Subtle Creations — 2006 Redesign (View Original)

Problem: Original design didn’t focus on the artist’s portfolio, event schedule, and didn't keep viewers regularly and easily updated.

Goal: Make the website act like a visual portfolio and make it easy for people to get the right information about the artist in order to commission artworks.

Solution: We decided to showcase the artist’s portfolio in the top 2/3 of first page for instant access and impact. We added a client maintainable event listing on the first page, integrated a blog and newsletter signup on the first page, and added a shopping cart. It is important to keep everything available within one-click.

This website is still in development; stay tuned for its launch or visit the original site.

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Creative Concepts for Living (CCL)

Problem: There was no online presence.

Goal: Keep families and potential employees informed and updated.

Solution: We designed and developed a fast-loading site offering information about CCL in a professional yet informal way. We developed easily updated event galleries appealing to the community and focused on the clients. We are also in the process of developing a private intranet for CCL staff including custom calendars, wikis, and a client-maintainable document center.

View Creative Concepts for Living's website.

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Midwest Architectural

Problem: No existing web presence.

Goal: Fast loading sub-site integrated yet separate from main site.

Solution: The Midwest Architectural sub-page uses the same layout as the main Industrial Steel website, but displays its own logo and contact information.

Using the same layout enforces continuity and enables visitors to enjoy a seamless experience between the two parts of the site.

As with other pages in the Industrial Steel site an easily updated javascript gallery was incorporated into the page using high-quality, fast loading optimized images.

View Midwest Architectural's subsite.

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Industrial Steel

Problem: No existing online presence. Previous website designs did not achieve the company's goals.

Goal: Provide information about the company's capabilities, detail the technical specifications of the machines, and show the product possibilities through galleries.

Solution: After extensive consultation with the client we came up with an image enhanced layout that prominently displays the company's capabilities.

The site effectively shows photos of the machines Industrial Steel uses, outlines the specifications clients need to know for their project, shows dozens of images of products Industrial Steel has created and shows the abilities of the machines and the company in written details and visually.

View Industrial Steel's website

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Belle Cake and Candy — 2006 Redesign (View Original)

Problem: The logo was redesigned but was not present on the site, and the site wasn't as fluid as it could be.

Goal: Incorporate the new logo and their trademarked slogan, "Canada's Wedding Cake Experts" on every page.

Solution: Though there was only one goal for the redesign, we knew that a few additional changes would enhance the site and provide a better user experience. Our solution included:

• Inserting the logo prominently in the header of every page.
• Including the slogan under the logo in an eye catching color and most importantly as text and not as an image, encouraging search engines to log the phrase.
• Softening the layout by incorporating rounded corners.
• Streamlining the galleries: the original design had 9 client galleries with 26 images each, the new site has 7 client galleries with 36 images each creating a more visually balanced layout.
• Incorporating a client-managable calendar system and newsletter to allow the owners to easily keep their consumers updated about changes, new additions, and upcoming classes.

This website is complete awaiting client approval, until then view the original site.

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Pure Body Arts — 2006 Redesign

Problem: The original site was slow to load and wasn't able to be updated or maintained effectively.

Goal: Develop a fast-loading, easily updatable, dynamic website showcasing the artists and their work.

Solution: After careful consideration we decided on a layout that would focus on the studio's artists. Prominently displayed at the top of the first page are images of the five artists, links to their personal portfolio pages, and their personal blogs.

Each artist has a biography, multiple galleries, and a personal blog that they manage. As with every site we develop we optimized all of the images making them fast to load while maintaining high-resolution quality, the images were then incorporated into our Easy Update javascript galleries.

Custom blogs were installed and setup; one for the studio itself, which is displayed both on its own page as well as the main page of the website, and one for each of the artists. The blogs allow the artists to keep their fans and visitors updated on their personal projects and keep the website up-to-date in the eyes of search engines.

The website is also fully manageable by the client.

View Pure Body Arts' website

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Mid West Mod Fest

Problem: The event required an online presence.

Goal: Allow potential attendees to get information about the event and guest artists and allow guests, artists, and staff to apply online.

