6 Key Elements of a Modern Successful Website

This article was contributed by Peter Thomas.

Designing a new website isn’t an easy task.

With so much competition in the online business world, it’s important to pay close attention to detail when designing your new website to make sure you’re making a website that can override your competition and bring you ahead of the pack.

For those who are designing their website, the following are the crucial elements that all websites should use during the design phase.

6 Key Elements of a Modern Successful Website

1. Mobile-Friendly

With technology and smartphones being the forefront of the world, it’s crucial to make sure your website is optimized to be mobile friendly. A mobile friendly website design is just that, it’s mobile friendly. When a website isn’t optimised to be viewed onto a mobile it can result in an unpleasant user experience. This means the page won’t be adjusted or fit onto the small screen. Your user will see only a portion of the website, instead of the entire website on their small screen. In order to make your website mobile friendly you can try the following:

▪ Use a responsive technology framework which enables for the designer to lay out the elements on a grid before shifting the grid on different screen sizes. This enables for all elements to be spaced accordingly from screen to screen.

▪ Make the website design easy to navigate with one finger or your thumb. Mobile users tend to use their thumb or one finger to search through websites, so it’s important to design your website around this concept.

▪ Keep the design clean and simple. Although you may think your website will look better being more intricate, it can be hard for mobile users to navigate. Always keep your website design simple in design and clean when viewing.

▪ Use relevant icons for certain elements to ensure your audience knows where they’re clicking. Instead of writing out Facebook or Twitter, use the icons to make them quick and easy to press.

▪ Keep content on point and relevant. Mobile users want to be able to find what they’re looking for fast so always keep your content short and sweet.

2. User-Friendly Navigation

A good navigation experience is what sets a website apart from the rest. When designing your navigation points, make sure you layout each section where it’s easy to find. A great user experience is based upon whether your user can find what they’re looking for. In order to create a user friendly navigation experience, you can:

▪ Limit the amount of menu items available. 7 sections or less is advisable to help limit confusion.

▪ Navigation should be easily found, often positioned across the top of the website or down the left hand side for maximum effect.

▪ Use descriptive and to the point titles when naming your sections. Example: Meet Our Team, Bathroom Tiles, Laundry Hampers etc.

▪ When designing subcategories, try to limit to 3 section under each tab to avoid confusion. Larger websites with more products may require more as needed however.

▪ Make sure the brand logo always navigates back to the homepage of the website. This enables your visitors to start their search over, quickly and easily.

Good Practice Of Site Navigation – Navigation is neat, clean, and easy to read.

Bad Practice Of Site Navigation – With this version you have three sets of navigation point right at the very top, in the centre, and down the left hand size. This can make it confusing.

3. Meaningful Content

Another crucial area that should be addressed is the content that you place onto your web pages. Creating a good content strategy is key to ensuring your website not only works effectively but is relevant to your audience. In order to create meaningful content, you will need to work out your target audience and create content that’s based on them. Some tips to creating meaningful content that is worth reading by your audience includes:

▪ Create content that answers questions that have been posed by your audience.

▪ Make sure all content doesn’t have any spelling mistakes or grammar mistakes.

▪ Make sure the content is detailed and specific to the title that’s posed.

▪ Where possible use emotion in your writing to connect with your audience through your words.

▪ Make sure all content is SEO optimized using relevant keywords so your targeted audience can find it.

Good Practice Of Quality, Meaningful Content – It gives the reader some valuable information they can use to enhance their overall content.

Bad Practice Of Content –Content doesn’t provide in-depth information that really needs to connect with what the buyer would be looking for. Very vague.

4. Site Map

Your website’s site map is an important area that should be designed efficiently to ensure your visitors can navigate through the website easily. It also needs to be designed well for search engine spiders to be able to search and rank your website accordingly. There are three types of sitemaps that can be created. These include:

▪ Indexed Sitemap – This is an alphabetical listing or directory of your site’s pages.

▪ Complete Categorical Sitemap – The most popular sitemap, this gives a comprehensive list with classified links to the different categories. This allows you to move between categories in a much easier way.

▪ Restricted Categorical – All links are displayed at a go in specific categories. This sitemap can limit the list links in some categories which simplify the viewing without straining the eye.

To create a great sitemap, no matter which one you choose you could consider the following tips:

▪ Link the sitemap from the homepage.

▪ Restrict the number of pages that are setup within your sitemap.

▪ Watch out for error messages in your sitemap as this can cause your visitor to leave your website.

▪ Use keyword rich titles to optimize your sitemap for search engines and your visitors.

▪ Ensure the sitemap is consistently designed throughout the entire process.

