Portfolio

I am always available for all your independent Web consulting needs, including Web design, community building, copy editing and some copy writing. Contact me for more information, including a copy of my résumé.

Swiss heritage promoted with revamped sites

Name/URL: Village of Sugarcreek sites
Type of work: CSS, HTML, overall design
CMS: WordPress
Briefly: Several organizations in Sugarcreek, Ohio — including the village, business association and two events — wanted a new look to help market themselves online. Working closely with the business association, I developed these sites. (One event, the Fabulous 50s Fling, will launch soon.)

Sugarcreek’s Swiss heritage is very important to residents and organizers in that area. Gingerbread-style architecture, mountain imagery and Swiss flags color the village’s real-life landscape. With this in mind, I developed an aesthetic that alludes to that history, including hints of the Old World architecture and mountains.

City workers are able to easily update council agendas and other information through the content management system. In addition, the mayor and business association president have blogs to provide timely information to residents and visitors.

A Court Competition

Name/URL: Washington DC Area Vis Practice Moot
Type of work: CSS, HTML, overall design
CMS: Expression Engine
Briefly: A large DC area firm is sponsoring a practice court event for university students. The organizers sought a competition Web site to convey the basic facts of the event, including a sign up.

I created a basic private login area for the organizers to log in, check who has signed up and download a spreadsheet of the registrants.

In addition, I took an event with no logo or identity and created a simple, clean look. Details were confined to one page due to the simplicity they wished to express.

A wedding along the coast

Name/URL: J. And Alex Get Married (the wedding is over and the site is offline)
Type of work: CSS, HTML, overall design
CMS: WordPress
Briefly: My very good friends are getting married soon, and they turned to me to create a “clearing house” of information for their special day. With this in mind, I worked to create a site that was very informational while looking elegant and reflecting the personalities of the bride and groom. The theme was an obvious choice — coastal Maine is gorgeous and presents a great color palette.

A Web site with style

Name/URL: Sara Depaola: Hair stylist, makeup artist
Type of work: CSS, HTML, overall design
CMS: WordPress
Briefly: Sara is a hair stylist in Akron, Ohio, and she needed a Web site that would allow her to communicate with future and current clients. Most importantly she wanted it to feature real pictures of hair and makeup that she has done, unlike certain other sites, which use stock photography.

Sara is able to post brief blog items to update her clients. She can also easily post new photographs to her style gallery. Her clients can leave comments and even friend her on Myspace, another way to stay in-touch. Social networking is a valuable tool in retaining customers and catching new ones.

This is an update of an earlier design. I also created a companion business card — in eye-catching pink — for her site.

South Carolina coastal home

Name/URL: Kiawah Ocean Walk
Type of work: CSS, HTML, minor PHP reworking, overall design, copy writing
CMS: WordPress
Briefly: My clients recently purchased a beautiful house near the beach and ocean along coastal South Carolina. They wanted a Web site that would convey basic information, including rates, attractions and amenities. Through text, links and pictures, the site shows what the house looks like and the many attractions surrounding the rental.

I bended WordPress to become a very basic CMS for the owners. With it, they can edit and add text, providing basic day-to-day maintenance for themselves.