Guthrie Govan: Designed in the style of a portfolio site, this one has social media icons at the top and lists all the works I’ve done. If a client wanted to see what I can do, it’d be extremely easy to navigate his/her way to several examples of my work.
My first design is for Guthrie Govan, an extremely talented guitarist who has a few different projects going on at any given time. He plays with Steven Wilson, The Aristocrats and Asia amongst others, but also does solo gigs and workshops which he sells as a download. He often takes requests for songs he might play or items to sign from his fans, so it would make sense that he would have a website where they could contact him or even buy products from him directly.
Govan has over 40,000 likes on Facebook, so it makes sense that he would want to link his website directly to that account. Having an online shop is sort of an obvious thing for musicians these days too, but Guthrie hasn’t got one yet – maybe this design will inspire him!
The final design below is one I made up myself. It includes booking information and links to his social media accounts as well as a shop area
Guthrie Govan:
Designed in the style of a portfolio site, this one has social media icons at the top and lists all the works I’ve done. If a client wanted to see what I can do, it’d be extremely easy to navigate his/her way to several examples of my work.
All in all, I think this design is quite professional with a clean layout that doesn’t overwhelm visitors with too much content at once.
I’ve been a fan of Guthrie Govan since I first heard Erotic Cakes back in 2010.
Back then, I had just begun to listen to more instrumental music and was very much into fusion. His signature sound sort of reminded me of Steve Vai, which I thought was pretty cool, but it was his playing style that intrigued me the most.
After watching several videos of him, I knew that he was one of the top guitarists out there. I even thought about getting a Charvel Art Series Guthrie Govan Signature guitar, but ultimately decided against it due to personal preferences regarding switching systems and scale lengths.
In any case, here is my design for his website:
Designed in the style of a portfolio site, this one has social media icons at the top and lists all the works I’ve done. If a client wanted to see what I can do, it’d be extremely easy to navigate his/her way to several examples of my work.
Guthrie Govan Guitarist, Composer, Educator
Welcome to GuthrieGovan.com
Video: Guthrie’s Intro to Fives
Guthrie on Gear4Music TV
Guthrie Govan in Croatia 2014
Guthie Govan on the cover of Guitar World Magazine!
The Aristocrats On Tour – Summer 2014
The Aristocrats Release Live DVD/CD & Blu-Ray – “Live In Japan”
Guthrie Govan Plays “A Little More For You” Live In Croatia 2014
The Aristocrats Release Theatrical Trailer for Live DVD/CD & Blu-Ray – “Live In Japan”
The Aristocrats Live at the Boston Wilbur Theater 2013
The Aristocrats Live at The Royal Oak Theater in Detroit, Michigan 2013
The idea of a portfolio site is to have a single or multiple pages that showcase your work as a web designer and developer. This can be something as simple as a list of sites you’ve built, with screenshots and links to the live sites, or it can be more elaborate with custom graphics, design elements and branding.
The key is to make sure that the information is easy for your clients to scan through and find exactly what they are looking for. If you are creating a portfolio site for yourself, then you need to make sure that it accurately reflects your skills and abilities, as well as showcases your best work.
If you are new to the field of web design then you may want to create several different portfolio sites so that you can try out different layouts, colours, features and functionality. This is also a great way to practice your coding or graphic design skills on real-life projects and see how they look when they are live on the web.
Guthrie Govan is a master guitar player who amongst other things is currently playing with the band ‘Asia’ and has toured with the likes of Steve Vai. He has a unique and instantly recognisable style which is a fusion of rock, jazz, fusion, classical and blues.
He uses techniques such as alternate picking, legato (hammer-ons and pull-offs), tapping, sweep picking and string skipping. His style is very fluid and improvisational. He often plays arpeggios in his solos rather than pentatonic scales or modes.
As well as being an amazing guitarist Guthrie Govan also teaches guitar at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) where he teaches both diploma courses and also one-to-one lessons to students. He used to contribute a column to Guitar Techniques magazine called ‘Creative Guitar’.
I have worked on various projects, some of which are listed below. I have also done some freelance and online work for various clients. Please feel free to contact me if you’d like to see a full list of my experience and/or references.
Aardvark Creation was a web design company that I helped start up and run for about five years. We provided web design services to clients who didn’t want cookie-cutter designs. During this time, I had the opportunity to work with many different people and companies including: Dr. Michael Masters, Nobel Peace Prize winner and professor at University of Nebraska Medical Center; International Society for Quality in Health Care; University of Colorado; and many others.
Aardvark Creation has since been retired (for now).