livebooks blog

Goran Kosanovic is a commercial, advertising, and editorial photographer in the Washington, DC area. We are excited to share his story and a bit about how his career and liveBooks 8 site came to life with you today:

I am originally from Serbia, and while growing up, my father was in charge of taking our family pictures with an old Czechoslovakian camera. Back then, black and white photos were only available in a format size that was a little bit bigger than a business card. I always wondered: “Can they be bigger and in color?”

Once I came to the US, I chose to change my studies from mechanical engineering to photography. I went to the Brooks Institute of Photography and moved to Santa Barbara, CA. While in school, I managed to assist many great photographers from the LA area. This experience being with commercial photographers while watching them create amazing images was priceless. Back then, everything was on film, so there was no margin for error. Everything was done in camera – lighting, composition. That was the way I learned and is how I continue to create my images.

Upon graduating, goranfoto was created, and I slowly started developing my brand with a website, business cards and a logo. As I love to cook, food was a natural subject choice for me, so I focused my work mostly on hospitality and food photography.

I currently call the Washington DC area home, where I live with my family. It was the perfect place to expand my hospitality and food photography business. The city offers cuisines from around the globe, and for me, it was not very hard after leaving the West Coast, except the weather of course!

See more of Goran Kosanovic’s fantastic images on his liveBooks 8 site at www.goranfoto.com.

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

GK: Easy to use. I always knew that I needed something very simple.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

GK: I do it very often. I try to update it every week, either with new gallery images or with some blog type of news.

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

GK: I try to rotate images that will attract jobs and potential clients. My greatest hope is that visitors to my site will understand my style and what I am all about.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks 8? 

GK: Simplicity. I do not want to waste my time creating and re-creating pages and pages of my website. In today’s world, it should be simplified so the time used is minimal for me and for the viewer.

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

GK: At this point, I think picking the right images, while making your site easy to navigate are the major things to having a great website.

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

The liveBooks website editor allows you the freedom to create a custom navigation bar that fits your website’s specific needs. Whether this includes a drop-down menu that organizes your portfolio galleries into a visual index for your viewers to choose from, the use of social media icons, or the use of links and buttons to direct your viewers to another webpage or websites, you’ll be able to customize every aspect of the navigation bar.

Here are some helpful tips to get you on your way to creating a navigation bar that fits the design of your website:

Creating Drop-Down Menus

1. Log in to your liveBooks website editor
2. Select the Content tab
3. Select “Add New Pages”

4. Check the box next to “Navigation Item” and then select “Add”

5. From the drop-down, select “Text (No link).” This will allow you to create a title for the portfolio/gallery without leading your viewers to a blank page. Once you have chosen this option, change the Text Label to the name you would like your drop-down menu to have.

6. Once you have successfully finished all of the above steps, you can begin adding portfolios that will showcase your work. In order to organize the portfolios to display in the drop-down menu you have just created, you will need to indent your portfolio pages.

Social Media Icons in the Navigation Bar

The new liveBooks8 website editor allows users to easily and seamlessly integrate social media outlets to their website. What’s the difference between having your social media icons in the navigation versus in the footer? Here are some of the most contrasting differences:

• Depending on the layout that you have chosen, social media icons may catch viewer’s eyes more in the header of your website
• Having your social icons in the navigation bar highlights the importance of social media outlets with your work; they are equally as important as other pages on your website
• The navigation bar allows up to 4 social media icons at a time; the footer allows for unlimited social media icons to be added
• If you have added a variety of pages to your navigation bar, we recommend that you consider adding social media links to the footer of your site. With a number of pages in your navigation, viewers may find it to be too crowded.

Adding social media icons to navigation bar:

1. Log in to your liveBooks website editor
2. Select “Content”
3. Select “Add New Pages”
4. Check the box next to “Navigation Item” and then select “Add”
5. From the drop-down, select “Social Icons”

6. Select up to 4 social media icons that you would like to display on the navigation bar (Tip: Make sure to keep the “Open in new window” box checked. Otherwise, your viewers will leave your page immediately upon clicking the icon.)

7. Make sure to copy and paste the exact URL from your social media outlet. Also – check these icons frequently to make sure they are still linking to your social feeds correctly. Changes in usernames and domains from social media feeds may cause you to lose viewers along the way.

Creating Links and Buttons

The links and buttons feature on the navigation tool can help navigate your viewers to a specific part of your page that you want to showcase. This is especially true in the case of buttons. Links, on the other hand, are more commonly used for external links, which will lead viewers to another website.

Adding links and buttons to the navigation bar:

1. Log in to your liveBooks website editor
2. Select “Content”
3. Select “Add New Pages”
4. Check the box next to “Navigation Item” then select “Add” (look above for image)
5. From the drop-down, select either “Link” or “Button”
6. Change the “Text Label” to what you’d like your Link of Button to read to viewers (i.e.: “My Blog” if the link leads viewers to your blog)
7. Copy and paste the URL into the “Link” section

Is there a liveBooks feature that you want to learn more about? Let us know at social@livebooks.com!