Solution: We designed a streamlined, simple, and fast loading site. Behind the scenes we incorporated interactive features including a blog, newsletter, and a bulletin board.

An online merchandise store will also be integrated into the site allowing online orders and product customization.

View the MWMF website

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karen Emilson — 2006 Redesign (View Original)

Problem: The author outgrew the look and functionality of her old site.

Goal: Update the colors to match the author's latest novel, incorporate interactive features, encourage book ordering, and make it fast loading for her rural readers.

Solution: Because the author's primary audience are rural it was very important that the website load quickly on slower connections. With that as our core design element we came up with a very clean CSS powered website design.

Because CSS controls the font and image styles throughout the website it reduces the amount of code, which makes the page load faster. We used text for as many links as possible to reduce load time and as with all of the sites we design we optimized the images to load in less than 3 seconds on a 56kb connection.

The client manageable interactive features we incorporated include:

• A journal (blog) with its own page as well as a section on the main page to keep search engines interested and updated. The blog is set up so the author can update while on the road or while at home.
  
  
• A newsletter (mailing list) that can be accessed and used anywhere there is an internet connection.
  
• A photo gallery that can accommodate any number of galleries and photos and can be updated and used anywhere the author has an internet connection.

View Karen Emilson's website

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Bryant Group, Inc — 2004 Redesign

Problem: The previous site was difficult to navigate and was not professionally designed.

Goal: Display the company's information professionally while respecting SEC compliance guidelines.

Solution: We designed a fast-loading, text-based, and information filled website and set the company up with their own hosting account manageable by the company staff.

View Bryant Group's website

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Danielle Rae

Problem: The old site was a personal site and was not suitable to display the work for a professional artist.

Goal: Show the artist's paintings.

Solution: The art is the focus of this design. Navigation was limited to Home, About, and Contact and the gallery of thumbnails is present on every page allowing visitors to quickly and easily jump to any painting they want to see.

View the Danielle Rae website

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Dead Serious Tattoos (now Industrial Primitives)

Problem: There was no online presence.

Goal: Show the artist's work and provide information about the shop to visitors.

Solution: We knew that our original site design (shown in the bottom image of the site listed below this one) was ideal for this client's site because of the nature of the business. Clean, dual-sided (tattoo artist and piercing artist), and image enhanced.

We optimized all of the images for vibrant color and fast load time and created 8 mini-galleries showing the best work in those categories.

Because offering information is one of the primary goals we provided multiple pages for both artists: biographies, credentials, and FAQ applying to their trade..

View Industrial Primitive's website (the owner of the site moved and opened a new studio in Texas called Industrial Primitives, it uses the same design with a few minor modifications made by the owner).

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Vanilla Creations

Problem: The original site design (the bottom image) was eventually used as a template for another site (the site above this) which necessitated a site redesign.

Goal: Provide information about the services offered and show the site portfolio, encourage navigation throughout the site.

Solution: Using a text-based tabbed layout and a tri-color scheme we redesigned the site to focus on what the company offered. Links to the portfolio were placed at varying locations encouraging visitors to browse.

We carried through the lily images to provide continuity for current clients and previous visitors.

This website has been redirected to OpenUX.

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Belle Cake and Candy (View Redesign)

Problem: There was no online presence.

Goal: Provide information about the classes and products offered at the shop and display images of wedding cakes and favors unique to the company.

Solution: The color scheme is taken from the classic black tuxedo and white wedding dress. Because the site is very image-heavy it is important to keep the design clean, easy to navigate, and very fast loading.

The galleries, each page showing 44 images, load each image in less than 1 second, which means each page loads in less than 40 seconds on a slow 56kb connection. On the average cable/DLS it takes around 3 seconds to load the entire page, yet all of the images retain a high quality look.

View Belle Cake & Candy's website

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Beth-O

Problem: Beth needed a website to show and sell her calendar.

Goal: Showcase the calendar.

Solution: Clean design, front page calendar display and order form allowing visitors to view and order just by visiting the first page.

