Jim Barraud

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

I’ve made a couple additions to the site this past weekend. The first being an about page. As much as a hate writing about myself, it was necessary. The second being the contact page. I wanted to highlight something in regards to the contact page.

In past attempts to create my site in Wordpress, everything would go great until I got to a need for a form. I know a bit of PHP, but I don’t have the gusto to write a Wordpress plugin or the time to try and wrangle a regular PHP form into Wordpress’ world. With the abundance of Wordpress plugins out there, I’ve never been able to find a decent contact form plugin. They were either too simple and riddled with “known issues” or they were far too complex. Requiring everything just short of a thumbprint authentication to send the form. But finally, I’ve found the one I was looking for. Secure Form Mailer Plugin For Wordpress.

The beauty of this plugin is in it’s customization. All the other plugins I looked at pretty much forced you into what that developer felt should be on a contact form. This one allows you define which fields you want and even the level of verification you want on each. It also has the random character generator to fend off spam. But if you don’t want to, you don’t have to use it. I’ve setup a pretty basic form on my contact page, but from the options available, more tweaking will ensue.

I just wanted to give a tip of the hat to Dagon Design for their excellent Secure Form Mailer Plugin For Wordpress. I just wish I’d found it sooner.

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