Sustenance Design

Sustenance Design is an Atlanta-based ecosystem-focused residential and commercial landscape design company.

The Brief:

I was hired to update their old WordPress site with a new design and updated back-end.
Client wanted the blog to reflect their overall aesthetic of a focus on building ecosystems, local and pollinator plants.
Client wanted a focus on photographs of the spaces she had created.

Project Notes:

Client expressed frustration at the age and lack of update-ability of their old site (created with WordPress many years ago), which was not responsive and adding information and visuals required laborious coding.
The previous site was showing its age, and had no place to highlight the beautiful spaces client was working on. The new design puts images front-and-center.
We decided on the Xterey theme for its landscaping-specific functionality and highly visual layout.
The project involved migrating existing blog content as well as a site audit to identify content that would not be correctly moved over. We identified several collections of assets that could be added to the new site.
We also built an entirely new portfolio section featuring photo galleries along side architectural designs.

Sea Cliff Gardens – WordPress Site Conversion

Sea Cliff Gardens is a Bed and Breakfast on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.

The Brief:

I was hired to update their old static HTML and Flash site to a WordPress-backended site.
Client expressed frustration at not being able to make changes to their site themselves, instead having to rely on a developer that was difficult to reach.
Client wanted to take advantage of site organization and simplicity afforded by a WordPress back-end.
Client wanted the design to match the feel of their existing site.

Project Notes:

The B&B had just been purchased by new owners, so they were looking for a site revamp reflective of the changes they'd made to the property.
The previous site had many pages showing small bits of information, some only accessible from deep within the sites sub-pages. There was confusion as to where certain important information was accessible. To address this, we selected a single-page theme so that the most important information became accessible right from the front page.
Because the B&B is located right on the ocean with gorgeous views and an immaculate garden, the new site features a photo rotator as the first element you see.

Client: Missing Piece Group

The Brief:

Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople) has a new album coming out in the fall, and a site redesign was needed.
"Current Site" was dated and maintained by hand.
Client wanted to take advantage of site organization and simplicity afforded by a WordPress back-end.
Client wanted Ian's image to be front and center, in a style similar to the sites featured on this list of "25 of the Best Band Websites"

Project Notes:

Selected the Motion theme, which I heavily customized to make Ian's photo shoot prominent throughout and add functionality.
Moved over (and reformatted) a large amount of content from the old site, which was coded by hand
Added Social Functionality (Facebook widget, Twitter widget)
Installed and configured BandsInTown widget to pull Tour Dates from BandsInTown.com (where client keeps them updated)

IanHunter.com - Redesigned Site

Client: Amazing Grace Equine Sanctuary

The Brief:

A.G.E.S. is a non-profit horse shelter located in Elkhart Lake, WI
Their website was a bloated mess, maintained by hand and in FrontPage by a web developer who'd become non-responsive.
Client wanted a complete rethinking of the site, most immediately to simplify and prioritize the contents, and to make it possible for their non-tech-savvy founder to make simple changes without the four-day turnaround they were currently dealing with.

Project Notes:

I selected the Advocate theme, which is built specifically for non-profits
I performed a content audit, getting rid of a lot of outdated information and tools that were adding clutter, not value. I then decided which content could be repurposed as blog posts and which was core to the site.
I added Social Functionality (Facebook widget)

The Result:

Current www.rescuehorses.org

Client: Missing Piece Group The Brief:

New artist Courtney Jaye had an album coming out in the Spring of 2013
Her site was generated by BandPage.com, which did not allow for much flexibility, design and content-wise.
Client wanted to take advantage of site organization and simplicity afforded by a WordPress back-end.
Client wanted Ian's image to be front and center, in a style similar to the sites featured on this list of "25 of the Best Band Websites"

Project Notes:

Selected the Motion theme, which I heavily customized to bring social tools to the front and allow Courtney's image to shine through.
Added Social Functionality (Facebook widget, Twitter widget)
Installed and configured custom tools to post digests of Instagram photos, and BandsInTown tour dates.