Venture Visuals
Posted on 03. Dec, 2009 by Mike in All Designs, Grey
Venture Visuals is a portfolio website built on Wordpress. The site was designed by Seth Cox in 2 weeks, and developed by Derek Herman at Valen Designs in 1 month. It features a javascript driven image gallery viewer that pulls images from unique page submissions and sorts them according to their tags and categories.
Before we opened photoshop, we decided on three core values that would drive the new design – usability, speed, and aesthetic simplicity. Consequently, most design dilemmas that emerged could be resolved by holding them up against these three values. For example, an early debate centered around whether to develop in Flash or XHTML+CSS. Although unconventional for our industry, clean HTML+CSS would allow us to run larger images and video without commanding much bandwidth- problem solved. As design progressed, so did the challenges; wordpress vs. proprietary CMS, light background vs. dark, etc. Adherence to these principles allowed us to focus on creating a seamless experience that our users would appreciate.
The Galleries
We gave a considerable amount of time ensuring that our motion and still galleries were fast, easy to navigate, and truly featured the imagery above all other items on the page. Working with Valen Designs, we developed a custom Wordpress Plugin to seamlessly and beautifully display the video and photographic media. View the Gallery here.
Flash v. Css
Far too many media studios bog their sites down with unnecessary usage of Flash – or just bad code. By sticking to valid XHTML + CSS standards (not an easy feat), the site sails like a dream ensuring that our users can access any content quickly regardless of their browser or bandwidth.
The Blog
The Journal is a resource to anyone interested in getting a better grip on how to leverage video and photography in their marketing programs. Regularly added content will range from interviews from industry leaders, to thoughtful case studies and media trends. Join the conversation as we discuss new ideas to help you create a visual message that will add greater impact to your campaigns.

Seth Cox
03. Dec, 2009
Hey guys, thanks for featuring the new venturevisuals.com! I love what you’re doing… keep it up!!
Seth Cox