creative portfolio research

 Creative portfolio research:

starting off, it seems as though creative portfolios are rather important to progress within the creative sector as a whole, the most commonly used method of this for authors (currently the main thing I wish to focus on) appears to be use of a website. I have been researching authors I enjoy reading and looking at their websites to get a feel of what they look like. The first of these is an author known as 'Brandon Sanderson' 

Already, the moment you click in the website you are greeted with a blue background and a slideshow full of upcoming projects of his, some links to other parts of his website and progress bars for his upcoming writing projects. Brandon's website is by far my favourite website out of all the ones I have researched because of just how interactive it is and how much content is packed in the website. beneath all of that previously mentioned stuff is his blog, which is another interesting feature that lets fans of his work see what he's working on with updates fairly frequently. In the bar at the top of the screen is the links that will take you to the other parts of his website, including the collection of all his works, a blog section and multiple other bits and pieces.

https://www.brandonsanderson.com (Link)

The second author I have chosen to study their creative portfolio is 'George R.R. Martin' who yet again, has a website that the public can view, he is the author of the popular fantasy book series known as 'A Song Of Ice And Fire' his website has a lot of the same stuff as Sanderson's, including a blog style page (Known as 'Not A Blog') a Mini slideshow and numerous other links including one to his merchandise. The biggest difference between the two appear to be the background image, which in Martin's site is a snowy-white sort of background, fitting with the theme of his most popular setting of Westeros (which is full of snowy areas due to 'Winter' fast approaching in the song of ice and fire books) another major difference is that Martin's site just looks a bit more complex, with way more sub categories in each major dropdown menu in the top bar.

https://georgerrmartin.com (second link)

Moving (mostly) away from fantasy authors now, Stephen King is another author who I wished to examine a creative portfolio on. Once again, he has a website, like the previous two authors, the background is very simple with a number of categories showcasing a range of things from his works (old and upcoming) an FAQ and a news section. His is probably the most basic of the 3 sites, with the most basic layout and a simple list for all his books (rather than a more comprehensive list split into series and featuring images like Sanderson)

My favourite of these sites has to be Brandon Sanderson's, it has the most user-friendly interface and is just much more pleasing to look at. all of the links to other parts of the website are just big enough to not get in the way when you are browsing and there is a large plethora of content that is free for fans to read and get a taste of his work. My least favourite would unfortunately be King's, because his site is just very bland overall and not that interesting to look at.