In addition to publishing press releases, I thought it might be a good idea to showcase some projects I've been working on. The first design you see is from December 2006 when Justin Schuck Photography opened it's interactive photo/media studio in one of the Dubai Media City free zone with our GCC communications partner Sabi Communications.



The following two designs are current works-in-progress. They need help and I've been focused on other things at the moment, but I wanted to post these just to get a feel for what both of my readers (joke) think. I keep going back and forth as to whether I want them to be more of a poster or a magazine spread.

Labels: business, Case Study, design, Dubai, JSDS, Justin Schuck, Marketing, photography, studio

I just want to let you in on a well-known secret. I have, along with others, gone over and over on the various design directions for my main photography website, JustinSchuck.com — where this blog is hosted. I'm a consummate perfectionist with a revisionist streak. Here now are some screen shots (in chronological order) of my design evolutions.

The design below was originally designed as a placeholder. Theoretically there was going to be a flash version of the site where the boxes moved around on mouseover and the images would change up and have lots of funky transitions. After about 6 months or more of the placeholder, I started making updates and expansions which leads us to the next design.



So this was the last real evolution of the design still visible on the vintage (legacy) site still hosted on the main server. I eventually reached the point of frustration and admitted that the site wasn't going to change much and I made some adjustments to typeface and the structure of the site.



Before I settled on the semi-permanent design direction above I started working on several new design directions at once. The next four designs were worked on simultaneously. You can clearly tell which design directions received the most attention. You may also note the temporary name change. At the time we were starting this project we were also taking on financial partners to build what could have been "The Justin Schuck Gallery & Studio." There were several designs in this direction, including full identity and letterhead designs.



Again, playing with typeface and trying to think how I wanted my brand represented, I worked towards the following design, but I was really unhappy with it. The "logo" appearing below was also used for marketing materials and display items, some of which I still use today, although not often. We were still going back and forth as to what the new company should be called, ultimately Justin Schuck Photography was the most appropriate.



I was going back and forth on a daily basis as to whether or not I should use my "tag" signature, which I still really like to this day and hope to find some way to use it. But who knows, it's the alt-rocker in me. The following design is a better example of logical navigation occurring "above the fold" as it were. This design was also the first time all four cities appeared in a design. The four cities were later incorporated into the "vintage" design and still appear there today.



This is a progression of the above design. The navigation would animate and "light up" the tab color. This also recalls design elements of my acclaimed original JustinSchuck.com which functioned solely as a personal website. That design is buried somewhere on a CD in storage. Anyhow, back to the design below... I really liked this design, but there was something holding me back from implementing the design. I think the biggest barrier to it's implementation was navigation partially obscured below the fold on a 640x480 template. I honestly can't remember.



What was most likely the death knell for the site above is the design below. It's one of those epiphany designs that occur between the hours of first darkness and first light. I remember working on the design for at least three days straight before making additional changes as evidenced in the following design.



I love the picture of the kids below and seeing this again reminds me that I need to put together a serious gallery of all my work for the last 12 years. There's some really good stuff in there if I do say so myself. Back to designs...

I changed the background to gray, put telephone numbers and email at the top which would allow for navigation going down the side. This is also when our company tag line became "Photography for the way you live.™" which is still pending. We also developed a working click-through for the Online Previews service. It was great to see the design come so far. This really was my favorite, but after some server-side testing, some focus groups and a changing design team, this too was abandoned.



This little piece was for our other-branded sites as part of a broader internet ranking strategy for our Dubai sites. It was an extremely effective campaign – perhaps too effective – but was eventually taken down due to the closing of our full-time Dubai operations earlier this year.



After no real progress had been made, and with the current design at the time reaching five years of age, I finally threw the following design up on the site. The "vintage" site is such a mess, especially with so many revisions and so many hands touching it. The code is all kinds of fouled up, and I consider myself as one of the most organized and obsessive-compulsive HTML coders on the planet. The only reason the vintage site is still live is so I don't have to create another temporary site that would likely become semi-permanent.




I really like where the most current site design is going, and it serves as the inspiration of the next site. Hopefully some time soon we will have the new site design templates posted. Because seriously, I've had way too much JustinSchuck.com. (That's why I've transfered "the power" over the new design direction over to my lovely Andrea.)

Labels: Advertising, Art, Case Study, design, Dubai, Identity, Justin Schuck, Photo, photography

(Sorry for yet another non-photography-related blog, but I just had to!)

Last night I went to dinner with an old friend at Mama Ayesha's. Oh my goodness! Can I just say how much I loved it. The hummus we ordered for an appetizer came with some nice and soft chick peas and some pickled turnips which were really good.

I've really taken a liking to Middle Eastern cuisine, especially with my oft-scheduled trips to Dubai and the GCC. So the hummus was great, the Lebanese wine was fantastic, the Lamb Shank I ordered was so fall-off-the-bone tender I almost cried. Our server Mohammad was attentive, our water glasses were always filled and there was a peace about the place. We ordered baklava for dessert and it was the perfect blend of honey and spices. Baklava is one of my absolutely favorite food items and Mama Ayesha's did not disappoint.

In fact, Amy and I were enjoying ourselves so much that even after dinner and after we paid our bill, we ordered another glass of wine and enjoyed the ambiance.

Bottom Line...
It was a great way to cap-off what might have otherwise been a bad food day. You would be missing a true gem if you missed out on Mama Ayesha's.

Labels: Dubai, Food, Justin Schuck, washington dc