Jim Barraud

It’s been two months since I released my first Wordpress theme, Manifest. And in those two months the response has far exceeded my expectations. Since it’s release, Manifest has been listed on various Wordpress theme blogs and used on countless personal blogs. It’s also enjoyed over 1100 downloads. Which still boggles my mind.

I’d like to say Thank You to everyone who’s commented, downloaded and enjoyed Manifest. I really do appreciate the support.

That being said, I’m considering making some updates to Manifest based on how I’ve seen it being used in the wild. While I have my own list, I’d like to hear from you as to what you would like to see (if anything) in an updated version.

I’m proud to announce my first publicly available Wordpress theme, Manifest. Manifest is based on a previous design of my personal site. It’s a theme I rather liked and didn’t want to see go to waste. So instead of letting it die off in a folder on my hard drive, I decided to clean it off, polish it up and release it into the wild.

My goal with Manifest was to create a clean and streamlined theme that focused on the content and not the distractions. It utilizes a single column, 500 pixel wide layout. No sidebars. No widgets.

Some highlights:

• Valid XHTML Markup. It currently validates as XHTML Transitional. That is until you start embedding all those crazy YouTube videos and Google Ads ;)
• Microformat support. The posts are marked up using the hAtom microformat. Which an increasing number of search engines (like Yahoo!) are beginning to support and index.
• 404 page. I’ve included the standard Wordpress 404 template, which in addition to a nice “not found” message, it provides your readers with a list of recent articles.
• Archives template. An archives template that supports categories, tags and monthly views.
• Links template. A basic links page template. This isn’t a standard Wordpress template so you’ll need to add it as a new page. But it will pull in any links you add to the Links section in the admin.
• Google ad (sorta) support. There a designated spot on the single post pages for Google or any other type of text ads. Commented out by default, but there if you want it.
• IE6 unsupported. This is a feature, not a bug. If a user attempts to view your site in IE6, they’ll be presented with an unstyled (but perfectly functional) site. Along with a friendly message suggesting they upgrade their browser.
• Some webkit visual candy. It’s minor but hovering over the buttons will provide smooth rollover transitions in Safari 4 and Google Chrome thanks to their new CSS based transition properties.

Feel free to use as you please, I just ask that you keep the Manifest link at the bottom. Thanks and enjoy.

Demo and Download Info

It’s been a while since my last major redesign, so I figured now was as good a time as any to launch this one. I’ve ditched the single column stream of news format for a more traditional approach. With this design I was aiming to get a bit more organized in how I’m presenting content on the site. Two sections in particular that I wanted to break out were my photography and projects I’ve worked on. Each of these now have there own separate sections on the site.

I’m not going to go too much into detail with what’s changed visually or technically. I’ll just invite you to check it out and let me know what you think. I’m still cleaning up a bit of the code and will probably be making tweaks over the coming weeks, but overall I’m pretty happy with this one.

One thing I will mention though is that I’ve completely dropped support for IE6. So the 36 of you out there who are still using it to visit this site will get a completely unstyled experience. It’s time to upgrade people.

Here it is, yet another redesign. Although I think this one will last a while since I’m getting a little burnt out on doing them. I’m going super simple this time. A single column layout with a clean aesthetic design.

I’m going to try and focus and posting more of my own content and less of the video embeds and random links that I’ve been posting lately. Which was a bit of an experiment on my part.

Anyway, here it is. I’ll be making tweaks here and there as I grow into the design and start adding content. Oh, and that photoblog I was all hyped up about a week ago? Yea, that’ll probably be taken down and supplemented with this new design. I’m not liking the feel of my content being spread on several sites so I’m bringing it back under one roof. Well, as of this week I am.

“I asked him if he’d come up with a few options. And he said “No, I will solve your problem for you. And you will pay me. And you don’t have to use the solution; if you want options, go talk to other people.””

“You never call it art. Art is if you’re lucky.”

The latest project to launch at the Hive is the online presence for Homedics. Homedics sells as an extensive line of personal health and wellness products. You may have seen some of their commercials on TV lately.

Media-Hive was tasked with the visual design of their new website/eStore and integrating that design into the ATG Commerce OnDemand platform. My comrades at the Hive did an excellent job with both the visual design and the implementation of that design into the platform. I had a minor role in the beginning of the visual design process with presenting one of several design directions. While it wasn’t picked for further refinement, you can view my original design direction below.

Website design for interior designer Sheila Rich. Sheila needed a site to showcase her impressive body of interior design work. In addition to offering her renowned design services to both residential and corporate clients, Mrs. Rich writes “Rich Ideas”, a monthly newspaper column now in it’s fifth year of publication. Photos or her interior design work as well her “Rich Ideas” articles are showcased on the site.

