Stuck with a flash website they couldn't update, photo retouching and post-production studio Picturehouse came to GWAV seeking a web redesign within a flexible framework. Picturehouse wanted a sophisticated website that had a very minimalist feel — one that didn't announce its bells and whistles. They also needed to be able to easily update the projects on show in their portfolio.

Since Picturehouse's core competency, photo retouching, involves having huge, blown-out photographs on their computer screens most of the day, we decided to integrate large-scale photos throughout the site as a subtle background. Thus, when you land on the deliberately minimalist homepage, a huge portrait detail fades in and slowly moves, just enough to catch your eye. This background flash animation continues, with different imagery swapping in, throughout the site.

The heart and soul of the website, the company's image portfolio, is supported by rich back-end functionality — part of the integrated content management system that we built for the entire site — that allows all photographs to be sorted and viewed by type, photographer, and client, as well as by free-form "tags" of the Picturehouse's choosing. And all of the images display in a lightbox that was completely custom-designed and coded to the client's needs.

www.picturehousenyc.com