This custom website we designed for an Austin, TX real estate broker perfectly captures middle America with a fun, trustworthy, casual, Normal Rockwell feel. The site is custom tailored in both content and functionality to fit the client’s unique, agent focused business model.

Update: This unique website  is for sale. The client went out of business just as the site design was completed. We have modified the design with sample content. If you are interested purchasing this site for your company redesign, please contact frank at drawingonthepromises.com for more information.

OUR PART
· Site design
· Typography
· Coding
· Word Press integration

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So, when Miami Angel Properties was looking for a way to take MiamiAngelProperties.com to the next level , I recommended going mobile. Real estate is the perfect mobile application. And taking a website mobile is no simple task. Fortunately, a solid foundation for mobile device detection had already been done by the fine folks at dotMobi in the form of a WordPress plugin. From there I was able to restyle the navigation, restructure the page content and customize the design to fit Miami Angel Properties.

And the result? Within a couple of days, Miami Angel Properties received their first client through the mobile site. In fact, the client chose Miami Angel Properties because they were completely impressed with their mobile service. Is your site mobile ready?

DESIGN

The tshirt design draws from classic but modern soccer heraldry. The shield signifies the defensive part of the game and the ball with the cross (for Crossville Youth Rec…) the offensive part of the game. The type is set in the Fontstruct font, Tangram Rounded.

CAMP THEME

There seems to be an overuse of cliche inspirational sports themes to the point where they become meaningless. Additionally, these inspirational themes are so abstract that they are difficult for youngsters to translate into real life on a daily basis. So, we came up with something more practical and actionable that will allow camp coaches to teach specific soccer skills and the help kids remember them when they play.

The idea is to keep the words simple and a verb that the kids can do and remember. For example, we chose “Think” instead of “Focus”. They both get the same result, but Think is easier for kids to grab a hold of. Here are the words we chose and some possible teaching themes:

• LOOK | Know where the ball is. Look before you pass, while your passing, before you receive.
• THINK | Think about what you’re going to do. Where you’ll place the ball.  Where your team is.
• MOVE | Dribbling, Understand spacing, empty space, movement, position changes, defense, etc.
• TALK |  Communication with teammates, coaches, etc.
• STRIKE | All aspects of kicking and passing, placement, etc.
• UNITE | Teamwork, passing, etc.

branding and logo design. We

OUR PART
· Tshirt emblem design
· Branding/Theme

They made all the right moves.

The local home school chess team needed a logo for their team t-shirt. We created this old school logo based on the Sawhorse font over at FontStruct. The team loved it and looked great in the tshirts at the state chess tournament.

OUR PART
· Logo design

We did. We designed this site for Miami Angel Properties in less than four weeks to meet their immediate need for an online presence that reflected their company values—accountability, transparency, diversity and results. We tailored the design and branding to reflect these values in a fun, passionate way.

OUR PART
· Site design
· Typography
· Coding
· Word Press integration

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Thumbdive is an social application that gives it’s members the unique ability to create private networks of friends and family and stay connected throughout the day. We designed the Thumbdive website, logo and branding to highlight Thumbdive’s first to market capability for their application launch.

OUR PART
· Logo design
· Site design
· Brand strategy
· Copy editing
· Site coding by postpostmodern.com

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When we met Brad and Sarah, the owners of Radiant Plumbing, we knew this was no ordinary plumbing business. Through illustration, color and texture, we created a website that blended the high quality of their plumbing work with their hard working yet warm personalities. This site has been recognized in many CSS galleries and noted for its unique design in blogs around the web.

OUR PART
· Site design
· Tag line creation
· Copywriting

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With the redesign of dotp, I decided early on to redesign the site in public. Thus, the temporary site has to serve two functions: 1) provide potential clients with access to my portfolio and contact information and 2) give me an easy to use platform to share the redesign process as I go through it. I certainly want whatever time I invest in the dotp temporary site in the way of content creation (text, images, applications, etc.) to be easily transferrable to the new site.

To meet these functional requirements, I felt a WordPress solution was in order for the entire site. WordPress has evolved from a blog platform to a very flexible CMS. Plus, I knew there are quite a few WordPress templates I could use to get things up and running quickly. I feel no shame using a template that someone else has created for my own design, as long as licenses are heeded and the designer is given due credit. What I needed was a free, GPL theme with minimalist design that would get me 90% of the way home yet offered the flexiblity to customize. After an hour of looking through various minimalist WordPress templates, I decided on GridFocus by Derek Punsalan at 5ThirtyOne. It’s just the right mix of form and function for the dotp website. Here’s a screenshot of GridFocus out of the box:

After setting up WordPress and installing the GridFocus theme, I began the arduous process of transferring content into the WordPress database structure. Most of my old posts needed to be imported from Blogger (yes, I was one of the first folks on blogger I’m sure of it). I quickly sketched an information architecture and plugged the old content/copy in. It wasn’t too painful. Then all the screenshots and such for my portfolio work (I’m still working on this) had to be linked to each portfolio post. That was a bear. I also wanted to integrate into WordPress the SlideShowPro/Director flash based version of my portfolio from the old site. It worked well with the help of the free SlidePress plugin for WordPress (yet another reason to love WordPress…the free plugins!). Finally I made some design tweaks to GridFocus and voila! The dotp temporary site is born. All told, it took me about 24 hours to get everything to the point you see now, and of course write up the process as I went along.

We crafted LPRHomes.com as a friendly, clean website built on Rails, AJAX, CSS/XHTML technology. From start to finish, we made it easy and fun for potential home buyers to find the exactly the right information without all the fluff.

NOTE: LPR Homes closed it’s doors in 2007 due to the economic crisis.

OUR PART
· Information architecture
· Project management
· Site design and copywriting

It’s not every day you’re asked to come up with a brand strategy and website for a company that recycles computers. Avoiding environmental clichés, we had fun with the design and breathed new life into well worn concepts about recycling and responsibility.

Note: This site was designed and built in 2005. The client has not updated it.

OUR PART
· Site design
· Coding
· Copywriting
· Brand strategy
· Content management
· The whole nine yards

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