Jim Barraud

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

Today marks the release of Pronto - All is Golden. Pronto is the side project of Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen. Don’t let the Wilco association give you preconceived notions of the sound of the record. It’s less of the Wilco alt-country sound and more of a grass roots Americana sound. I’ve heard some refer to it as AM Radio rock. I’m not exactly sure what that is (I hear the older folks used to listen to it), but what I do know is that it sounds damn good and you should pick yourself up a copy at the the Contraphonic web store, iTunes or Amazon.

In addition to the new album, today also marks the launch of the new Pronto site. I assisted in the XHTML/CSS development and Wordpress implementation. Visit today to find out the latest band news, tour dates and sign up for their newsletter. They’re also on that hip new thing called Twitter, so you can follow them there as well.

Full Disclosure: The exceptional drummer of Pronto, Mr. Greg O’Keeffe, is not only a friend of mine, but also my employer. While that may insinuate some bias in my opinion of the album, it doesn’t. I’d just as openly let him know that it sucks if I thought it did… right after my yearly review.

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

Our latest project at Media-Hive has just launched; the website for Diane von Furstenberg. Our role, more specifically for the Hive, was the eStore portion of the website. The eStore is built upon ATG’s Commerce onDemand platform (of which we are an implementation partner). Our task was to implement a new design, created by Sweden Unlimited (who also created the marketing side of the website) into the Commerce onDemand platform. We were integral in creating the base Commerce onDemand HTML/CSS framework so it was a natural fit for us to implement the new DVF design into the platform. My personal role was the HTML/CSS integration of the new design as well as the Scene7 integration which allows for product image zooming and alternate view display.

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