Squarespace Website Design for Photographer in NYC

Gwen Norton, Photographer

Refined. Minimal. Curated.

Gwen Norton is a fine art photographer based in New York City. Although she already had a website, it didn’t yet reflect the subtlety and strength of her practice. The design drew attention away from the imagery, navigation felt fragmented, and the overall experience lacked the immersive quality that her photography evokes in gallery spaces.

She was seeking a redesign that would not only present her work more clearly but also create a refined, engaging rhythm that encourages exploration. The new site needed to position her with professionalism and ease while offering a platform that resonates with galleries, collectors, and viewers alike.

The Challenge

Gwen’s portfolio carries both depth and breadth, but her digital presence did not fully communicate it. The image library behind the site was unstructured — files unscaled, unnamed, and difficult to manage. Minimal copy underrepresented her practice, while the layout pulled focus away from the photographs themselves.

The central challenge was to create a memorable artistic identity and an online space capable of holding layered collections, guiding the viewer intuitively, and offering the same clarity and poise as her gallery presentations.

The Approach

I approached the redesign as a curatorial exercise. My role was to interpret Gwen’s work and translate it into a digital presence where rhythm, tone, and structure mirror the experience of encountering her photography in person. Every choice — from typography and navigation to pacing and copy — was made to support and elevate the work.

• Copywriting & Messaging
  With only an About page as a starting point, I expanded and refined her text. The writing now conveys the precision, rhythm, and depth of her practice, articulating her work with clarity while positioning her with galleries and collectors.

• Visual Identity
  Building from only a logo, I developed a restrained digital identity: a muted palette, typography with quiet strength, and an editorial design language that frames the work without distraction.

• Design & Navigation
  To keep attention on her photography while encouraging exploration, I designed a custom header anchored by a burger menu. Within her primary portfolio, seven sub-galleries are connected through custom anchors — a seamless, intuitive navigation that evokes the rhythm of moving through curated spaces.

• Content Architecture
  I extended the structure with an archive to organize her broader body of work and a news page for exhibitions — creating a platform that is both clear and future-ready.

Features & Highlights

• Custom Navigation — burger menu designed to maintain focus on imagery

• Gallery Anchors — intuitive sub-navigation within multi-section portfolios

• Expanded Copywriting — a refined voice to articulate her practice

• Brand Styling — typography, palette, and design direction crafted for fine art presentation

• Structured Architecture — archive and news pages to support growth and visibility

The Result

The new portfolio website is refined, minimal, and curated — a platform that allows Gwen’s photography to lead while guiding viewers with intention. It invites exploration, engages audiences, and reflects her identity as an artist with clarity and confidence.

More than a redesign, it is a translation: her practice, originally encountered in galleries, now resonates digitally with the same presence and rhythm.

With only one brief round of revisions needed, the website came together seamlessly — a testament to how closely the design aligned with her vision. Gwen now has a digital presence that honours her artistry, connects her with galleries and collectors, and grows in step with her evolving career.