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GUERNSEY'S
JUNIOR ART DIRECTOR & CREATIVE PRODUCT DESIGNER FOR THE WORLDS MOST INTERESTING AUCTION HOUSE BASED OUT OF NYC
THE AUCTION HOSUE WITH THE RECORD OF THE WORLDS LARGEST AUCTION SHOWCASED.
HISTORY OF GUERNSEY'S
For four decades Guernsey's has built a reputation as an auction house known for the presentation of extraordinary properties. From the largest auction in history (the contents of the ocean liner S.S. United States) to vintage racing cars on to pre-Castro Cuban cigars and the $3 million McGwire baseball, we have few rivals when it comes to the presentation of wildly diverse art and artifacts.Guernsey's also has brought some of the most famous and intriguing personalities of the 20th Century to auction — from the official Elvis auction featuring items from the Graceland archives to documents and artifacts relating to the life and career of John F. Kennedy and from record setting sales of Jerry Garcia's guitars and items from the family of Mickey Mantle.
THE GOAL
THE TEAM
the process
THE LIFE CYCLE OF AN AUCTION
THE START : THE CONSIGNER
Each Auction begins with building a relationship with the Consigner (seller). They contact us with the idea to bring their extraordinary items to Auction and bring light to the owners showcasing them. Not every Auction item is there because someone brought it to us sometimes we include items from past auctions consigners we developed relationships with to include their items in the upcoming auction as a redemption.
Once we have a theme in place the auction can begin.
WHAT IS A THEMED AUCTION?
Guernsey's is known for hosting extraordinary Themed Auctions. If you notice in the Excel sheet above the title isn't just Madonna's Auction or The Hotel Chelsea Auction. A Themed Auction is where we pool like minded items from like minded figures and find a common motif to center the event around. The Auction above focused on the Downtown Scene of NYC including Items from the Hotel Chelsea, Personal Belongings of Madonna, Basquiat Art, Bob Dylan Records, and Patti Astor Fun Gallery Memorabilia and more... All to make one Extraordinary Auction.
PHOTOGRAPHS, CATALOG, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
1st - We receive and make decisions on which items will fit into an auction and which wont. The decision to place items into an auction is made based off a couple different factors.
The Provenance, Condition, How it fits in with other items. and authentication (limits and lack there of)
2nd - We Photograph and Edit Pictures of each items to be prepared for the catalog and Website.
The pictures edited which you can see below doesn't get altered because we want to always be honest with the buyer about what they're purchasing.
3rd - We do deep research on the provenance of each lot (item) to build a story around the auction. Then we Categorize and place the lots on a excel sheet which would be use to help us organize each lot.
including description, history, estimates, start price and who's selling that item.
Discovery
Step 5 - Update the Website
I use HTML / CSS + Figma to update re-design the Website. Updating the website provides buyers and potential consigners that there is a auction being held and information on whats being sold and how the can be apart of the event.
Step 6 - Finalize The Catalog.
Working for Guernsey's gave me the experience to build and maintain client relationships. From the family of Rosa Parks to Gallery owners with items from Jean-Michel Basquiat. One thing I never expected was to maintain a list of some of the worlds most influential people and develop close relationships.
prototyping +++
Building The Guernsey's Website
With only a month to get this website fully updated and designed I hit the ground running collaborating with the founder and president to produce a website that felt familiar yet modernized.
Sketching
The first thing I thought would be cool to design was a movie credit style Marquee that would scroll automatically on the homepage
keeping the logo centered so its the first thing that hits you
Heres another version of the above image
The Sketches made were integral to getting the vision down and not waste time with the technicals ensuring that all parties were on the same page.
After the sketch process I went to Figma to complete the first prototype.
Using interaction tools and UX / UI methodologies to create an interactive design that also blended the Brands Style to create something new.
Some early troubles I ran into:
site load speed : Large Quantity of Pictures Moving = Slow Site.
Speed of the Moving Images : Needs to be fast enough to feel like movie credits and slow enough for all to read. Accessibility is key!
After Creating a prototype me and a friend of mine who was an expert in bootcamp worked on the website polishing up every detail. Im not an expert but I have a good grasp on basic coding HTML and CSS and without the help of my friend Dylan Boger who is now a rocking Applications Developer; without him I don't believe I would've finished it in a month. - If you need an someone awesome he's your guy.
Once done, I managed the files through the file manager in Bluehost to make sure pages were live, and that they ran correctly.
My next updates besides adding the future Extraordinary Auctions being held but also making the website more mobile and tablet friendly.