5. Visual Design And Hero Images

The visual appeal and hero images that are used on a website is what gives it appeal to your audience. The visual appeal also demonstrates whether your business is a professional and authority figure in your field or whether it’s low grade. First impressions matter. To help enhance the visual appeal of your website you can:

▪ Check to see whether the content is all the same colour and the same font(s).

▪ Make sure pictures are of high quality like you would see with a professional photographer.

▪ Use white spacing between content to make it easier to read and more appealing to the eye.

▪ Use a hero image that is relevant to your business to help connect with your audience better.

▪ Make sure all colours complement one another and that your website looks clean, fresh, and simple.

Good Practice Of Visual Design

Bad Practice Of Visual Design

6. Fast Loading Pages

Slow loading pages may be a major reason why your bounce rate could be high. If a page takes longer than 5 seconds to load it can cause frustration for your visitors resulting in them searching elsewhere for what they’re looking for. If you believe you may have slow loading pages some ways to help speed them up include:

▪ Removing any nonessentials; videos, images or other large documents that may be taking time to load.

▪ Compress images down for website quality to reduce the time it takes to load large images.

▪ Utilize browser caching to store cached versions of static resources. This can speed up your page greatly.

▪ Optimize your website for devices such as mobiles, tablet, and iPhones.

▪ Use the appropriate programming and flash software to be able to run high quality videos or other moving objects.

▪ Minimize the HTTP requests that are required upon loading.

▪ Reduce the number of plugins that you use.

Ensure Your Website’s Success!

Whether you’re building a business website, or an informational website, it’s important to incorporate these key elements into your overall design to ensure your website is successful and becomes the authority figure you want it to be.

5 Best WordPress Push Notification Plugins For Web + Mobile

Of all the ways to get more traffic to your website, one method in particular that I experimented with in 2018 was website push notifications.Like the notifications you get on your phone, browser push notifications let you send messages to your website’s visitors even when they’re not on your website.It’s a method that I’ve definitely seen success with and I encourage you to try it on your own website:

• I’ve written more about the benefits of push notifications in the past. So rather than focussing on the theory in this post, I’m going to jump to the five of the best WordPress push notification plugins to make it easier for you to add push notifications to your blog or your website.What To Look For In A Push Notification PluginAs you go through this list, there are a few things that you should pay attention to:

• What devices does the service support? Most services support Chrome and Firefox, but it is rare to find a service that supports Safari, which may be a problem if you have a lot of visitors using Safari.

• How many subscribers will you have? Depending on how many subscribers you think you’ll have, some services may be cheaper than others.

• What extra features does the service offer? Think of whether you need features like segmentation, scheduling, A/B testing and more.

Best WordPress Push Notification Plugins For 20181. PushEngagePushEngage is technically a standalone service for mobile and web push notifications. However, it also offers a dedicated WordPress plugin that makes adding push notification functionality to WordPress easy.If you’re familiar with ShoutMeLoud, PushEngage is actually what we use here on the website. We’re even listed on the PushEngage landing page!

• PushEngage lets you send push notifications to both desktop and mobile versions of:

• Firefox

• Chrome

• Samsung Internet Browser

• Beyond that, it includes a number of features to help you send push notifications in a smart way:

• Automatic responders: Send notifications based on a customer’s actions. For example, marketing automation for email.

• Easy segmentation: Segment your visitors based on the URL from which they accepted browser notifications so that you can send them content you know they’ll love. For example, I could segment users reading WordPress posts into WordPress segment.

• Automation: This is one feature that I love about Pushengage. With this feature, I could send automatic push notifications to my subscribers.

• Geotargeting: Send push notifications to users from specific geo-locations.

•RSS to notification: Set up your RSS feed to instantly alert people whenever you publish new content – without any manual action on your part.

• Personalized cart abandonment notifications: Super helpful if you’re running an eCommerce store on WordPress.

• Call to action buttons: Add one or more call to action buttons.

PushEngage is free for up to 2,500 subscribers and 120 notifications per month. To manage numbers in excess, you’ll need to pay, starting $29/month.If you’re interested in using PushEngage, we have a full tutorial on how to add browser notifications to WordPress using PushEngage.Create free account on PushEngage2. OneSignal

• Similar to PushEngage, OneSignal is a standalone push notification service that easily integrates with WordPress, thanks to a dedicated WordPress plugin.However, OneSignal’s supported devices are slightly different when compared to PushEngage’s. It supports:

• Chrome (desktop and Android)

• Safari (Mac OS X)

• Firefox (desktop only)

• So, in comparison to PushEngage, you get the Safari notifications but lose out on mobile Firefox notifications. Beyond that, OneSignal boasts of a fairly similar feature list:

• Automatic notifications: Send reminders based on set criteria. For example, whether or not you’ve published a new post or whether a person has visited your site over the past few days.

