Designing Mika Ninagawa's Website Aug 24 2003
The challenge with designing Japanese photographer Mika Ninagawa's website was to create an absorbing on-line "Mika's World" whilst presenting the photographs as beautifully as possible. Wall-to-wall colour would have provided the former, yet the latter required a neutral space to allow the photographs to stand out.
The result took one of Mika's best known images, brought elements of it to life through Flash animation and integrated the navigation into the image itself. This key visual set the layout for most of the site, using one bold image per page, into which the content and navigation was blended.
The model in Mika's Diary appears to be tripping over the menu, whilst the girl in Mail to Mika slides towards the comment. The Photographs and Exhibition sections provide an easily viewable back-catalogue of Mika's work, whilst the diary, shop and download pages keep fans coming back for the latest content. http://www.ninamika.com