We are loving all of the features on the new liveBooks8. With endless customization options and advanced tools to expand your online reach, our new HTML5 platform will make spreading the word about your fantastic artwork and services so much easier. Display your portfolio in interactive and customizable galleries while making it easy for potential clients to connect with you online through social media icons.

The best part? Migrating from our Flash/Legacy platform to our HTML5 platform is easy! Click here to schedule your migration while learning more about our current migration options.

Here is a detailed look at some of our favorite features:

1. SEO Everything™:
Easily expand the reach of your site through our simple system. Quickly add tags, descriptions, keywords, image alt text and more to your website so that your site is easily searchable and indexed properly, resulting in increased traffic from search engines. With improved SEO, your site has the potential to reach more of your target audience, resulting in higher traffic, and hopefully, higher booking rates!

2. Easily edit and update your site through our responsive platform:
Gone are the days of contacting support each time you want to make a design update to your site. Easily add galleries and pages, change fonts and colors, and update logo and template appearances with liveBooks8. Through our new responsive platform, you will be able to preview all of the changes to ensure your design matches your vision before being published.

3. In-line editing:
On a similar note, watch all of your design changes come to life through our in-line editing feature. Once logged into the liveBooks8 editor, easily update layouts and site wide navigation. Additionally, add hyperlinks, bold or italicize words, and create lists to add to text as well. You also have the ability to swap out single images or photos within galleries.

4. Our templates are just a starting point:
Our templates act as a guide to help you get your site to where you want it to be. Happy with the template you selected? Simply add your images and details. If you want to make a change, easily customize layouts, navigation design, font selection and more through our responsive editor. With endless customization options, you are sure to be able to create a design that matches your vision.

5. Customize galleries: 
Display your stunning images in our interactive and customizable galleries. With options ranging from mosaics to slideshows, you are guaranteed to create a sharp and responsive gallery that will be sure to catch a potential client’s eye. Easily adjust your image arrangement through our in-line editing tool and see the changes in a responsive preview prior to publishing your final design.

6. Drag and drop design:
No need for file attachments–just drag and drop your images directly from your desktop to your browser! Easily move content selections, items, and images to create your perfect website.

7. Simple mobile integration:
Easily preview your updated website’s appearance in mobile and tablet view by selecting a device view from our top menu. Easily make adjustments to your mobile layout through our responsive editor to ensure a seamless experience for each of your clients.

8. Social Media Integration:
Easily add social media icons to your website, allowing your site to become the one-stop shop for your online presence. With over 100 social icons to choose from, liveBooks8 allows for complete customization of the social experience you provide your audience.

Finally got you hooked? Schedule your migration to liveBooks8 now. If you are brand new to liveBooks and would like to start creating your interactive HTML5 site, sign up for our 14-day trial by clicking here.

Meet Kevin Clark of Kevin Clark Studios. Now a commercial photographer, his training was originally in graphic design. In art school, he picked up a camera for the first time during an elective class and immediately fell in love. After art school, he set up shop in Vancouver. He first began photographing performers and actors, as the film and TV industry was just starting to take off in his area. His wife, Trish, was a makeup artist, and they teamed up to establish a strong niche in the market. The industry exploded in the ’90’s with the development of many Sci-Fi based shows and big budget feature films. Their actors stayed busy, and as a result, so did their studio.

In 1999, they decided to go on an adventure and moved to Cairo, Egypt. There, the Clarks worked with advertising agencies, magazines and NGOs, while seeing parts of Egypt that not many people see. When Trish got pregnant with their first child, they moved back to Vancouver and re-established their business.

While they were in Cairo, Kevin had the opportunity to shoot some food photographs and really enjoyed it. As they continued shooting actors and head shots in Vancouver, Kevin also began establishing himself in the food photography industry. He started pursuing food photography after the crash of 2008 hit the Vancouver film industry, and currently, food photography represents more than half of his business.

See more of Kevin Clark Studios’ work on his liveBooks site at: kevinclarkstudios.com.

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

KC: All about pictures.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

KC: Right now, I update it at least once every week or two.

Q: How do you choose the photo that you display on your homepage?

KC: I looked for a simple image that represented our current style and made sure it would work well with the design of our site.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

KC: I like being able to dump a bunch of pictures in a gallery to get a feel for the look right away. From there, I am able to easily adjust image order accordingly.
(Note from liveBooks: learn more about our in-line editing feature here!)

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

KC: We spent a lot of time looking at other photographers’ sites to get a feel of what we wanted. So, I guess my advice would be to research your peers and competition as a starting point.

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