Paul McCrodden

Talented developer who likes to create unique digital content

AptDesigns

Brief

From initial discussion with the client, the following points were highlighted as the project's brief.

  • Homepage must highlight the most recent work, give users an idea who the client is and direct them towards contacting the client and viewing his portfolio
  • Design must suit the range of artwork produced by artist
  • Must be eye-catching and fun to use for users
  • The back-end must be easy to use for the client
  • Auto update the client's social networks
  • Ability to expand in future

Process

After gathering requirements and developing a brief with Ross the following steps were taken.

  • Meeting with graphic designer to discuss aesthetic and functional requirements of the site
  • Wireframing of the site using Mockingbird, a web-based wireframe tool. This lead to a decision on a single page layout with separate "Gallery Post" page per piece of art uploaded.
  • Decide on best tools and software for the job, thinking about both front-end and back-end. Drupal was chosen as the CMS together with a theme based on the 960 grid-system for CSS and jQuery for enhanced UI features.
  • Site then broken down into smaller functional part per panel on the single Home page layout; Main, About, Gallery, Contact and individual Gallery Post pages.
  • The Main page uses the Views Slideshow module to show 10 of the latest pieces.
  • The Gallery Page uses Views module to pull out a paginated list of Gallery Posts.
  • Imagecache and Imagemagik are used to automatically take a segment of the uploaded image and grey-scale it for use as a thumbnail.
  • Lightbox module is used to display a larger version of the Gallery Post image on-clicking the thumbnails.
  • The Panels module was then used to pull each of these separate pages into the Home page layout.
  • The site was then themed using the final revision of the designs.
  • Final Testing of the site was then carried out using"dummy" content.
  • A short "How-To" session was then provided to the client before putting the site live.

Outcome

  • Site now used constantly and effortlessly by client to exhibit each new piece
  • Client is able to maintain site on their own
  • The AptDesigns website has helped secure more business, increased publicity and developed a fan-base for the Artist
  • Reduced time and effort required to keep social networking up-to-date due to seamless integration on the site.