Updating the Web Design Portfolio

Wrapping up my humongous update to the work samples on the site with a beefy old freshening up of the web design portfolio this evening. I’ve noticed these websites I’ve built all fall under three basic categories – super clean design, emergency projects, and really strong branding. Let’s check em out!

Professional clean web design for small business

I’ve done so many awesome projects for my client Colorful Cities, including illustrating two coloring books for them! Chief Explorer Laura wanted a site that was super clean, with an easy to navigate shopping cart interface.

Maria Yang, MD is an old friend of mine from high school, a psychiatrist living in the Pacific Northwest, and a powerful writer. I created a logo design for her site, and complemented her thought provoking content with airy room to breathe.

Savannah real estate lawyer Elizabeth F. Thompson was looking to update her excruciatingly outdated web design to something fresh and current, that allowed her the capability to start blogging so she could compete better in Google search.

Personal trainer Jesika Fleming created an online fitness program perfect for busy people who don’t have a ton of time to work out! Her premium content comes in the form of workout videos that work the whole body, so you can do a little bit here and there, or repeat the video a few times for a more intense workout.

Aero Law Group had been going the DIY route for ages, and needed something that positioned them as more professional among their peers. One important thing to consider with installing your own WordPress theme – sure it can cost way less. But look at your competitors. Do you know for a fact if your own web design skills will make your business look as good as or better than your competitors? If not, hire a professional.

Matthew Carnicelli wanted a fresh take on his literary agent website as the overall scope of the publishing world shifts to include self publishing options. He wanted to showcase his consulting services.

M.A.R.K. Vintage is a Sacramento, California based vintage store that needed a way to show some of the types of items they carry to prospective buyers. Their strong photography skills were a perfect match for a well-placed slideshow with clickable thumbnails that almost look like vintage polaroid photos.

Trav Falligant of IBTrav Illustrations needed to freshen up the work on his illustration website – we cleaned up his galleries with new work samples, touched up the overall look of the site, and slashed unnecessary content.

Amy Askin from Beloved Atmosphere wanted a total overhaul to her family travel blog. We came up with a great new logo design and layout that showed off all the necessary blog elements in a classy way.

Emergency web design projects for clients who were stuck

C Salt Gourmet is a stellar example of why you should own your own hosting account and not use sitebuilder software offered by companies like Godaddy. She had a website built using Microsoft’s now defunct Live365 website builder service (correct me if I’m wrong on that title – maybe it was Office 365? This was a few years ago.) You’d think using a site builder from a brand like Microsoft would be safe, right? They’re huge, they’re not going anywhere. Wrong. They discontinued that service, and a bunch of people lost their websites.

I helped out Sharon from Cupcakes and Cutlery this year with custom blog theme layout work. She had found a “mobile responsive” theme she like, and after it was up and running on her site, her lifestyle blog still wasn’t passing Google’s mobile responsive test.

Because her blog theme wasn’t actually totally 100% mobile responsive.

But now thanks to Hearts and Laserbeams, her site passes the test with flying colors.

I met Mark Edwards from Crystal Hospitality Group one day while I was having lunch with my mom in law Carole in downtown Savannah. He was sitting at the next table, talking to his colleague about his new hotel consulting business, and how they had a website but the designer had totally fallen off the face of the earth and was completely non-responsive. I gave him my card, recreated the work the other designer hadn’t been able to finish, and got his site live on time.

Custom site design for clients with strong branding

Kristin from The Chic Strategist wanted a site that had as much zip and punch as her personality – bright colors with clean design and custom logo and icon illustrations work it for her!

Tami needed branding with a funky vintage flair for Word of Mouth Media –

Our friend Richard Burkhalter is one of our clients that’s got a really strong vision for the branding of Urban Missionary 912 – this site almost built itself it was so easy to work off his art direction.

Nicole Stevenson and Delilah Snell from Dear Handmade Life are long term clients that are another great example of clients that have a very strong feel for their branding. We work with a variety of styles of customer – these guys always provide specific comps they’d like me to work from, and I’m always happy to oblige!

Nicole from Dear Handmade Life does the art and design that gives their blog its unique look, and she asked me to help her create the website for her illustration business Show and Tell Design Studio as well.

Radmegan and I had a blast coming up with the branding for her site – it takes a dash of clean white space and kicks it up a bit with a fun Scandinavian feeling hand drawn repeat pattern.

Five Golden Apples is getting ready to open a brick and mortar location for their handmade soap in Whittier, California – they’ve been researching what they want the look of the store to be for a while, and wanted to make sure the site design reflected those influences as well.

Christina Sanchez Hair Design wanted something totally different for her hair stylist website design – we created something edgy and dark, which really offsets the photos of her haircuts nicely.

And last but definitely not least, my friend Rhonda Trull wrote Maximum Voltage a couple of years ago, and I had the honor of building the book website for it.