Additional Comments: I first heard about WP CoOp from a guy named Jayson Cote.  Based on the goals of the site I was lead to put on the gloves and give it a full redesign for free.  I felt it could really benefit the WordPress community.  I also took the chance to create a fun illustration for the home page.

I got my Degree in Web Design and Multimedia from Westwood.  I cant say it was the best experience & would have loved to have gotten more out (especially the last few terms) of it but it was a major accomplishment none the less.  It gave me that little extra push to getting the jobs I’m looking for.

I’ve jumped on the Lijit bandwagon to help guide them in a better direction for the design and usability of their products.  I’ve been here nearly a month & we have been cranking hard on new work.  You can expect to see an update off graphics & content on Lijit soon, so you that you might actually understand what they do .  I’m also full steam ahead on working on the complete re-design of how Lijit interacts with our publishers & advertisers.

An amazing little dog named Vida came into our lives as well, brining with her stress of a puppy but the attitude to always make us smile & lighten the mood.  I’m nearly off to Miami again for new years to see Lady Gaga & get some sun in the midst of this blizzard in Boulder.

My goals for 2010 include a project to create at-least one design/graphic per day, all year.  I also hope to get time to design and launch my blog idea “I speak robot”.  Whatever happens 2010 is sure to be busy like usual.

I wish you all a marry Xmas & have a great new-year.

Additional Comments: The good people at room214 sent Nancy my way to help get a redesign of her site going for the release of her new book Karma.  We set off to create something unique and what I hope will be an emerging trend in how book promoters market their book websites.  We accomplished goals of making the site easy to navigate and always giving people the option to purchase the book or watch the trailer.

Additional Comments: A fun little project to create the logo & new professional site design for this local Boulder/Denver company.  I think it turned out really nice and helped set them apart from their competitors.

I’ve also had a chance to work more with my father at Another Color by improving our business and providing more web services to our current clients (stay tuned for a relaunch of our company site).

So why should I leave freelancing?

Since graduating I was looking for a new way to challenge myself creatively and was looking for new opportunities.  I saw a job listing for web designer/developer at Lijit, so I sent over my resumé & portfolio.  Since that point I went through several interviews and did some contract work until they could assess if I was right for them.  Luckily they choose to bring me on & give me the chance to really improve and enhance their brand and tools.

So what will change?

Well not a whole lot, I’ll just be working full-time at Lijit to help design the future of social search.  The main thing is I will no longer be taking on much freelance work.  It’s a happy day for me today, marking November 13th 2010 the end of a major freelancing endeavor (for now).  If you are looking for a WordPress expert I recommend you check out WP Co-OP.

What have I learned?

Plan, Plan, Plan & then follow through.  The best thing I’ve learned though freelancing is learning to manage myself and the people I choose to work with.  Planing ahead and managing spending and relationships is probably the hardest thing for most of us to learn.  Also plan for Christmas, it tends to take a big bite out of your wallet and fewer people need freelance work around the holiday, so save that money.

Diversify your creativity & clients.  Life is too important to do boring work.  If you have the opportunity, choose the clients and people you want to work with.  Most freelancers I’ve talked to have complained about the clients they’ve worked with in some way.  I can honestly say I’ve been lucky to choose the people I’ve worked with and have no client horror stories to share at the camp fire.  You will also gain a better understanding of different markets, which makes you a more valuable employee.

TRY Separate work & personal life.  Really its hard to accomplish this and was probably my biggest pitfall.  I tend to be a workaholic and that can lead to working all day & night.  I’ve learned in order to have a healthy freelance lifestyle there must be a distinct work-time and play-time.  Some people may be able to get away without doing this, but they are just gifted.

What’s Next?

I’m looking to start another blog soon called “I Speak Robot”, where I’ll be speaking more about design, computers and robots.  This site will continue to be a place to see my personal work and any personal news on me.  I’m also looking forward to spending more time with my girlfriend, getting out more to snowboard and bike, and get back to learning Portuguese.

Additional Comments: This was a design I did while working with Todd at Design Divine nearly a year ago.  Green Eagle finally took the steps to get their website up and going.  Building construction has never been so green.

That said I wanted to share a before & after picture of the WP CO-OP.    I also really enjoyed creating the illustration for the home page, which took about 2 days.  You can also check out a recent post I did for them called WordPress and Small Business.

WP CO-OP Before

WP CO-OP After

After all the talk it ended with me really wanting to just do something for the WordPress community.  What was the master plan?  Redesign WP CO-OP to help it get a big foot in the door start.  This meant re-working the entire layout and navigation with the site along with creating a more unique look that could be attractive to developers and the average person alike.

Unfortunately I can’t show you anything at the time of this posting, but we will be launching the re-design soon as we are in the final stages.  Not only did I do a design for it but a very nice illustration that took about 2 days full of Illustration.

*UPDATE: the new design is LIVE, so head on over to WP COOP and check out the new design!*

To check out the current site visit http://wpcoop.org/ , & check back soon to see pictures of the new design once its a go.

That said I think its time I address exactly how I conceptualized the design of this site, what went into it and where my inspiration came from and how it was created.

Inspiration

I tend to follow and check out every website design possible, and I love everything about design.  There are several sites which influenced the total design of this particular site.  You will notice similarities are you check out theirs.

The first goes to http://www.x3studios.com/ (also included in the article) and some of their layout design.  You’ll notice the header can be quite similar, although function and work completely differently.  As a designer I love simplicity and the overall design X3 accomplished was great.  I also wanted to accomplish a similar goal, making a single page layout that functioned in a unique way.

My navigation was inspired through the design of http://blackestate.co.nz/.  The site is amazingly laid out and the navigation really works well.  My thought was to take that idea and apply it to a horizontal navigation instead of a vertical one.

My last thought on the navigation was to have it “link-up” with other navigation sections in the portfolio.  As you click on web or another portfolio link, you see the sub-navigation linking in with the main navigation.  A unique concept I’d like to build on more in the future.

Some of the ideas for content came from http://www.brightcreative.com/.  I’m a big fan of Dave and his work and have met him before at Web Direction North.  I think the way he runs his business can be a model for many designers.

Deploying the design

I love WordPress and how easy it is to implement for any design.  This was my first attempt at making a single-page WordPress.  Using the query_posts(’pagename=about’); function in WordPress you can create separate pages for content and still use them within a single template.

Also by using the include(TEMPLATEPATH . ‘/include_featured.php’); I could reference other templates and manage the entire layout.  Also by using categories I was able to let content show in the featured section, and designated sections of the portfolio.

Wrap it up

So after all of this, what are my thoughts? I love the design and how simple it is, however I’m sure I’ll redesign it again in another year, as I’ve done for the past 2 years. I guess I’m never really sold on how I should finish something, and like most things great ideas evolve and show should a design.

Tell me what your thoughts are on the design.  What do you like, not like? Feel free to fire away with thoughts.  *The logo & contact info have been blurred out, for obvious reasons.