• Segments: Target your visitors by a number of different user attributes.

• A/B testing: Run split tests to find the highest performing messages before you send them to your entire audience. This feature is fairly unique.

• Scheduling: Schedule your notifications for a future date.

OneSignal is completely free with no limitations. However, they also offer unspecified premium plans.Join OneSignal3. PushCrew

•PushCrew is another popular push notification service that you can easily integrate into WordPress with a simple plugin.Of the three push notification plugins that I’ve covered so far, PushCrew has the smallest list of supported devices. Currently, PushCrew works with:

• Chrome (desktop and Android)

• Firefox (desktop)

• However, PushCrew makes up for this comparatively small device set with some neat features like:

• CTA buttons: Display one or two CTA buttons in your push notifications.

• Scheduling: Send notifications at a specific time in the future.

• Segment Creator: A tool to help you segment your visitors using custom And/Or conditions.

• Expiry notifications: If you’re running a timed deal, this helps ensure your subscribers don’t see a notification after the deal has already expired.

• RSS support: Automatically notify subscribers of new posts as soon as you publish. You can even custom schedule when RSS feed items get sent out.

PushCrew offers a free plan that supports unlimited notifications for up to 2,000 subscribers with some feature limitations. Beyond those numbers, you will need to choose from plans starting at $18 per month.Join Pushcrew4. PushAssist

• Similar to the three previous plugins, PushAssist is also a standalone service that provides a dedicated WordPress plugin thereby making the setup process easy.PushAssist also has a long device list. Here’s what it supports:

• Chrome (desktop and Android)

• Firefox (desktop and Android)

• Safari (Mac OS X)

• It also boasts of a feature set similar to many of the previous services:

• Segmentation: Segment subscribers based on location, interests and other data.

• Scheduling: Schedule push notifications for specific dates and times.

• Personalization: Requires some setup – but lets you deliver personalized messages.

PushAssist has a free plan that supports up to 3,000 subscribers with unlimited notifications (and PushAssist branding). Paid plans start at just $9 per month.Join PushAssist5. All push notification for WP

• Unlike the four services listed above, All push notification for WP is a dedicated WordPress plugin. It means there are no monthly fees and all the processing is done right on your server instead of a third-party service.As a result, it does require a technical setup, only supports mobile notifications, and doesn’t have nearly as many features as the other services.All push notification for WP supports mobile push notifications via the following services:

• Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) – for Android devices

• Apple Push Notification service (APNs) – for iOS devices

• You can then:

• Send notifications whenever you publish a new post

• Send notifications to specific WordPress users (this is a pretty neat feature, though it’s a niche use)

• If you’re a beginner or a casual blogger, I do not recommend that you use this plugin – it is far too complicated and you will be better off using one of the more user-friendly services above.However, if you’re tech-savvy and want a solution that will support mobile notifications for unlimited users without any monthly fees or third-party branding, this one is worth checking out.Which Push Notification Plugin Should You Use?Given that fact that I already told you about using PushEngage here at ShoutMeLoud, it is an easy guess as to which push notification plugins I would recommend.PushEngage is a great option because:

• It has a free plan that works for most bloggers.

• The autoresponder tool gives you neat ways to interact with your audience.

• You can add call to action buttons to your notifications.

• It has easy segmentation.

• Remember – if you’re interested in getting started with PushEngage, here is a tutorial to help you quickly get up and running.In free options, OneSignal is a great option.What do you think of push notifications? Do you like them? Have you tried them on your website yet?

Void Spotlight: Ten Artists Doing Awesome Things on the Internet

Get inspired by some of the best artist websites, newsletters, and crowdfunding campaigns we’ve discovered recently!

By Siena Oristaglio on December 13th, 2017

As you know, we’re always on the lookout for artists whose artwork we believe in and who are doing creative things to connect with their communities. This month, we found ten artists who fit that bill perfectly! Read on for this month’s features:

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Jenna Wortham, Fermentation and Formation (Tinyletter)

How they describe it: “i got tinctures in my bag, swag.”

Why it’s great: Each email is a beautiful offering complete with storytelling, wisdom, self-care advice, links to articles, recipes, and music, media, and artworks. Truly a joy to read.

About the creator: “Award-winning journalist for The New York Times Magazine, among other things.”

Geeta Dayal (Patreon)

How they describe it: Geeta Dayal is creating articles and essays on music, art, and other subjects

Why it’s great: Very descriptive overview page that gives background on the artist, and links to her work, unusual and creative reward tiers, interacts often with patrons in the community tab, regular and fascinating update posts that include various forms of media.

