Responses by Exo Ape

Background: Over the past few months, we’ve worked with Dutch fashion photographer Otto van den Toorn to create a website that amplifies his already amazing work. Looking for a way to digitally enhance Otto’s work was no easy task. In addition to having the detailed imagery displayed at the highest resolution possible, we also formulated the photography-related concept as a theme for the site. With help from developer Rob Smittenaar, the result is a contemporary experience that guides users through Otto’s work on all desktop and mobile devices.

Highlights: The mouse cursor is used as a sphere which indicates user actions—giving users a viewing hole into the negative image since Otto’s photographs deserve to be presented in ultra high-res. Users can resize the images up until four times the normal size and use the mouse to navigate. Careful image compression makes sure the website doesn’t feel slow with all the huge images. A few creative modules also allow for diverse layouts and flexible content management.

Challenges: Translating Otto’s photography portfolio into an immersive digital experience. Otto’s old website felt really outdated and not in-line with the quality of work that he was presenting.

Navigational structure: Otto’s work is divided into five main categories. Besides that, there is a video page where users can take a peek behind the scenes at Otto’s work. For those in a rush, there’s a Quick Overview page to admire work from each category in a subtle scroll-down overview page.

Technical features: In the flexible Wordpress content management system, Otto is free to create new project pages and position them as he pleases. Every first project in a category is automatically displayed in the homepage featured-slider. The content of the first project in the featured-slider is even used as the website's pre-loader. In this way, the website always has a fresh feeling when Otto adds new work. Total freedom!