Web Site re-design for Chicago Suburbs Business: AED Battery Exchange
Launch today is a freshly re-designed website for AED Battery Exchange aedbatteryexchange.com. Located in the far north suburbs of Chicago, they are leading the way in re- celling batteries for Automated external defibrillators and wanted a web site which truly matched their innovative product.
Also on their want list was a professional looking site which was easy to navigate and appealing to their target audience.
We created a very clean look and feel, the home page featuring an eye catching Call to Action banner to “Find your AED battery”.
They batteries were categorized in terms on manufacturer and featured images which can be enlarged so the user can clarify the correct battery.
The site is definitely a step up from their old one
An Example of Small Business Image Branding
Here is another project which showcases the consistent use of image branding elements as I talked about in my post Brand Image Tips for Small business Owners.
I started working with Restore North Shore, a Chicago remodeling company, a few years back …creating a set of basic brand image elements for them … logo, color palette, type face selection. These element were then integrated into a website and more recently I have created Lawn signs, Car Magnets and t-shirts, working from the elements I originally established.
And here are the branding elements all working together, delivering a strong and consistent look for this small Chicago business.
The Eye of a Chicago Web Designer
As a web and graphic designer my “design” eyes never seem to rest. If I am out and about driving, I am reviewing and critiquing logos on the sides of vehicles, if I am waiting at a clients office for a meeting to start I am analyzing the patterns in the carpet or on the wall coverings. Just sitting here as I type I can see patterns every where from the wood grain on my desk to the grill of my computer speakers. I am constantly absorbing design all around me; patterns, textures, shapes, color palettes, color combinations, type faces … to many it may sound exhausting …but to me it’s not!
Even at 30,000 feet the “Chicago web designers eye” is primed and ready. As I peered out of the window on a recent flight to Vegas I was greeted by an amazing patchwork of shapes and contours that had been highlighted by a sprinkling of snow. How cool is that!
12 months of the Chicago Web Designer
As 2012 rolls to a close I like to take a look back at some of the projects I’ve worked on over the year. It’s been a real mixed bag but I must have enjoyed myself as the year has flown by. I have created websites, logos, brochures, illustrations for a book, power point graphics, car magnets, lawn signs, business cards, mobile websites, e commerce sites, an icon for one of the largest banks in America and even the cover for a book. My clients have been located both here in Chicago and a little further further afield… St Louis, Louisville, Wentzville and further away still … Belgium. There are no geographical boundaries for the Chicago Web Designer – your creative partner.
So here is a little showcase of my 2012 web and graphic work
January: Powerpoint graphics for a large national bank
February: Web concept project for a St Louis bank
March: WordPress conversion project for Ruth Hasser
April: Identity design for Select Food Sales
May: Community Website for the Humble Catholic
June: New website and branding elements for Restore North Shore
July: Refresh of Lincolnshire Academy of Dance
August: Rework of The Rockwood
September: e commerce site- Zagros Robotics
October: Illustrations and cover design for book: Mr Bison’s Journal
November: Responsive web site design for Mr Bison
December: Identity deign for InDeBom
I am looking forward to another bag of design challenges in 2013!
The Chicago Web Designer?
The name of this blog is “The Chicago Web Designer” but that doesn’t mean our clients are all based in Chicago or that we only offer web design.
Take this recent project for example; a logo and business card design for a company based in Belgium.
Web design makes up about 70% of the creative projects we undertake but in the last year alone we have seen projects ranging from icon creation for one of the biggest national banks in America to illustrating a self published book. We are more than happy to work with clients requiring traditional design skills, say for the design of a new logo, business card or brochure, but also never shy away from any creative project. Sometimes a client will call with a report or presentation that needs to look top notch and are looking for our creative input. No project is too small for the Chicago web designer.
New Web Design for Authors Web Site
Last week saw the release of a new book by one of our clients, Edward Bison. His book, Mr Bison’s Journal, is a very funny collection of stories and observations and is a laugh out loud read. I was commissioned to not only illustrate each of the stories but also design the book cover. It was a fun project and fingers crossed it will become one of the top humor books of 2012/2013. It would make a great Christmas gift -see it on Amazon as a paperback and Kindle ebook
As part of the launch we updated his website www.mrbison.com moving it from a blogger powered blog, to the all singing and dancing WordPress platform and giving the site a mini design overhaul.
The home page now features a prominent call to action to buy the book and a video clip of a sample chapter. The site navigation was revised to include such as his Facebook fan Page
We also took the opportunity to recode it as responsive website – I’ll fill you in on the ins and outs of that tomorrow.
Keeping a website fresh: Chicago web designer tip of the day
As well as designing websites from scratch one of the services we offer our clients is website maintenance.
This can involve anything from updating text, adding pages for new services or updating a look and feel with new photos.
We have refreshed the look of The Lincolnshire Academy of Dance website today, updating all the photographs with recent ones taken during their June recital.
Keeping a web site fresh with new content, photographs and news will keep you visitors engaged and more likely to pay you repeat visits. Search engines love fresh content too, so it is a win all round.
© 2012 Chicago Web Designer
New Website for Chicago Home Remodeling Company
Launched today is a new website for Restore North Shore, a Chicago home remodeling company.
We designed and built a custom WordPress template which incorporated not only a blog but pages for project galleries, client testimonials etc.
If you are in the Chicago area and are looking to update your kitchen, bathroom or even an entire house check out the project galleries
© 2012 Chicago Web Designer
New WordPress websites for Life Celebrant Ruth Hasser
Launched today are two new wordpress powered website for celebrant Ruth Hasser.
Ruth has two sides to her business, weddings and funerals, or life tributes. As you can imagine the target audience for each is very different.
A first generation site, designed and developed in 2009 for her wedding business, served her well and really helped grow her client base as a lead generation tool.
“Last year at this time, pre-website, I had one wedding scheduled for 2009. By the end of the year I had done 25. Right now, I already have 17 weddings scheduled, and I have been receiving an average of one lead per day since the beginning of January- outstanding!”
But like all tools they need to be refined to offer maximum effectiveness, so this second generation site offers social media integration allowing her clients to connect with her via Facebook and YouTube and we took the opportunity to move the site to the more robust blogging platform WordPress. This has the added advantage that Ruth now has full editorial control of the content of the the site. Ruth was happy with the look and feel of the first generation site so we kept the design the same but did increase the width to accommodate the most common screen resolution.
A website dedicated to the funeral side of her business is a new endeavor. We kept the brand image the same as the wedding site but used different imagery and a more muted color palette.
Switching from Blogger to WordPress can be a little daunting for a client and there is definitely a learning curve. As well as training we also provided Ruth with a set of screen cast videos which outline how to do the most common updates such as publishing a new blog post and uploading photographs.
© 2012 Chicago Web Designer
New WordPress websites in progress
I have been working recently on a number of custom WordPress sites.
The first is a double project for Ruth Hasser, a St Louis celebrant. Ruth wanted to move her current site over to WordPress so she could take advantage of the content management (CMS) it offers. She also needed a new site for the funeral and memorial side of her business.
We have kept the design the same for the wedding side of her business ( she loved it so why change it) but designed a slightly different look for the funeral site, with a more muted color scheme and different imagery.
Both sites are in the final phase of production and will be launched shortly.
The second custom WordPress site is for a Chicago group, The Humble Catholic.
This site will serve as a community allowing users to upload prayer requests, affirmations and suggest stories, all driven by the excellent blogging capabilities of the WordPress platform
The site is just going through some final testing and client review.
©: 2012 Chicago Web Designer