About the creator: “Geeta Dayal is a frequent contributor to Wired and many other publications, writing on art, culture, technology, and design. She is the author of Another Green World, a book on Brian Eno.”

Cassie Marketos, mmmm, vol 1. (Tinyletter)

How they describe it: “writing stuff about stuff. you feel me?”

Why It’s Great: Detailed storytelling that arrives regularly in your inbox. Each letter is a small, beautiful window to peer through.

About the creator: “I’m a writer and content strategist based in Los Angeles. I’ve built communities at Kickstarter, Google, and the Obama White House.”

Photo by Noor Aqil

Sharine Taylor, shharine.co (Website)

Why it’s great: Simple and clean design, clear singular mailing list call-to-action on homepage, well-organized navigation that gives me a great sense of the various projects Taylor is involved in.

About the creator: “Sharine Taylor is an Afro-Jamaican Toronto-based creative, writer, editor and academic. Her work has appeared on VICE Impact, Noisey, Gal Dem Zine, Pitchfork, VICE, LargeUp and more, and she has also been been featured as a panelist on CBC’s The Current. She is currently a contributor at Noisey and is on the final leg of pursuing an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in the humanities, majoring in media studies with a double-minor in sociology and and socio-cultural anthropology.

With a body of academic research and freelance work centred around intersectional analyses of Jamaica’s cultural production, identity, (mis)representations of Black and Afro-Caribbean bodies and diaspora, she ensure her work applies an anti-colonial, anti-oppressive and anti-racist frameworks.” (Portrait photo by Noor Aqil.)

Austin Kleon, austinkleon.com (Website)

Why it’s great: Well-designed graphics, beautiful use of column layout to include a place to sell work and a clear mailing list call-to-action, fun, frequent, and informative blog posts.

About the creator: “Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of three illustrated books: Steal Like An Artist, Newspaper Blackout, and Show Your Work! His latest release is The Steal Like An Artist Journal: A Notebook For Creative Kleptomaniacs. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS Newshour, and in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. New York Magazine called his work “brilliant,” The Atlantic called him “positively one of the most interesting people on the Internet,” and The New Yorker said his poems “resurrect the newspaper when everybody else is declaring it dead.” He speaks about creativity in the digital age for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and The Economist. He grew up in the cornfields of Ohio, but now he lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and sons.”

Lisa Marie Basile (Tinyletter)

How they describe it: “poetry :: ritual :: light & dark ::”

Why it’s great: Emails includes lovely, intimate writing, links to fantastic poetry and upcoming events, and interviews with various artists.

About the creator: “Lisa Marie Basile is an editor, writer and poet living in NYC. She is the founding editor-in-chief of Luna Luna Magazine and the author of APOCRYPHAL (Noctuary Press, 2014). Her book NYMPHOLEPSY, co-authored with poet Alyssa Morhardt-Goldstein, will be published by Inside the Castle, 2018. She is also the author of Light Magic for Dark Times (Quarto Books, 2018). She is working on her first poetic fiction novella, to be released by Clash Books/Clash Media.”

Mildred Louis (Patreon)

How they describe it: Mildred Louis is creating magical filled comic adventures!

Why it’s great: Beautiful and bold illustrations in the header and body of the page, clear breakdown of what patrons receive, creative use of reward tiers with named packages and illustrations, frequent communication with existing patrons, excellent use of livestream to connect with existing patrons, clear goals that inspire further patronage.

About the creator: “Mildred is a queer comic creator and colorist with a huge love for inspiring and magical storytelling. She currently runs the ongoing magical girl inspired webcomic series Agents of the Realm. The comic updates every Tuesday and Thursday. For more of her work, feel free to stop by her Portfolio.”

Jean Hannah Edelstein, Thread (Tinyletter)

How they describe it: “Let me tell you about some things.”

Why it’s great: Emails are often short vignettes from Edelstein’s life, sometimes with links to other published works. Always exciting to read.

About the creator: “I’m Jean Hannah Edelstein, a writer, editor, and author, originally from upstate New York, then a Londoner and a Berliner. Now: New York City.”

Niina Pollari, You don’t have to buy anything (Tinyletter)

How they describe it: “on major shopping days, i send you something that you don’t pay for.”

Why it’s great: On days when our inboxes are flooded with Black Friday deals or Cyber Monday specials, it couldn’t be more refreshing to receive a poem or a piece of writing or art from Pollari.

About the creator: “Niina Pollari’s first book DEAD HORSE came out from Birds, LLC in 2015; she also translated Tytti Heikkinen’s The Warmth of the Taxidermied Animal (Action Books 2012). She is equally from Finland and Florida but lives in Brooklyn. Follow her on Twitter at @heartbarf.”

