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.

A custom post type was used titled “Menu Items” to differentiate between normal posts. Utilizing the power of the Advanced Custom Fields plugin, an appropriate visual backend was created to make adding menu items and menu category types as easy as possible for the owners.

To further enhance the design, Google Web Fonts were used to provide a smoother appearance for each menu item. An image slider was also used to allow the restaurant to highlight specific images and/or services. These images were pulled directly from another category within WordPress.

As always, my initial choice was to go with WordPress for the backend, greatly approving usability for those that would be updating the site most often. Various CSS3 techniques including transitions and drop shadows were used to add a subtle flair to the design. The final product was delivered in 100% valid XHTML and CSS.

RICNE is also an Astereo Client Services customer, meaning I host the site, and ensure that WordPress is always up to date.

More about RICNE

Created in an industry partnership with the Lifespan Learning Institute, RICNE, as an Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center, is charged with providing technical assistance re: nursing workforce issues and nursing education, conducting applied research on the same, and disseminating the results of evidence-based best practices. The outcomes of this work will improve the health of Rhode Island citizens by supporting the supply of a high-quality, diverse, and well-educated nursing workforce for the future. This is dependent on an adequate pool of nursing faculty.

As a university center, RICNE is in a unique position to leverage the resources of the University of Rhode Island to develop and test innovative solutions to nursing workforce issues in the state of Rhode Island.

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.