Customising a Cargo Portfolio Site

Performance and video artist Archie Barry asked me to implement a new design for their artist portfolio site. They had had the opportunity to have subsidised access to Cargo, so we agreed this would be the best platform for them to showcase their work. I was asked to make customisations to an existing theme. Here is a screenshot of the Lecomte theme I was asked to customise:

And here is a screenshot of the customised theme:

One interesting point in the process has been learning about using SVG Color Matrix filters. I was asked to show the images for each art project in monochromatic blue. On hover, the blue filter should be removed to show the image in colour. Rather than simply replacing the image (which I thought could create a delay in the second image rendering), I decided to try using CSS filters to achieve the effect.

At first I tried converting the image to Sepia then shifting the hue, but the way it shifted the colours didn't line up with the sample I was given. Instead I tried using an SVG Color Matrix, and this has been more precise and effective. Here is an article about the feature on CSS Tricks.

The completed site can be viewed at archiebarry.com