Photo by Emily Raw

Natalie Eilbert, To Insist While There is Still Time (Tinyletter)

How they describe it: “I write often about the pain of personal history, the struggles to be active, the anxiety of bravery.”

Why it’s great: Eilbert’s Tinyletter contains stunning, intimate, long-form musings from the writer. Letters include images, announcements about upcoming events and collaborations, and sometimes a close dissection of a poem Eilbert is engaged with. Always a deep and exciting read.

About the creator: Natalie Eilbert is the author of Indictus, winner of Noemi Press’s 2016 Poetry Prize, slated for publication in early 2018, as well as the poetry collection, Swan Feast (Bloof Books, 2015). Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming from Granta, The New Yorker, Tin House, The Kenyon Review, jubilat, and elsewhere. She was the recipient of the 2016 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellowship at University of Wisconsin–Madison and is the founding editor of The Atlas Review

Void Spotlight: Great Artist Websites

Get inspired by some of the best artist websites we’ve discovered recently!

By Siena Oristaglio on September 13th, 2017

Welcome to a new series on The Void Academy Journal, in which we feature great artist websites! We’re always on the lookout for artists whose artwork we believe in and who are doing creative things to connect with their communities. Here, we’ll be listing standout aspect of each websites we feature, informed by what we teach as key elements of effective arts websites. We hope this article will inspire you to make your own artist site. Moreover, as you read, we suggest that you sign up for one or more (or all!) of the mailers on these websites to experience connecting with artists in this capacity. Read on for this month’s features.

❍

Ericka Hart, ihartericka.com

Why we like it: Clear mailing list call to action upon arrival, stunning images, fun interactive elements, a variety of media documentation of her work, clear ways to get in touch and/or book her, beautifully integrated with her social media sites.

About the creator: A kinky, poly, cancer-warrior, activist, sexuality educator and performer with a Master’s of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University, Ericka Hart has taught sexuality education for elementary aged youth to adults across New York City for the past six years. Her work in sexuality education was catalyzed by her service as a Peace Corps HIV/AIDs volunteer in Ethiopia from 2008-2010. Diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in May 2014 at the age of 28, she realized that neither her identity as a queer black woman, nor her sex life as a survivor, was featured prominently in her treatment.

Kaveh Akbar, kavehakbar.com

Why we like it: Clean and simple design, clear singular action that he wants visitors to take on the home page (buy his new book!), clear mailer call to action at the bottom of each page, well-organized navigation, and beautiful images.

About the creator: Kaveh Akbar’s poems appear recently or soon in The New Yorker, Poetry, Tin House, Ploughshares, FIELD, Georgia Review, PBS NewsHour, Harvard Review, American Poetry Review, Narrative, The Poetry Review, AGNI, New England Review, A Public Space, Prairie Schooner, Virginia Quarterly Review, Poetry International, Best New Poets 2016, Guernica, Boston Review, and elsewhere. His debut full-length collection, Calling a Wolf a Wolf, is forthcoming with Alice James Books in Fall 2017, and his chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic, is out with Sibling Rivalry Press. The recipient of a 2016 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, a Pushcart Prize, and the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and currently lives and teaches in Florida.

Justin Vivian Bond, justinvivianbond.com

Why we like it: Gorgeous background images, slim top-bar promoting the most current upcoming event, great newsletter call to action as primary feature, seamless integration of video content.

About the creator: Mx Justin Vivian Bond is a trans-genre artist living in New York City. As a performer both on and Off-Broadway, Mx Bond has received numerous accolades winning an Obie (2001), a Bessie (2004), a Tony nomination (2007), the Ethyl Eichelberger Award (2007), The Peter Reed Foundaton Grant, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant for Artists. V authored the Lambda Literary Award winning memoir TANGO: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels (The Feminist Press, 2011). Films include John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus (2006), Sunset Stories (2012), Imaginary Heroes (2004) and Fanci’s Persuasion (1995). Solo exhibitions of JVB’s watercolors, sculptural installations and live art have been presented by Participant, Inc. (NYC, 2011, 2016), Art Market Provincetown (2014), and Vitrine (London, 2015). Albums include Kiki and Herb: Do You Hear What We Hear?, Kiki and Herb Will Die For You at Carnegie Hall, Dendrophile, and Silver Wells.

Jamila Woods, jamila-woods.com

Why we like it: Stunning, full-sized background images, clear call to action at the top of the page, beautiful color scheme, includes many ways to connect with and support the artist.

