Swardson Studios was hired to create a sub site of the main New Life City {dot} org website for the NLC Youth mission trip to brazil. Using a Wordpress base a framework was created to allow for new updates, donations, read profiles and learn about new fund raising opportunities.
We also wrote a custom widget plug-in to display a donation thermometer. While there are a couple options out there their look and functionality were not desirable. Using a custom design in Photoshop, controlled with CSS and HTML and built with a PHP code base the widget fully integrates within Wordpress allowing the site administrators to update the values right from the Wordpress dashboard.
We had a lot of fun building this site. It will likely be changed into a group specific site once the Brazil trip is complete. However, with the way it is designed simple theme changes will allow for that transition.
-Brad
Swardson Studios was hired to do the redesign of a Claire Sanderson Hanna’s family law firm website and brochure.
http://www.nmdivorce.com
Considerable work was done in coming up with a look and design that matched the philosophy’s of Ms. Hanna as well as fit the medium and content she wished to portray.
Among the normal layout and styling done with CSS, HTML, Javascript and PHP the site also includes a simple user submission form to gain access to materials. It not only allows them access but automatically emails the information to Ms. Hanna to allow her to follow up them. Another unique feature of this site is the addition of a header bar that gets included when anyone links to an external site from Ms. Hanna’s site. This way users are always presented with a way back to the CSH site from wherever they go.
In addition to the website I adapted the content to a tri-fold brochure format to go with it.
This project took about 3 weeks to complete and I think it came out rather well. If you have any comments or suggestions please leave me a note by commenting below.
All the best,
Brad Swardson
http://www.newlifecity.org
This project is the largest and most ambitious of my web design and development projects. I joined with New Life City as their web developer and designer in 2005. Since then the site has evolved through 3 different iterations starting with a static site moving to the completely dynamic and customizable drupal CMS site.
I have found drupal to be an extremely adept and versatile solution to web based CMS needs. With its fully customizable interface and add on selection, quick changes and additions are much faster than coding them manually. However, even with its ease of use the site still presented some major challenges such as multiple node based audio setups including itunes validated RSS feeds, and a semi-fluid design structure that maximized the screen real-estate and optimized the image and text fluidity.
This is an evolving project that is changing as the needs and desires of the NLC staff require. I expect new and more awesome things to come from the site, but definitely am confident and happy with it now.
-Brad
http://www.newlifecity.org/lifeinthecity/
In addition to the New Life City website, Pastor Alan Hawkins wished to create a seperate portal for his recorded radio broadcasts. The material for this show tends to be more down to Earth and gets into the nitty gritty of life in the city from hot topics to sensitive issues.
I wanted this site to be a bit darker and a bit grungier but still allow for the shining light in the city.
Another change I made was that it utilizes a Wordpress blogging system as the back end rather than drupal or another CMS. I was highly impressed with the newest versions of Wordpress and decided it would be a good fit for this project. The theme utilizes some fancy layouts to display the 4 receent submissions on the front page as well as some archiving and comment listing on the bottom.
All in all I think it turned out really well and Pastor Alan really likes it too.
-Brad
http://www.swardson.com
This site was a personal project completed for my final portfolio class in my masters degree program at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I was tasked to create a site that reflected other portfolio and business design elements. The overall concept was the idea of authenticity and longevity. The logo with the signature represents a pact between me and my clients that what they ask for they will get. The earthy tones reflect the level of authenticity I portray in all areas of business.
The site was initially designed to be expandable to add tutorials, blogs, content and products for my various projects but was sercumvented by this site as it fit my business models better.
This project turned out fairly well in my opinion and may utilize it’s look in the future.
-Brad
http://www.bestrentalever.com
I created this site as a host for my rental property. I wanted to create a site that was both stylish and informative that would increase the interest in the home while allowing possible tenants the ability to tour the room photos and gather information easily.
This site featured the lightbox image gallery system which is really awesome and easy to use.
I also explored some more non-traditional design to make it feel somewhat like a flyer, but enough like a website so as to not make it confusing.
I had a lot of fun with this site and it ended up paying off.
-Brad
