Design Page on website

[Warrior]

I need more commissions  [scared] and thought adding a page of some designs might help. What do you guys think?
http://www.fullerbuilt.com/Designs.html

 

[Michael Kellough]

I think the page is a little busy with so many small pictures. You might try a page
with one good larger image from each design and clicking on an image will take you
to a page devoted to that design with the remaining images and description
of your thoughts on the design.

 

[Warrior]

Hey Michael,
That is great idea!  Thanks

 

[waynelang2001]

Hi Eiji

You could still keep the thumbs but group them in cubes of only four and have the description on the left or right. Also i think making the back round black could make it look less cluttered.

 

[RDMuller]

Great idea, but the page is too busy.  I like the idea of 1 sketchup picture and one finished project picture with multiple projects going down the page as they scroll.  Don't pull all of the drawers out to show all of that functionality.  You might have a link that takes you to a separate page that shows more of the detail shots only for one project.  On the finished project picture  --- invest in a large background roll of seamless paper and the stand to hold it.  Stands are around a $100.   The paper is less.  This can give you some very nice shots of the finished piece

Super idea to show the "conceptual" and the "finished" project.

 

[Brice Burrell]

The one thing I don't like is the particle board texture in the Sketchup models. Try doing a search for wood textures or better yet make your own textures from pictures of the real piece.

 

[Warrior]

good thoughts fellas!

Not sure how to make my own wood samples in sketchup though

 

[Warrior]

I guess I tried to cram too much on one page. hehe

 

[Tim Sproul]

Because this is a page to attract commissions/clients, think slideshow.  Bigger pictures will attract more attention.  Yo can sell the work in person or over the phone.

 

[ajones]

I need more commissions  [scared] and thought adding a page of some designs might help. What do you guys think?
http://www.fullerbuilt.com/Designs.html

any site has to look polished these days so anything you do in this viein is good, but where it is worth spending some time/money on is metatags so you get hits, and the right hits, on your site.

 

[Brice Burrell]

...Not sure how to make my own wood samples in sketchup though

It's fairly easy. First you need a good picture of the real wood you'll want as your texture. You might need to edit the photo, crop out anything in the photo you don't want. To make the photo a texture for your model select the surface you want to texture. Then on up to the file at the top of the page, click on import. A dialog box will pop up, on the right you'll options: "use as image", "use as texture" and "use as new matched photo". You want the use as texture option, check that box, then select the image you want to use as the texture. Then place your texture on your model. You can scale, rotate and skew your texture by right clicking, texture and playing with the texture. Check out the video below.

Be careful choosing your image since the image with repeat or tile. Here's what I meant, take a look at the textured box on the right. You can see as the image repeats the different colors in the image look out of place as they repeat. So you'll want your image to be as uniform as possible so things look good as they repeat or tile.
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[Wood_Junkie]

Awesome tip on the custom textures Brice.  I am still in Sketchup infancy and that's pretty cool.

A few thoughts on the web page design:

Think of the three of four most common "themes" of what you make.  e.g. furniture, built-ins, outdoor, utility (desks, etc), miscellanea (like the music stand).
Or, if you almost exclusively do furniture and miscellanea, breakout the furniture themes:  bedroom, living space, kitchen, formal areas, etc.

Use a fantastic example photo (or a nicely arranged collage) as your link image for that 'theme'... think doorway to the next layer or chapter.

On your themes page(s), a clear header "title" for each item, a great photo of the project, and a concise description next to it.  No more than 20 words description.  Up to maybe 30 if you include why it was commissioned (e.g. gift.. entryway table, etc) and/or some other interesting tidbit about it (e.g. buyer requested use of local woods; integration into existing room/furniture, etc) that made it particularly unique or challenging.

Each title and photo image should be a link to the next layer, which is the detailed write up, from concept to completion.  Sketchup concept photos are terrific, so potential buyers can see how you facilitate them visualizing a product. 

If you want to get fancy pants later, you could organize off-shoot pages with different index-style organization. 
E.g. 'Things made with maple'.  or 'Furniture for walls'.  Stuff like that.

By the way, I love that hidden drawer coffee table!