I sat down this past Thursday (5/3) and just got to to work. The result, after 15 hours of coding and tweaking, was a totally responsive portfolio with a refreshed look.

I’ve been working through responsive design development with my last few projects – mainly because I feel that this is where design is heading and where it belongs (more on this later). I’m extremely pleased with the results, although the sub pixel rendering differences (webkit) are somewhat annoying because I’m a perfectionist. Still, the design looks great on my iPhone and it is extremely fast — a big improvement over my last few revisions.

With the redesign also comes a relaunch of my blog. I plan on doing a bit of writing this summer to detail my process, projects I’m working on, and talk music and life.

I hope you’ll follow along.

As always, I could always use work, as I have college bills to pay. Get in touch.

The site was to be a split, essentially, into two sections – one for music, and one for personal. For Lacey, it was equally as important that she was able to connect with her fans on a more personal level as getting her music out there. I created a design that would hopefully capture this. Utilizing some amazing promotional shots I was provided with, I put together a design (again in WordPress) that featured big images and a light, spring-link color scheme (Lacey requested a Lilly-inspired design).

The end result, which will launch soon, aims to spread the word about an artist that you without a doubt need to know.

In April I officially wrapped up development of the Capital Theme and the Capital Theme customer portal. The creation of the theme itself saw me build out an advanced customization options panel (my first), which let nearly every aspect of the theme be controlled without ever needing to touch the source code. Three different homepage layouts were included to maximize the choices for users and give them an incredible amount of flexibility.

I also included a whole host of features to make the theme stand out as much as possible, from an integrated link cloaker to automatic theme updates from the WordPress dashboard – a rarity for most premium themes. Throughout the first week of launch I provided an unparallelled level of support, adding new request features and fixing minor issues to bring the version number to 1.3 within the first 10 days following launch.

First and foremost, the goal of this site was to selling products. Rachel specializes in making homemade, organic granola products that are both healthy and practical. I wanted a design that played off of this idea and appeared both environmentally conscious and engaging. I stuck to a green and tan color scheme to help reinforce the organic nature of the products. This also kept the color scheme right in line with the existing business cards Rachel was already using.

A centerpiece for this project was the new RBB logo. Utilizing handwritten fonts to convey a more personal touch, a new logo was created in hopes that it would be a strong identifier for the brand. A “scoop full of oats” image was purchased from 123RF and slightly modified for use with the logo, while everything else remained unique. The homepage also utilized a vector purchased from 123rf, which was again slightly modified to convey a friendly, inviting initial view for the visitor.

I also customized the WordPress backend to utilize custom post types with regards to the menu items. This allowed for consistent formatting without the need for Rachel to learn any code or worry about creating display issues. The backend panel provided an easy to understand interface for which Rachel could expand her product offering effortlessly in the future. Dynamic Paypal buy now buttons were also included, which use prices as defined directly from the particular item post within WordPress. This eliminates the need to generate buy now buttons in Paypal itself whenever a new product is added, creating a seamless experience in which Rachel was thrilled about.

This was a complete design and development project — which included the design, a new logo, and WordPress coding. The site utilizes CCS3 effects for small touches which add big impact to the overall feel of the website. As a local small business who was in need of hosting, Rachel’s Basic Bites is also utilizing my Astereo Client Services to host and manage the site – ensuring constant uptime and up-to-date versions of WordPress.

I was approached by homeowners of a property in Wickford Point, RI to create a single-page resource which would be linked to in national for-sale ads that would be placed in newspapers including the New York Times. The purpose of the portal was to highlight the location and explore the beauty of this move-in ready home. A secondary page was added for a full featured photo gallery, and an image slider was used on the homepage to scroll through high resolution, scenic images of the property.

The site was created with a “sea theme” in mind, as the home has excellent views of the Jamestown Bridge. It was also created to portray a professional, clean look for maximum appeal with its intended audience.

In addition, this client utilized my hosting services which are offered to owners of small local websites who are looking to get online for the first time with ease.