Sean Clive Re-Design

It’s a complete joy to finish a project. This one was a leftover from my “late-nights-long-weekends” schedule, before freelance. As things wound down at church, I got busier there and found less time to devote to the last few sections of Sean Clive’s web site. We had finished the CD packaging, sent it off to be printed and talked about his site. It was in need of a redesign and the CD project signified a bolder move into the industry and ministry.

Sean wanted something fresh and professional, highlighting the new CD, “Amazed”. Up front, I knew I wanted to stretch my knowledge of coding, use Expression Engine, and make it easy to post content. I also wanted to go with a limited color palette and use the promotional photos in black and white. I went with a liquid layout, allowing the content to stretch to fit the browser window (here lies the coding challenge).

To highlight the CD we decided to create a “splash” page. I usually try to avoid an extra step between user and content, but in this case it was the way to go. The splash page allows the user to stream the entire album, a feature Sean requested. I skinned a flash player to match the look of the site and created a way to enter the site in a new window. Some of the layout was breaking in places, but with a little elbow grease I managed to massage them into place.

I’m really happy with the results. The goal to create a clean, standards-based site that’s easy to maintain and effectively communicates what Sean is about, was met. I trust that people who love Sean’s music will enjoy his site as well.

On to the next job.

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.