I’ve been having a blast this last month working on a complete redesign for Mariano Friginal, a premier photographer in the California (and probably the rest of the universe, too). Mariano is a fantastic designer, as well, so he designed the page layouts in Photoshop and handed the files over to me to translate them into gibberish that only nerds and computers can understand.

The new site contains dynamic galleries to showcase Mariano’s stellar photography and videography, separate RSS feeds for blog posts and events, as well as some little gems like custom contact forms and dynamically-generated signup forms for events. The site was developed for scalability and longevity, in hopes of keeping the content alive for future face lifts rather than complete overhauls.

Mariano has photographed many friends of mine, so it was heartwarming to see images of them smiling while I was working on the site. Above is one such example.

Check out the new site (and be prepared to spend a lot of time there).

For the past few many months I’ve been working alongside James, Nick, and Mariano to revamp riverpark.org, the website of Riverpark Bible Church (my home church), and it finally launched today.

In the fall of last year, Pastor Joey rounded us up and we brainstormed about how we could improve the site, which had been launched about 3 years prior. What started as “well, we could change some colors” turned into a complete revamp to improve accessibility, usability, and overall aesthetics. In my opinion, Mariano’s photography is definitely the icing on the cake. I think it really helps communicate the message in a more concise way than a bunch of text ever could.

I’m excited to see how well the new design performs in real life. My hope is that it reinforces the fact that Riverpark is on the cutting edge of traditionalism.

Dig the new site.

Today a new identity was finalized for Ashley Gain Weddings & Events, a new boutique event management company in Arizona.

Ashley was wonderful to work with and had some great initial ideas that we were able to talk through to refine the direction of her new identity.

Today inthenameoflove.org was launched, promoting the speaking ministry of Bianca Juarez. Bianca is a gifted Bible teacher who relates well to all ages, and has a passion for sharing God’s love.

The splendid photography on the site was shot by Jasmine Star, whose site I also had the privilege of designing last year…and who, coincidentally, looks strikingly similar to Bianca.

Sidenote: One of the best parts of doing this project was that I had U2 stuck in my head the whole time.

Last week I launched a new site for The Four Roses, a new catering and event management company here in the valley. Owned and operated by the best mother-in-law in the world, it is only fitting that I announce the launch in time for Mother’s Day.

Delinda Hernandez has prepared food for weddings, parties and banquets in her spare time for the last 30 years and recently had the opportunity to jump in full-time. It’s been exciting to see her business grow.

Dig the new site, then hire The Four Roses for your next shin-dig.

Last week I finished an identity project for Laura Leigh Images. The task was to create a visual representation of Laura’s existing brand, which was young, progressive, and sophisticated. Laura’s photojournalistic shooting style has caused quite a stir in smalltown Minnesota, and it was essential to create a new identity that would reflect this and set Laura apart from the crowd.

(Yes, I’m working on my birthday…my boss is a slavedriver)

Whew! This was a big one. Last Thursday I finally wrapped up a website revamp project for Not For Sale, a non-profit organization in the fight against modern-day slavery. Prior to taking this project, I was under the assumption that slavery had all but disappeared back in the 1800s, thanks to Honest Abe. But, in fact, there are about 27 million enslaved in the world today, which is more than the total number of slaves in history…combined. Crazy.

I was pleased to have worked with the kind folks at Not For Sale. Their progressive thinking challenged me to push the envelope with this site, which I hope will enable them to accomplish their goals even more effectively.

Mad props to Chester McLaughlin, who helped me tremendously on the development side of this project.

On January 18, 2009, Logo Of The Day awarded the prize to Jasmine Star. It was exciting to hear the news and encouraging to see the good feedback from the readers. Check out the full post on logooftheday.com.

Just before the new year, I finished a custom site for Lyra Lyra Photographer.

Lyra (lee-rah) is a wonderful children’s photographer from Arizona. Having put a lot of time and resources in to having her logo designed, she had a clear direction for the look and feel of her new website.

Having such a unique logo allowed for a lot of creative graphical treatments and effects throughout the site, and it allowed me to delve into the personally-uncharted waters of a “whimsical” look and feel.

Visit LyraLyra.com

The January 2009 launch date proved to be an ambitious goal, but the new website is now up and running. My desire is to post new articles and/or completed projects at least once a week. Time will tell if that is another ambitious goal.

I’m in the middle of quite a few jobs right now and I’ll be posting updates as each one gets completed. Subscribe to the RSS feed, or for all those technophobes out there, sign up for notifications via carrier pigeon.