About the creator: Poet and vocalist Jamila Woods was raised in Chicago, IL and graduated from Brown University, where she earned a BA in Africana Studies and Theatre & Performance Studies. Influenced by Lucille Clifton and Gwendolyn Brooks, much of her writing explores blackness, womanhood & the city of Chicago. Her first chapbook, The Truth About Dolls (2012), was inspired by a Toni Morisson quote & features a Pushcart-nominated poem about Frida Kahlo. Her poetry is included in the anthologies The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (2015), Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls (2014), and The UnCommon Core: Contemporary Poems for Learning & Living (2013). Jamila is also a vocalist & songwriter, focusing primarily on soul/hip-hop centered music. Her musical lineage includes Erykah Badu, Imogen Heap, Kirk Franklin, and Kendrick Lamar. Raised in her church choir, Jamila’s musical aesthetic involves choral layering in addition to the hip-hop tradition of sampling & allusions. Her work with her band, M&O (fka Milo & Otis) has been featured by Okayplayer, Spin, JET and Ebony Magazine.
Photo by Carys Huws

Kaytranada, kaytranada.com

Why we like it: Elaborate illustrations and stunning design, strong calls to action to both purchase his works and sign up for mailer, integrated game adds an additional exciting element.

About the creator: Producer Kaytranada arrived during the early 2010s with ear-perking remixes and an array of sounds that veered from J Dilla-inspired hip-hop beats to woozy house grooves. Born Louis Kevin Celestin in Haiti, the Montreal-raised artist, a voracious listener, got hooked on DJ’ing and production during his early teen years. Early on, as Kaytradamus, he issued a series of digital EPs, albums, and remix compilations. Around 2013, he began to operate as Kaytranada with the EP Todo and three-track 10″ At All. In 2014, he remixed Disclosure’s “January,” produced “My Block” for personal heroes Mobb Deep, and made his XL label debut that August with “Leave Me Alone,” a collaboration with vocalist and fellow Montreal native Shay Lia. During the next two years, Kaytranada’s profile steadily rose with additional XL material (“Drive Me Crazy,” featuring Vic Mensa) and outside productions highlighted by “Girl” (from the Internet’s Grammy-nominated Ego Death), “Lite Weight” (Anderson Paak), “Love” (Rome Fortune), and “Honey” (Katy B). 99.9%, his proper debut album, was released in 2016 with guest appearances from Phonte, Little Dragon, and a few of his prior collaborators. It won that year’s Polaris Music Prize. (Andy Kellman, Rovi)

Shira, officialshira.com

Why we like it: Beautiful hand-made illustration on front-page, clear call to action to sign up for mailer, great use of consistent color palette, provides multiple ways to connect and purchase work.

About the creator: In Hebrew SHIRA means song and poem. Born in Israel, living in Brooklyn, Shira Erlichman is a songwriter, producer, writer and visual artist. Deli Magazine recently named her one of NYC’s Best Emerging Artists of 2016. Flooring critics with her enigmatic, unique sound, she’s garnered praise for the ability to “blend genres like soul, folk and electronic pop with a painter’s touch” (Deli). She’s shared stages with CocoRosie, Mirah and TuNe-YaRdS. A three time Pushcart Prize nominee, her work has been published in PBS NewsHour’s Poetry Series, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed Reader, BUST Magazine, Bitch Magazine, The Baffler and The Massachusetts Review, among others, as well as alongside Patricia Smith in ‘Bull-Gouging the Matador’ and the Lambda award winning LGBTQ anthology ‘Glitter & Grit.’ She received a Millay Colony Fellowship, a James Merrill Fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center and the Visions of Wellbeing Focus Fellowship at AIR Serenbe.

Jherek Bischoff, jherekbischoff.com

Why we like it: Consistent imagery and color palette, bold background artwork, clear and compelling purchase link, simple mailer call to action on every page, crisp, high-quality documentation of the work and process.

About the creator: Jherek Bischoff is a Los Angeles-based composer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumental performer. In his 30-odd years, he has collaborated with the likes of Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, David Byrne, Robert Wilson and Neil Gaiman and has performed in venues and festivals around the globe, including Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Adelaide Festival and Tasmania’s MONA FOMA. His work as a composer has garnered commissions from Kronos Quartet, Lincoln Center, and St Ann’s Warehouse and has been performed by Seattle Symphony, Adelaide Art Orchestra, Wordless Music, Stargaze and yMusic.

Tish Hyman, listen2tish.com

Why we like it: Clear sections that can be accessed via scrolling or through the top bar, great integration of audio and visual content, draws visitors through an interactive journey, bold mailer call to action, beautiful images.

