October 30th, 2009
Creative Review – Home.
Whilst waiting for a train yesterday I managed to find time to pick up the November issue of Creative Review. I always like to have something to read on the train as it gives me a little less chance of crying from boredom.
This month’s issue has a really handy freebie for designers that use Heidelberg colours in their print work which necessitates the magazine coming in a plastic bag. The plastic bag is in itself pretty cool in that if you put it in hot water it dissolves away to a harmless liquid which can be safely poured away reducing waste and landfill. I like this as it is a new, harmless, waste reducing approach to packaging and I have a certain hatred for needless waste creating packaging (don’t get me started on this subject at Easter).
However, there is one problem with the design of the magazine with the free colour chart in the cool new packaging in that the barcode is on the back of the magazine. This necessitates the buyer removing the magazine from the packaging so the assistant in the shop can scan the barcode. This is an ironic oversight by a magazine that covers good design within its covers.
Posted in Creativity, Design | No Comments »
October 23rd, 2009
I have noticed that many WordPress plugins ignore semantic markup and am trying to rewrite and share them once I have amended the output code. The first of these happens to be the WP Testimonials by Jodi Diehl of Sunfrog Services
Description
The plugin includes the option to display a random testimonial in your sidebar using PHP code or the built-in widget.
Testimonials can also be displayed all on one page. Simply use [sfs-testimonials] where you want the testimonials to display on the page/post.
All on one page option now allows an optional image to be included in the testimonial, this is added via the Media Library and the filepath added in the Testimonials Management pages. Also the testimonials are now set up to render semantically correct Blockquotes and Citations.
All HTML output (sidebar and page) is controlled through the included CSS file to make it easier to edit the way the data appears. The data is now marked up using semantically correct blockquote and cite tags.
Download
Download WP-TestimonialsPlus [76Kb]
Posted in Design, Information Architecture | 1 Comment »
October 18th, 2009
Minigolf Party – Invite Flow.
An interesting idea to augment my usual workflow process. I find the use of wireframing can be restrictive and not entirely useful in explaining a process to a client so have experimented with using the grey box method, Annotated flow charts and prototyping pages to help. This may help assist me in explaining user process as an interactive experience by showing examples.
The main problem is that many clients do not appreciate the interaction that an environment like the web can provide especially with AJAX and so on. This can cause problems with achieving sign off on certain stages of the design process. So any help in explaining the ideas or even exploring ideas before committing to developing one is probably going to be of great use.
Posted in Design, Information Architecture | No Comments »
October 12th, 2009
Ever Creative asked me to consult on the site they were designing for their friends at PlayReplay. I helped them to determine that the site could be served best by using WordPress as a small Content Management System to integrate the site along with its blog. This has proved very succesful and I have provided the front end development and a customisation of WordPress to allow a more bespoke design that is fully updatable by the client.
I advocate the use of WordPress as a simple Content Management System that is flexible enough to provide sophisticated templates that give the look of an expensive site whilst helping to contain costs. In fact my site is built entirely in WordPress.
PlayReplay
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August 1st, 2009
Iain Davis approached Juretic for a website to showcase the innovative technology he has developed for football boot design.
This project was something of a solo project for me as I was solely involved in the Art Direction, Design and Development of this site.
Go to the Brightstar Sports Tec site
Posted in Portfolio | No Comments »
July 21st, 2009
The Theatrecenter is a small independent theatre production company tha provides theatre workshops to teenagers. They asked me to create a site for them. Without much knowledge of what they wanted and how to market themselves online I guided them towards using WordPress as a solution that would not only help them update their own site but also help them integrate their online marketing efforts.
I provided them with advice, Art Direction, Web Design and Development, Search Engine Optimisation, Integrated Marketing and Print Design.
TheatreCenter
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July 14th, 2009
The merger of FPE Gatwick allowed Juretic to update their web presence and showcase their products and services. As part of this I carried out a full web design process including Information Architecture, User Experience Design and Front End Development for the site.
FPE Gatwick
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June 4th, 2009
Best4Systems wanted to take their online presence to a German audience with a custom design. I supplied the Art Direction and front end development to the site along with the User Experience design
Go to the Best4Systems German site
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June 2nd, 2009
One of my final projects at Juretic was to provide the Branding, Information Architecture, User ExPerience Design and Front End Development to this start up online shop.
The site which uses Magento Ecommerce system encompasses four distinct brands of jewellery which I supplied all the branding identity for. I have gained a good knowledge of designing for the Magento platform.
Chic Fashion Jewellery
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May 31st, 2009
Another design supplied whilst I was the Senior Designer for Juretic Media. This design was intended to reflect the Environmentally Friendly ethos of Action PLC.
I supplied all the Art Direction, User Experience Design and the template builds for this site. The choice of a tree frog for the major imagery of the homepage helped inform the colour scheme of this design to provide a strong unforgettable online presence for Action PLC.
Action Business Systems
Visit Action PLC here.
Posted in Portfolio | No Comments »
