Lisa is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker with more than four decades of work behind her, and she’d just finished her first book, a memoir called The Unexpected Ranchero. She needed a site that could capture her lifelong body of work and also serve as her author platform while she pitches the memoir to literary agents. Knowing where to start with all that material was the hardest part, so I drafted the first round of copy from her Wikipedia page and press coverage, and she shaped it from there. It’s much easier to respond to a draft than to face a blank page. She also wanted her own photos front and center, so I built the design around images she took herself and behind-the-scenes shots from her film sets. The final book cover wasn’t ready yet, so I designed a placeholder mockup that she ended up loving!
Client
Lisa F. Jackson
Industry
Film & Literature
A filmmaker’s site needs to show four decades of credibility in a few seconds, especially when literary agents are the ones visiting. I went with an editorial look inspired by the black-and-white photo Lisa shared of her in NYC on set. We used oversized type, a bold orange accent, and a condensed italic serif that gives it a literary edge. A scrolling press bar with names like Sundance, HBO and The New York Times does the credibility work right away, and critic quotes back it up. Custom touches like the unconventional menu placement and hover effects make it feel cinematic, which suits someone whose whole career has been about telling a story visually.
