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A Peek at Our Process
by Brad Haynes in Design on Jan 27, 2009
Working on internal projects is always a challenge. The new ParamoreRedd.com was no exception… but fortunately we have a strong team of passionate creative peeps that ensure a project’s success, be it internal or otherwise. While it’s still fresh on my mind, I wanted to share with you a few of the components that went into knocking out our new website.
Visual Design
Being an interactive agency, we really wanted a great user experience. Tests show that legibility increases with dark text on a light background. However, imagery looks much better on a dark background. We explored that idea by implementing both light and dark templates… with textual content on the light template and imagery-related content on the dark template. Our use of the Expression Engine content management system made this modularity a breeze to implement.
The 960 Grid System was used to keep the design orderly. We went with these dimensions keeping in mind that only .58% of our visitors own monitors displaying less than 1020px wide. To those people falling in that .58%... time for a new monitor!
One of the imagery-related sections we’re proud of is the US section. We went to great lengths to produce top-quality photography (thanks to Director of Client Services Josh Cole!) and use those photos in such a way that would really interest visitors. Coupled with Kidd’s clever copy, the US section has been established as one of the more popular areas of the website (just barely getting beat out by the work section). It also shows how much Kidd and Hannah care about the p|r peeps!
Form and Function
When reaching the development phase, our Javascript gurus added in tasteful touches of jQuery here and there to enhance the UI. There will be a blog post shortly covering the details of the jQuery implementation within the site. For now, you can see examples of the magic in the:
Content is King
More often than not, obtaining content is like pulling teeth. Fortunately, this is the one part of an internal project that should be easy. That being said, it still came down to Kidd shutting himself off from the world for two weeks to write a HUGE amount of copy and create all the thumbnail and large images for the portfolio section. It was no small task for us, and we know it’s no small task for you. But this is why the site exists - to display your content in a clear and engaging manner. If anything is interfering with that, it’s time to go back to the drawing board!
Post-Launch Plans
One of my favorite quotes from Hannah is as follows:
My site is a dynamic marketing tool and it will never be finished… and that’s ok.
Hard words to swallow when nearing the launch for your own website. There’s just such a strong desire to include every idea and detail. But it’s OK to launch with more to be done!
We’ve got big plans for enhancements in 2009! Next steps include adding a careers page and an awards page. Check back often, as we will constantly be modifying and evolving our online presence. And, as always, feel free to comment or make suggestions on different ways we might improve the site. We’re always open to bigger and better ideas!
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Congrats on the redesign… it looks great! Interesting that you went with 960 for the CSS. Have you used it in other projects?
Brad, thanks for all your (and Mark Ott’s) work on this project. It is a thing of beauty.
As with many of our projects we learned some lessons on this one. Perhaps the most important lesson is that of the balance between needing the content to design the site and needing to see the site in order to create the content. That’s a discussion we should keep having until we hit on a compromise that allows us to build sites on time, on budget and with as little anxiety as possible.
Love, love, love the carousel and especially the elegance of the peeps area. Thanks to Josh Cole (aka John Cone) for having both the vision and the technical expertise to pull it off.
@Zac: Our entire team has pretty much embraced the 960 grid. It’s so flexible and gives so many options with spacing.
Major props to Brad for being able to take the pressure of designing for the home team.
@zac; We didn’t use the base CSS that comes with the 960 grid system, just the grid template for the Photoshop design phase. We grow all our own CSS in house.
@Brad; Fine write up and great job on the site sir. My favorite page is the services page ;)
The entire site is just a pleasurable experience. I’ll bounce over here from time to time, and it’s the equivalent of slipping into a hot tub for a few moments. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing your skills increase exponentially.
@matt: real conversation at P|R 4 months ago… “We really need a site that makes people feel like they are slipping into a hot tub…“ So glad to hear our lofty goals were realized! and thanks for your kind words ;)
It’s sites like this that keep everyone else on their toes. You’re where so many people aspire to be. Good job.
Truly a killer site guys. Glad I was able to be a small part of it. Props to all ya’s.