Aldersgate Site Launch

I’ve been trying to find a great title for this post for a long while now and couldn’t some up with anything snappy. Sometimes at the end of a project, I feel an odd mix of joy, weariness and a lack of creative spirit. This time the victim is my boring title. Oh, well. The good news is that the client and myself are both really excited for this launch.

Who They Are
Aldersgate is a camp and retreat center located inside the Adirondack Park, operated by The United Methodist Church. They serve two distinct groups of people, camper families and retreat guests. The site needed to speak clearly and confidently to those two groups. The site also needed to be flexible in that the client will need two more sites based on the design I produce for them. Perhaps, most importantly, the site itself is under new leadership and needed to reflect this new direction in a powerful way.

What We Did
At the beginning of the project we talked through all the usual suspects: content, updating, CMS, and user experience. It was clear that a clean, standards based design, built using Expression Engine was the way to go. Expression Engine is my CMS of choice and in this case wouldn’t cost the client anything, as they are a not-for-profit. I was confident that the flexibility would enable some fun, dynamic solutions to some common problems.

I wanted to give them something fresh, clean, simple and professional. The location is incredibly beautiful and there are some great photos that “speak” more powerfully than words. They make a perfect focal anchor for most of the pages. The text is handled using a baseline grid of 18px. There were a few feisty moments, trying to coerce the type to stick to the grid - but in nearly all the battles - I was fairly successful. There are always things that I’d like to improve with a design (especially when exhausted at the end) - but I think the design will hold up for a long time.

The Goal
The goal is really the same for most sites - but is maybe a touch more important due to the site’s recent past. Re-branding not just an online experience, but helping to give the site a fresh start. And in this case - it means more kids, more guests will grow closer to God in a beautiful environment.

I can’t think of better reason to be this tired.

This is where I ramble on and you tell me about it below. Ok, I actually hope to do more than ramble, but the jury is still out.