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Gary Kordan – an extremely talented Art Director and Production Designer for television – has a website unlike any we’ve ever seen before. His utilization of graphics, video, and imagery keeps users supremely engaged and wanting to click to each new section.

We are honored for his site to be our featured website this week – so read on because you’re in for a treat!

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

GK: Dynamic, Bold, Edgy

Q: How do you choose the photos/videos that display on your homepage?

GK: As a production designer for television, I try to choose my most recent recognizable project to display on my homepage. A big, bright set design featuring well-known talent like Key & Peele or the cast of Workaholics helps potential clients to get excited about my work. Finding the right image that showcases set design, set decoration, and overall aesthetic of the TV show I designed is important because my website audience is extremely busy and may only spend 30 seconds on a site. First impressions are important!

Q: How often do you update your website?

GK: I update the order of my galleries and blog often. Especially when I’m up for a show that is searching for a specific type of look. If the project is a single camera comedy I’ll feature these images first. If it’s a variety or sketch show, I’ll move those to the beginning of the gallery. Same with the most recent blog post. I am always assuming that people have only 15 seconds to look at my site and blog so I don’t want to bury the stuff I think they want to see. I’m pretty sure all television producers have ADD. One recent exception to this happened when I booked a show after a great meeting (in Hollywood interviews are “meetings”) and the star of the show said that my website was the best she had ever seen. She spent an hour on it reading and looking at everything!

Q: What is your favorite feature that liveBooks offers?

GK: My favorite feature is my video homepage that changes each time it’s refreshed. I have black and white video edited to look like silent movies. To me it serves as a premium and warm-up to the full color and bold images in the galleries. Black is my favorite color and very much a part of my brand. The look of my site and the homepage video preview has an edge that matches my daily wardrobe.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone who is designing their website?

GK: My best advice to someone designing their website is to ask someone to objectively be their editor. Are there too many photos? Are the names of the galleries too confusing? Typos in the bio? Is their homepage too busy to navigate? I feel like less is more and no one really cares about a project from 20 years ago unless it’s in a specifically named gallery. Ask a friend or a family member to look at the website before it launches. Sit beside them and notice if they start to get bored or if the images seen redundant. A website should play like a great movie or rock concert. It should draw people in and leave them wanting more. The minute they are confused by the navigation or losing interest in the photographs it’s time for an edit!

Head on over to www.garykordan.com to see more (our post really doesn’t do his site justice!)

Have a website that you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.