individual site.

  • Right now I own <mylastname>.com. I really like that. My last name is very long and I don't feel <lastname>+photography or similar is viable due to length. My lastname alone is pushing the limit. I could perhaps do photo.<mylastname>.com. I'm normally not a fan of subdomains, but It would eliminate some of the cons mentioned below.

CONS:

  • I can present each service more elegantly with dedicated sites.

  • I would appear more dedicated to each service by not pushing the other one in potential clients face.

  • People would only get exactly what they came from.

Posted Jan 6, 2014, 10:33 AM UTC · edited

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johnmfloresjohnmichaelflores•

If you are going after big, corporate clients, then keep the photography and graphic design separate. Larger places tend to specialize and look for vendors with specialized skills.

If you are going after small/midsize clients, put them together. Smaller places appreciate freelancers that can wear multiple hats well.

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Darthlizard•

You're links are broken.

What I would recommend is to have sites that link to eachother in subtle ways. It could be kept as a sidenote of ' oh, by the way I also do this', or you could have a single site that has different points that showcase both types of work. My favorite artist who deals in many mediums has his site set up in this way, separating his videos from his paintings etc, but used to have multiple sites. both work, and it is really a stylistic choice.

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SovietKOP6D | 24-70mm f2.8 | flickr.com/photos/124950128@N04/•

They aren't supossed to be links. It just automaticly makes it a link since I wrote www.

What you suggest is what I'd do if I choose to keep them separate. Thanks.

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RumaruDrathas•

My 2 cents: Have a unified 'portfolio website', but create separate and distinction sections for each of your media. I believe one compliments another, and a lot of businesses and clients would like to hire a multi-talented individual that has a variety of skill sets. One less check to write, and would probably cost them less, versus hiring 2 professionals.

So, 1 unified webpage that showcase you, the artist, 2 or more subsections that showcase your 2 different mediums. The plus side to one website is that that's one less domain name to manage and keep track off. Since you're using your name as your address, doesn't it make sense to do that this way? Less confusion for your potential clients, while reinforcing your own brand and services.

EDIT: Not a design person, but I do my fair share of branding and marketing consultation on the side...

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oompahlumpa•

I think it's going to depend on who your clients are. For example.. the people that like my photography do not have the first clue about what went into it. All they see is a pretty picture. If you are trying to be a commercial photographer or a product photographer you may run into an issue where you might want to keep them separate. If this is just a side gig where you want to take nice photos (like me) it could help you. I started off as a graphic designer and fell into photography as a hobby and they end up working nicely together.

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chiefkikio•

I am a photographer but also a programmer who dabbles in design. Right now my site has them completely lumped together but I am planning to redo my site so they have a defined organizations. (www.lanyabutler.com)

My suggestion is that you should just have one domain name. Both aspects make up your creative work and you should be proud of both. They make up who you are as an artist and creative individual. At the same time, you want it easy to go to one or the other. A photography client MAY care about the design aspect but also they may just want to see your photography and get annoyed if they have to wade through design work. So, you might consider it leading to a main page that just has two links (design side and photography side) Kind of like the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the school separates itself http://www.corcoran.edu/

If you have multiple business cards for each field, link to yoursite.com/photography or yoursite.com/design for just linking directly or if you just want to make a point that you do both yoursite.com

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SovietKOP6D | 24-70mm f2.8 | flickr.com/photos/124950128@N04/•

Exactly what am I supposed to se on your website? I don't se anything related to this post.

edit: I've reported you. You obviously didn't read a single word of my post and you're just looking to spam. Thanks for wasting our time.

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