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.

After months of discussion and various mockups completed, the University officially gave me the green-light to use WordPress full time as the campuses new CMS. Throughout the development process the site was being built on the latest bleeding edge nightlies, to ensure full compatibility upon launch.

This project would be a tremendous undertaking for an entire design firm, but it was handled entirely by me. To date this project has included the following elements:

• WordPress Network Install – Allowing the entire campus to run on one WordPress installation while granting each department its own level of control.
• Four (4) Themes – A base theme with custom homepage, a department theme, a base mobile theme, and a department mobile theme.
• Advanced Control Panel – A global options panel to manage and enable features throughout the campus on the fly.
• Global Alerts – Ability to enable an alert banner on all 4 themes with the switch of a button.
• Deep WordPress Menu Integration – Allowing menus to be used in nearly all areas of the site without requiring any edits of theme files.
• Localist Caledendar Integration – Brining events to the fore-front with the use of Localist and amr-iCal for WordPress.

Art In Ice is an Astereo Client Services customer. I host the site and ensure that the latest version of WordPress is always installed.

Allstate Fire Protection, Inc is an Astereo Client Services client. The site is hosted on my server for a minimal yearly fee.