Alanna Rose is a senior photographer (and headshot, food and product photographer, too!) based in Birmingham. And her work is gorgeous – she just needed a website to match!

The goal was to combine her different areas of work into a single website with a unified look across multiple areas of business. Her logo and design needed a modern update. And the overall feel had to be elegant and luxurious, but retain the feel of her brand.

Ashlie A worked with Alanna over a few weeks to develop a modern design that joined all of her desires into one sophisticated look that was so stunning, we wanted to share it with you.

Ashlie began by designing a splash page with an unusual slanted border – a look that was achieved by layering two images over each other, and linking them separately to their areas on the website.

I was impressed! This was a trick I hadn’t seen her do before, and the look it achieves is classy and unexpected.

“I didn’t want it to be the regular splash page,” Ashlie laughs, “so I came up with an idea that is really unique.” Immediately customers are funneled into their individual areas of interest in a way that doesn’t feel forced. A solution that is beautiful AND functional. Bravo!

For the design of the main site, Ashlie began with a concept similar to Paradise Beach, a brand new design notable for its fixed, translucent side menu and endlessly scrolling pages. The viewer is anchored by the menu and Alanna’s consistent branding colors and logo, while the content loads in the main body of the window.

As the content constantly refreshes, the viewer almost forgets they’re still on the same page – they are consistently presented with easily digestible sections of copy and imagery, guided by buttons, headlines and calls to action to learn more, subscribe, and book sessions.

The solution here is as elegant as it is practical. Alanna can have as much text as she wants on her pages (excellent for ranking well in search!) while not overwhelming the viewer.

Balancing necessary text with arresting imagery is often a challenge for designers, but Ashlie takes it in stride. “You need that text, obviously. But you have to keep the customer in mind. Will they stick around to read a long block of copy? You have to break up those words with images so they’re pulled down the page and encouraged to read more at every step."

Ashlie noted that this is one of the easiest and most enjoyable designs she’s done, completing it in record time.

“I had so much freedom, it was really fast and easy. Alanna was a pleasure to work for. I’m so happy it turned out the way it did and she really liked the design, too.”

Because she had a little time left over, Ashlie was also able to design a new logo for Alanna, too.

“The only requirement was that I keep the gold color – but I was given creative freedom over everything else. That kind of freedom is… freeing!” Ashlie muses, “There was only one revision, and because Alanna had so much of her content already prepared, it was easy to find a look that was beautiful, lay out the text and images, and finish the design quickly.”

If you love this design, take a look at Paradise Beach, a new template you can try out on your own site. And if you’d like to learn more about getting your own custom design, check out our page on the PhotoBiz website. (And if you already have a website with us, you can purchase the service directly in your control panel.)

Want to see more custom designs? Read our feature on Jen Clark, and view our sample gallery!