About the creator: In the last 2 years Bronx native Tish Hyman released her debut project, Dedicated To; joined forced with Jill Scott, BJ Chicago Kid, and Lil Wayne on their respective tours; played festivals that included Essence Fest & The Roots Picnic; made her acting debut in Spike Lee’s latest flick, Chi-Raq; and penned records for Alicia Keys, Ty Dolla, Diddy, and Fabolous. “Tish Hyman not only shares a striking vocal resemblance to the legendary Lauryn Hill, but [Tish’s] music is based in the same reality which won Ms. Hill the adoration of millions,” proclaims VH1 in a recent article. A compliment that Tish has received more than once, but shies away from. She is now readying to releasing her second project, The Way I Am, and has teamed up with her friends Ty Dolla $ & Dej Loaf for support on the first single, What It Feels Like, which premiered on Billboard April 7th, 2017.

Cooper Lee Bombardier, cooperleebombardier.com

Why we like it: Consistent imagery, beautiful logo design in sidebar, clear mailer sign-up on front page, well-organized and attractive documentation of visual and written work.

About the creator: Cooper Lee Bombardier is a visual artist and writer from the South Shore of Boston. He has been a construction worker, a cook, a carpenter, a union stagehand, a welder, a shop steward, a dishwasher, a truckdriver, a bouncer, and a housepainter, among other things, for a paycheck. In 2014 the Huffington Post named him one of “10 Transgender Artists Who Are Changing The Landscape Of Contemporary Art.” His visual art hung most recently in shows at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, NM; the National Queer Arts Festival in San Francisco, and at Helltown Workshop in Provincetown, MA, and has been published in the journals Faggot Dinosaur and CutBank. His writing appears in various print and online publications, including The Kenyon Review and MATRIX (both forthcoming), NAILED Magazine, CutBank, Original Plumbing, Unshod Quills, Cavalcade, Provocateur, and The Rumpus; and several anthologies, including From the Inside Out: Radical Gender Transformation FTM and Beyond, Trans/Love, Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road, from City Lights Books, and the forthcoming anthology,The Remedy: Queer and Trans Writing on Health and Healthcare, from Arsenal Pulp Press. A veteran of the first Sister Spit tours, he performs, lectures, and exhibits art across North America. He’s been a featured visual artist at the National Queer Arts festival and a Lambda Literary fellow. Cooper teaches writing at Portland State University, the University of Portland, online at LitReactor, and to high school students as a Writer in Residence through Literary Arts’ Writers In The Schools program. He is currently lives and creates in beautiful Portland, Oregon.

Guim Tió, guimtio.com

Why we like it: Simple, colorful design, fantastic visual documentation of work, clear header image on front page guides visitors to a singular exhibit or event, mailer sign-up at the bottom of each page.

About the creator: Guim Tió Zarrluki was born in Barcelona in 1987 and completed an Arts and Craft degree at the Faculty of Fine Arts also in Barcelona. With 87,000 followers on Instagram and 65,000 on Facebook, Guim Tio doesn’t have the time to do anything else but to paint. Guim’s signature style started with painting over the pages of magazines. Since recently moving into his new studio, he has taken his art one step further and now he paints people and animals he knows directly onto canvas and wood. Guim Tio creates colorful characters, both funny and intriguing like no other artist we know.

This Colorful Beer Packaging Can Be Your One Way Ticket To Ride

pangeavasanth.wixsite.com/enterpangea/single-post/2018/05/29/This-Colorful-Beer-Packaging-Can-Be-Your-One-Way-Ticket-To-Ride

10 Outstanding Women Photographers to Inspire You

Who run the photography world? Equality!

Ever since the early 20th century, March 8th is known around the world as International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate females and highlight their achievements while raising awareness of their struggles. Photography is a clear example of the impact of this movement, with the number of female photographers increasing dramatically over the last century until achieving today’s nearly perfectly balanced ratio between male and female professionals in the industry.

Weddings, portraits, food, landscapes, wildlife, street, sports… women do it all! There isn’t a single photography style left untouched by the millions of women in the industry. Plus, it’s no surprise that their stunning photography websites are taking the Internet by storm. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to commemorate this day by celebrating the stunning work of some of these outstanding female photographers.

Suzanne Moxhay: Art across centuries

Suzanne’s portfolio feels like entering a whole new world thanks to elaborate photomontages that combine elements from both her own photographs and an extensive archive of magazines and photographs dating as far back as the mid-20th century. In order to achieve these breathtaking results, Suzanne uses an age-old technique called matte painting, which was used in the early days of cinema to create the illusion of an environment that was not present at the filming location.

Suzanne’s work has been exhibited internationally and is held in numerous renowned collections, both public and private.

