Logo

The logo was created first with the instructions to keep it fresh, relevant, and interesting. After looking through a few logos the client liked, I came up with a few concepts, and ultimately I was pleased we arrived at the following logo:

Website

One thing that is nice about being the logo designer as well as the web designer on a project is that you can start to create an idea of how the logo will mesh with the website. In this case I really wanted to give the site a local feel. To be honest, I’m not a Platteville, WI expert, but I have gone there in the past growing up in nearby Dubuque, IA.

However, There was one thing that has always stuck out about Platteville, it is the world’s largest “M” (that I could see at my bus stop from 30-40 miles away in Dubuque). That always impressed me, so I incorporated it into the design below (just click the image to visit the site):

How the Site was Built

Technically, this site was built in WordPress, using the TwentyTenFive theme. This theme is essentially the same as the default WP theme TwentyTen but has been modified into a pure HTML 5 base. From there I adjusted the theme to be responsive, meaning the site scales depending on the width of the screen using CSS Media Queries and the 1140 CSS grid. Trying to maintain the responsive feel of the site, I wanted to ensure that the text within the mission statement remained text and wasn’t just replaced by an image.

Therefore, I’m pleased with how this website turned out and I’m excited for the clients to be able to start this new ministry, and I hope this site helps them start off on the right foot.

At a New Year’s gathering I was asked (forced) to put a resolution into a bottle to be revisited next year. Not wanting to fail and having a desire to accomplish something in 2011, I decided on the following approach:

Complete one of the following in 2011:

1. Go to South America & Antarctica. They are the only continents that I have yet to grace. I have the trip planned in my head, both in one shot, but I know the PTO days just aren’t there this year. I’ll get there eventually.
2. Write a book, TV show, or movie. Before you laugh, I have two good ideas that need to go into production. However, I haven’t been in the writing mode this winter. It’s February and this is first blog post of the year for crying out loud.
3. Redesign rachelbrandon.com. You know how sometimes you just want to have resolution for something you have an inkling you are going to do anyway? This is it. Mission Accomplished. Bring on 2012.

Motivation

With the resolution out of the way, I thought I would share my motivations behind the redesign. Honestly, I got tired of the now defunct design. I got bored with my font choices and font styles and the empty space above a blog post bothered me. Other issues included that it took too long to load, and wasn’t very mobile friendly.

I may be being a bit harsh on myself. The old Design wasn’t by any means a bad design and I still think its an unique concept for a blog. It’s just that things change, and they change a much faster rate in the web world then they do elsewhere. To paraphrase a saying I hear frequently in my office: Ten years ago on the web is like a hundred years in history.

Therefore, I felt it necessary to continue to hone in on my chosen trade and create something new.

Improvements

Here are a few improvements that you will be able to experience and take advantage of. Just a note, the following should meet a nerd and a novice halfway. Meaning, there probably won’t be enough technical talk to make the nerd completely happy, erstwhile being too technical for the novice. Either way, there is something in here for you!

Responsive Design / Mobile Friendly

The site is now responsive, meaning that if you decrease the size of your browser window the site will scale from 1140px wide all the way down to a single column site. Try it. It is kind of amusing.

This is good news for mobile and iPad/tablet users as this site will scale to fit your screen width without the need to side-scroll or squint too much.

Responsive design was a hot topic in late 2010, and I used the code structure available on cssgrid.net. The structure was fairly easy to implement and this is definitely the direction the web is/should be heading. If you are a developer type, I highly recommend checking this out.

Readability / Typography

When coming up with this design, I put the largest emphasis on readability. All this means is that I started with the text in a post and worked backwards to create the remainder of the site. I want to make sure that when you read a post you don’t have to strain and can read without realizing you are reading.

It is now possible for designers to be a bit more creative in our font choices. Therefore, I matched a sans-serif heading (League Gothic) with a serif font (Georgia) to create a nice contrast with a thick sans-serif font & a thin serif font in the body copy.

This is because in 2010, improvements were made that now allow for designers & developers to use fonts that are loaded onto a server. Meaning the possibilities far outweigh the days when the only options were Arial, Verdana, Courier New, Times New Roman, Georgia, and Comic Sans.

