Joel Smith | Front-End Developer
Case Studies
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The Need
As a startup, CharityGiftMarket was in need of not only some development, but also some crucial design choices to make their eCommerce product successful. Their goal was to create a site where shoppers could access products posted by charities, without doing a full-customized backend.
The Solution
I came into the process very early. Once we worked out some basic wireframes for the layout, I developed the site as you'll see it today. We chose bright colors along with modern design elements and progessive techniques to make the site an appealing shopping experience for users. Even though we were building on a existing eCommerce platform, we needed to integrate a variety of third-party software to make the site as functional as we needed it. We integrated Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps, and even used Google Docs as an easy way to collect information about charities and their products.
You can check out the site by clicking here: CharityGiftMarket.com
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The Need
Two years ago, blogger Ben Smith approached me about upgrading his blog to a self-hosted solution. He was looking to add a professional flare to his already-popular outdoorsman blog. We designed the site, and for a year, the site steadily drew more and more visitors. After that year, Ben needed a facelift on the site, and we opted for a responsive layout to account for mobile users as well.
The Solution
We built the site on an HTML5 WordPress framework in order to ensure that the site would have the maximum functionality for modern browsers as well as mobile devices. Electing a sleeker, more modern design, we built the site with an eye towards Ben’s expanding outdoor network, incorporating ads to link out to his store as well as his writer’s collective site.
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The Need
ELA is the latest restaurant from the up and coming chef duo of Chip Roman and Jason Cichonsky. Ela is an inventive new American bar and restaurant in the city’s Queen Village neighborhood. The graphic designer given the charge of branding ELA contacted the Bird Sumner Agency to develop their website. After initial consultations, WordPress was chosen as the CMS for the site, since the restaurant would need continual updating of the menu as well as fresh content throughout the site.
The Solution
Using the feel of the branding as well as the architecture and interior design of the new restaurant, we created a fixed-grid site that incorporated jQuery for a vivid front-page slider as well as an expanding menu page that is continually updated by the restaurant itself. We also incorporated a lightbox for the actionable portion of the site, the Open Table reservation service and made sure to include @elaphilly’s Twitter feed on every page.
About Joel
I'm a "dacker" (or a native of the Adirondack Mountains) that speaks two languages and reads a third. I've swung a hammer, I've coded websites, and I've lead innocent children into the dangerous wilds of the English language. I like climbing on things and reading dense poetry.