Sarya Fark: Art in Nature

Sarya Fark is a biologist using photography as a tool to re-connect people with nature and wildlife with the hope to raise awareness of the threats looming over our fauna and flora. From the detailed macros that she beautifully refers to as “Art in Nature” to spectacular animals and landscapes across four continents, Sarya’s work successfully captures the boundless beauty of nature.

Hilary O’Leary: A safari at your fingertips

Hilary O’Leary specializes in wildlife photography and photographic safaris. Like Sarya, Hilary sees photography as a tool to help endangered animals by raising awareness of the threats they are under. In order to do so, she captures the delicacy and playfulness of animals normally seen as tough and even scary. When she is not roaming the continent to photograph the beauty of its wildlife, Hilary shoots portraits, weddings, sport and music events, and not-so-wild animals such as horses.

Hilary has improved her portfolio’s business capabilities by using the Wix Art Store to sell large-scale fine prints of her photographs.

Reiko Wakai: Fashion with a twist

Reiko Wakai brings a twist to the concept of fashion photography with a magistral use of color and light combined with the surprise-factor of working with acrobats, dancers, or transgender models on her photo shoots. The result of this mixture promises not to leave anyone indifferent. While most of her portfolio is composed of fashion shots, she also captures beautiful landscapes that use human figures to create an impactful statement on how small we are in comparison to nature.

You may remember Reiko as the winner of the Wix Photography contest Capture Your Dream Photo, which led to an out-of-this-world photo shoot in zero-gravity with international model Stav Strashko.

Sharon Radisch: Minimalist beauty

Sharon Radisch is the perfect portrayal of “less is more” – from her images to her website, everything surrounding her photography radiates simplicity and elegance. Fashion accessories, food, interior, and travel are the main styles presented in her portfolio – but her work also touches upon landscapes, portraits, and street photography. Sharon’s photographs have been commissioned by a long list of renowned beauty, accessories, and hospitality brands, and featured in some of the world’s most popular publications, including The New York Times, Condé Nast Traveler, and Vanity Fair Collection Travel.

Sharon has taken her online presence a step further by starting her own Wix Blog. On this second site, named en ville, Sharon shares her personal experiences in the diverse projects she works on and publishes a more extensive selection of photographs from each of them.

Victoria Kuzilova: Young, innocent, and free

Victoria Kuzilova (or should we say the child whisperer?) has a unique talent for capturing toddlers and young children’s innocence. Her images transcend the screen to transmit that extraordinary view of the world that fades away as we grow older. At the beach or in the snow, including only children or all kinds of animals, one can’t help but smile at Victoria’s photographs.

While children make up most of her portfolio, Victoria also shoots wonderful portraits of adults and families and even captures some landscapes and animals here and there.

Juliette Jourdain: The girl with a thousand faces

Juliette Jourdain creates powerful portraits that teeter between fantasy and elegance. Influenced by cinema and with a preference for female models, is sure to grab anyone’s attention. Her self-portrait series shows just how talented and creative she is, as every photograph depicts a whole different individual. Despite her young age (27), Juliette has already received diverse awards for her work and has been featured in exhibitions and magazines.

Make sure to read our interview with Juliette Jourdain to learn more about the young artist behind the wigs and glitter.

Allyson Riggs: Behind the screen

Allyson Riggs is a still photographer who has worked in diverse well-known projects with Netflix, TNT, NBC, and Gillette – among others. “Wait? A what photographer? Aren’t all photographs still?” Well, yes, they are, but the term ‘still photographer’ actually refers to the person who creates the photographic images aimed for marketing and publicity of films and television productions.

Having her photographs featured in magazines and billboards, she is now working on two personal collections. One focused on capturing the living conditions and styles of young adults, and the other is about quiet nature of Eureka, California.

Allyson wins bonus points for her exclusive behind the scenes sneak peeks of popular television shows and ads!

Anaïs Bizet: Love is all you need

Anaïs Bizet is a wedding photographer who also photographs couples and family portraits. She describes human relationships as one of the most important things for her, which is shown by the delicate way that she captures her subjects’ emotions. In addition to photographing human relationships – or stories, as she refers to them on her website – Anaïs photographs architecture and food projects, as well as a travel series.

Ramona Bach: Not only humans

Ramona Bach is primarily a portrait photographer, but she also photographs weddings, landscapes, and interiors. Her portraits don’t discriminate by style, age, gender, or species – resulting in an extensive portfolio ranging from models underwater to cats in the snow, also including newborns and fashion photo shoots. Her main source of inspiration, she says, is her love for animals and nature – which is probably the reason why elements of nature are part of almost all of her photographs.

By Judit Ruiz Ricart