Bluelime Media may need to rebrand…
One of the biggest changes that we’ve seen this year is that clients are no longer asking for a static website but instead want to maintain their own site. This has been great, but now I think that we’ll have to change our name to something like WordPressLime Media. The number of WordPress (WP) sites we’re churning out is huge. The exciting thing about working with WP is seeing how far we can push the design. We work with a lot of different graphic designers here and it’s been challenging at times figuring out how we can convert their ideas into WP templates. Here are the latest ones we’ve been working on:
We started working with Junxion Strategy back in late 2007 on a WP site for one of their clients. Impressed with what we accomplished they asked us to tackle their own. The design was created by their in-house design team who picked up the WP back-end very quickly and weren’t afraid of going in there and adding photos, text, flash video etc… The most challenging element of this design was the grass at the bottom of the screen. Background images are great to work with as long as they are positioned somewhere near the top. Once you start wanting them somewhere else, then CSS just isn’t powerful enough.
Once completed, we also created a template page for their newsletter which, when filled out with their content, they import to Campaign Monitor and send out. I was a bit skeptical at first if this would work, but this proved to be a pretty clever time saving solution.
Andrew Lewis is a Victoria based graphic designer. After running a successful design agency in Toronto for several years, Andrew decided to down-size and adopt a less hectic lifestyle on Vancouver Island. I’m not sure if his schedule is less hectic or not, but Andrew seems to be spending a lot of time in Latin America doing presentations and attending exhibitions. He creates wonderful posters and needed an avenue to display them. A WP site seemed to be the most appropriate choice. He can now keep his clients up-to-date with his work and latest events. He also plans on selling some of his posters in the not so distant future.
The Ascent Group is another one of our partners. When working on very large projects which need a lot of planning and documenting, Miin Lim, one of the founders of Ascent Group, is a very valuable resource to have. With an extensive amount of experience, Miin can help clients, plan our complex database systems, content management systems, e-commerce and software applications. She was an indispensable member of our team when we built the UBC Vault website. Miin, being the person that she is, knows how to use Dreamweaver and in her own words “knows enough to be dangerous”. But this time she didn’t want just another HTML site and instead wanted an easy to use CMS. Using a design created By Wendy at Visual Distillery, we converted it into WP templates and Miin has been busy blogging ever since.
If you’re tired of this weather, perhaps you should start planning your summer holiday. Over on Quadra Island just a Ferry away from Campbell River, lies Taku Resort. Boasting several different types of accommodations from cozy cottages, beachfront cabins, terraced suites and camping pads, Taku Resort is the ideal location to relax and get back to nature. Designed by Barbara at BlueCitrus, a WP website was created using loads of stunning imagery which illustrate the character, charm and serenity of the resort.
RainCity Housing and Support Society
On January 30, 2008, Triage Emergency Services & Care Society officially changed their name to RainCity Housing and Support Society. The organization has grown significantly since it began in 1982 as a small emergency shelter operating out of an old bank building at Main and Prior and thus their need to update their identity. Along with this update came a new website, and yes you guessed it, they wanted to be able to maintain it. So again, WP came to the rescue. In this case, the “blog post” are used for the job section of the site. Designed by Leanne over at Ideastream Design, the website is clean, modern, easy to navigate and Raincity Housing have already sent several referrals our way.
These few examples illustrate how blogging software can be used to create websites which don’t necessarily look like blogs. At least, I think so, what do you think?
I can personally attest to the ease of using WordPress, even for a techno-phobe like me. I love the convenience of being able to tweak copy here and there, and blog any time the mood strikes! When Christine suggested WordPress for my site, I said “I don’t know what you mean, but I trust you to provide the best solution.” I’m glad I did because she was right!