Project Background
When Ian Thomson retired, he decided to go back to his first love, the fine art illustration of landmark and distinctive buildings. Having found there was a great deal of interest in his work, he decided he needed a website, but wasn’t sure what type of approach would suit him best.
We discussed his work, looked at his portfolio and asked him about his aspirations for going forward. One of these was to focus specifically on three different areas: his postcards, which were already selling well to a number of institutions, his commercial illustration for clients such as brewery and hotel groups and his private commissions for individuals. With this in mind, we advised Ian that, with his distinctive style and specialist approach he should consider branding his work rather than being ‘just another artist’.
Our Solution
In discussion with him, we decided on Art by Ian Thomson to ensure searches would find him easily and developed a brand with a logo in contrasting typefaces and colours known to convey holistic, artistic qualities.
We created a home page with an example of each area with fast, simple navigation straight to the online store behind each one. Each gallery has more information about the approach and its uses for the company or individual commissioning it.
Two Lizards also advised on the website’s URL. With a number of international clients, some of whom had chosen the artist to create images of their rental properties, we suggested a .com address rather than .co.uk At the same time we used our experience in key words research to identify a shortlist of search terms on which to focus the initial SEO approach.
As the business is completely bespoke, the site features an easy to navigate e-commerce store where customers can purchase one off illustrations and prints. The overall approach stresses the quality and creativity of the finished illustrations and also gives a warm, personal introduction to Ian’s work.