For the nerds, I use and prefer a service called Font Squirrel for my font replacements. Others I know use Typekit among others. Simply put, as long as you have the license to use a specific font on the web, you can use it. Yea.

Other Improvements

Outside of the previously mentioned improvements, I made a few other minor adjustments, like integrating social media (feel free to share this site), seeing an excerpt of the comment in the sidebar instead of just the name of the commenter, and the ability to have a thumbnail (upload one at Gravatar). I also implemented the Featured Images available within the WordPress3 default install, allow for more imagery throughout the site!

Wrapping it up

Alright nerds and novices, that wasn’t so bad now was it? Thanks for hanging in there. Feel free to suggest things that you feel would make reading this site more enjoyable, and Rachel and I will take them into consideration. Especially with 2012 and a possible redesign right around the corner.

As a designer, it may be strange for me to admit that I’m not a huge wallpaper guy. I don’t really care for it on my walls and it doesn’t bother me if I don’t have wallpaper on my computer machine. Many of co-workers are confused by the black background that has been on my dual monitors roughly since I started working at my current employer. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate good wallpaper when I see it, it’s just I haven’t gotten into creating it.

However, I am constantly around wallpaper. It seems there are co-workers of mine that change their wallpaper on a weekly basis, and it’s custom created (on their free time of course). It’s always fun to see what they come up. I especially enjoy the wallpaper creations of the epicly bearded Joe Tower. You can find some of his wallpaper work on his site.

Yet, there still needs to be a cause to create wallpaper.

The Rally

This cause comes in the form of the Rally to Restore Sanity. This is an event that will occur this Saturday, October 30 on the Washington Mall. It is the brainchild of the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report’s Steven Colbert. The reason for the Rally is to encourage all Americans to tone down the political rhetoric that hampers the ability of the government to govern. For this reason, I think this rally is a tremendous idea.

One of the planned highlights of the Rally is the fact that the ralliers have been asked to bring non-controversial and sane signs. Stewart has suggested the following as signs:

• “I understand I disagree with you. I’m okay with that.”
• “I disagree with you, but you’re probably not Hitler.”
• “Take it down a notch, for America”

My Sane Sign

Last week, Rachel and I were looking through user submitted signs on saneornot.com and I got the inspiration to come up with a few slogans myself. The best one I came up with was, “blankets are for naps not statements.” It’s unfortunate I can’t attend the rally to proudly wave my sign. But I still want to show my support for it.

I quickly concluded wallpaper seems to the best medium to achieve this. I also promise my co-workers I’ll get this up on the work machine ASAP, but I don’t want want to leave the loyal readers of this site without their own chance to use this wallpaper. Just click each thumbnail to open the larger image in your browser.

*Note: The images reside at rachelbrandon.com my general interest blog I have with my wife.

In 2009, I created a logo for a new start up company that installs ramps for disabled war veterans, called Installed Solutions. I also created branding materials including letterhead and business cards. For your information, the client chose the logo in the upper left corner.

In the summer of 2007, I created an overwhelming number of logo concepts for Accent Communications. This was my first foray into logo design for an actual and enjoyed the process immensely. I tried to keep the logo simple and understated, mostly attempting to incorporate an accent mark.

Every year in the fall Somo Dormitory has an event in which for one day they take over Como Park in St. Paul, MN wearing matching t-shirts. Here is the 2008 version that I designed. Can you tell I used two different giraffes to create one giraffe?

Being on my church’s parking team has some design perks. I was able to design the parking map that shows new volunteers where to park vehicles. I overlayed a terrain map and marked the important information as needed. Let’s just say I enjoy geography.

Who says a Christmas present can’t go in a design portfolio? This is a poster I made for my Aunt and Uncle spelling out their last name using random objects found around my home. My wife and I did others, but this was my favorite. Sorry others!?!

This design goes way back to my college years and makes it the oldest thing I’ve done that’s posted on this portfolio. It uses text of the I have a Dream speech to create a typography collage. I still enjoy it after all these years.

Carlson Food Careers is a site I designed for Web Mentality. Food Careers is a Minneapolis based career placement company that places job seekers in the food industry. The design is meant to capture the resumes of 20-somethings looking for a foot in the door. The backend runs on Grails, and I templated around it.

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