Biography and gallery pages were created for visitors who wanted to see more, and form based contact page was integrated to preserve the contact e-mail address while providing an easy way for visitors to send their thoughts and comments.

This website was submitted as a proposal but the project was cancelled.

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Debbie Travis' Painted House

Problem: The original website was due for a makeover.

Goal: Offer a lot of information in a visually appealing and intuitive way.

Solution: Our solution was to design a liquid (expands/shrinks to the size of the visitor's screen resolution) three-columned and partitioned layout. The left bar was kept as a "Letter from Debbie" section, the right bar was used for advertising Debbie's books and videos, while the center column was kept for updated content. Our center column layout used visually separated sections making it easy for visitors to read what they want at a glance.

This website was done as a proposal for the redesign, it was not accepted but was ideal as an adaptable and accessibility friendly CSS design before CSS design was considered ideal.

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Debbie Travis' Painted House Episode Galleries

Problem: People aregenerally visual, but the listing of episodes was textual, making it difficult for visitors to find the episode they wanted to read more about.

Goal: Offer a visual episode guide and create image enhanced episode pages. Show people what they want to see.

Solution: The main episode gallery consists of 10 images pulled from the most memorable moments from the episodes. The images rotate as the page is refreshed. Just in case the episode the visitor wants to see isn't featured on the front page when they visit we also placed links to an episode guide listing all of the episodes by room and theme, and a list of the techniques used and which episodes they were used in.

The episode page offers information about the techniques used, shows large images that are clickable to focus on the item you want to learn more about.

This website was done as a proposal for the redesign, it was not chosen.

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The Glass Loon

Problem: There was no online presence.

Goal: Show the products offered through the store and provide information about the store and its classes and products.

Solution: Design and develop a fast-loading site offering information about CCL in a professional yet informal way. Include fresh content on the first page to maintain search rankings and keep client’s families regularly updated. Showcase event galleries appealing to the community focusing on the clients. Create a private intranet for CCL staff including custom calendars, wikis, and a client-maintainable document center.

This website has been taken offline by the owner.

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Karen Emilson (View Redesign)

Problem: There was no online presence.

Goal: Provide information and photos tracking Karen's appearances.

Solution: The original design (view the redesign) was designed to compliment the author's first two novels.

View Karen Emilson's website

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Royal LePage Local Branch

Problem: The existing presence did not function optimally.

Goal: Allow potential home sellers to get information about the local Royal LePage branch and their services, and provide listings for potential home buyers.

Solution: We researched the parent company, corporate colors, and asked potential home buyers and sellers what they would want in a website With their feedback we were able to design a site that provided all of the information visitors needed within one-click and easily browsed and searchable listings.

This website was submitted as a proposal but has not yet been accepted.

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Probe Research

Problem: The original website was not professionally done and was not suitable for the growing organization.

Goal: Provide information about the business and offer visitors the ability to download and/or view online company brochures and the quarterly newsletter.

Solution: Design and develop a fast-loading site offering information about CCL in a professional yet informal way. .

Probe Research kept this design for one year then had their website redesigned by another company. We also re-designed their newsletter The Sounding.

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Redden's Camp

Problem: There was no online presence.

Goal: Provide information, rates, and directions for prospective visitors.

Solution: After careful consultation with the client we agreed on a clean, information-heavy layout. Each page provides the information the visitor needs to make an informed decision about Redden's Camp and the suitability of their services and location.

Images are used sparingly but effectively. They show clients what they can expect to experience when they arrive at Redden's Camp without defining their experience for them. The website also offers the ability for visitors to get up-to-date information on licenses, hunting and fishing dates, and seasonal prices.

View the Redden's Camp website

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Subtle Creations (View Redesign)

Problem: No online presence.

Goal: Establish an online presence showing the artist and her work.

Solution: The original design (view the redesign) was done as an informal personal site. Though it offered information about the artist and her work it was not as easily navigated as it could be.

This design included a biography on the artist, outline of her services, multiple galleries, and an interactive guest book.

The redesign was done to make the site more professional and more interactive.

View the Subtle Creations website

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