This weekend I launched my latest freelance project. A website redesign for a local day spa, Simply Skin. The redesign included a complete information architecture and aesthetic makeover.

The goals of the project that were achieved are:

• Improved Information Architecture - The navigation of the new site is simpler then the previous. The top level navigation decreased from 8 items to 6 due to the consolidation of navigation items that were similar in nature. I’ve also employed the use a of “fat bottom” footer that contains useful information, such as spa hours, regardless of where you are on the site.
• More Modern Aesthetics - The aesthetics of the previous site had a predominantly feminine feel using various shades of pinks as the color palette. One of the main aesthetic goals for the new site was to make a more male friendly. This actually tied in with the other main aesthetic goal of the site, to make it more in tune with the recent renovation at the spa. This resulted in eliminating the pink and introducing beach cottage colors that tie into the new feel of the Spa.
• Addition of a Content Management System - It was important for the employees of the spa to have the capability to update the site with new services, prices, and products as the need arose. For this, the site has been built upon the Wordpress content management system. The flexibility of the Wordpress architecture and extendibility of it via the various plugins available made it possible to make every bit of content easily manageable.
• Adding the Simply Skin Product Line for Online Purchase - The previous site offered it’s clients the ability to purchase spa gift cards online. With the redesign, we took that concept a step further by offering Simply Skin’s own line of spa products for purchase online.

My role in the project was that of a one man band. Design, Development, Wordpress Integration, Paypal Integration, Project Management & Photography (for Spa Orientation & Spa Tour).

The site can viewed at http://simplysdayspa.com

“Don’t try to be original, just try to be good”

UPDATE: The original YouTube video I embedded here no longer exists (thanks YouTube), but there’s a much higher quality version available at the official Paul Rand site. Paul Rand : Induction to the One Club Hall Of Fame

The holiday’s are coming up and you know what that means… gift card season. I’m actually a big fan of gift cards. Give me a Starbucks or Barnes & Noble gift card and I’m a happy man.

Starbucks is doing something cool this year with their gift card offerings and allowing you to create customized gift cards. You choose from four basic templates, then personalize the card for the person on the receiving end. Place your order to send off your holiday cheer.

This is all done on the Starbucks website (this isn’t a construction paper and glue stick operation). The interface is elegant and simple with much hand holding throughout the customization process. You can also buy gift vouchers within the store that allow the receiver to go online and customize their own card.

I’m loving the new FF Meta Serif from the FontShop. The perfect compliment to the original FF Meta. For more info, checkout the FontShop’s latest newsletter. (via ilovetypography)

Fellow Media-Hive cohort Mr. Sykes has launched yet another one of his pet projects. Hexday.com. The concept? Pick a color, but only one. Come back tomorrow and do it again. Rinse. Repeat. Feeling orange today? Or maybe blue? How do your color picks relate to the rest of the community?

This is one of those concepts when pitched to you, you respond with a “huh?” or “why?” or “I don’t get it.” And honestly, I’m in the “I don’t get it crowd”. Yet, the morning rolls by and I pick my color. I check to see what the people I know have picked. Not sure why, but I do. It’s just one of those things.

Future features include buddies, RSS & widgets. But the interesting thing will be once this has been up and running for a period time. Then crunching the colors to see what kind of trends can be found based on time of day, time of the year and how your colors relate to your buddies.

So yes, you’re probably saying “huh?”, “why?” or “I don’t get it.” But that’s also what they said (and some still say) about Twitter. And now they’re struggling to keep up with the volume.

So what’s your color?

My Media-Hive comrade Mr. Jon Sykes has released his latest child into the world. On Yongo. A place where people can post pictures of their business cards. And not just any old business card (well I guess you could post that to), but business cards that say something. Business cards with personality. Business cards your proud to give to your mom (even though your Mom is proud of you just for having a job that requires a business card).

Rumor has it that this is the first in a string of Sykes ventures. Stay tuned.

Created for the Kenyon Chapter of the National Association for the Education for Young Children, the site aims to provide it’s existing members with news and information on chapter happenings. The site also provides potential members with information about the chapter and how to join.

The original site was severely dated and very time consuming to update. The goals of the new site were for the design to be clean and for it to be easy to update by it’s board members. For this, I utilized the Wordpress content management system. This has allowed the Kenyon Chapter board members to easily update the content of the site, add new content, and add new pages themselves.

The site can be viewed here: http://kenyonchapter.com.

Screenshots are archived here