Web Design
It isn’t an exaggeration to say one of the earliest things I created with friends were websites. I was making websites looooong before logos! I remember a middle school one specifically; one hosted on MSN Groups and dedicated to the newly-released Lord of the Rings series. I loved the technique of changing the text color to the same color as the background, so that you had to highlight the entire page to be able to read any of it. I know, I was a web accessibility GENIUS.
It’s been a couple…decades…since that first website. I’ve now become pretty accustomed to launching a wide variety of websites and web apps.
I’ll provide some examples below of what I can help you with. Whether it’s purely design, purely development, or some combination of both—I got you.
Web/UI Design
Some of the earliest design work I really enjoyed was web design. My first commercial designs were back in 2011, while working for the NMU Dining Services department. Back then, CSS3 and HTML5 were on the cutting edge, along with jQuery’s first versions.
These days, the technology has exploded exponentially beyond that. You’re alive and on the internet, so you already know that.
These days, my approach to UI design is through Figma. It allows me to not only create reusable component designs, but also lets a client view and comment on the designs before they are implemented. This is not only speedier, but also keeps me from creating unnecessary layouts in code.
Web Development
Due to the nature of the web, it’s hard to give myself a specific “something developer” title. Some would describe me front-end, some would say full-stack; I ultimately tend to just go with the basic ol’ Web Developer.
I tend to find myself being the translator from Figma to live code. Which is good, because that’s such a sweet spot. I honestly don’t know why more developers don’t enjoy that space.
My specific coding languages are also scattered, but ultimately I do write in structure, styling, and scripting languages.
My absolute favorite structure language to write markup in is Twig, which is a templating language for PHP. I was first exposed to it as ExpressionEngine back in 2015, and was not a fan. Once another dev walked me through how to read it, I quickly changed my mind. By 2017, I was writing twig for Timber, and later, CraftCMS.
For styling, I am all about that sass (SCSS). I can work in environments with utility based systems (looking at you, Tailwind), but am personally a bigger fan of more intentional styling.
As for scripting, I’m of the opinion that the the best javascript is the smallest amount of javascript. I prefer to use a scope-based, vanilla ES6 module setup. I can work within other JS libraries (Vue.js and React are a little outside my comfort zone), and have no experience (or desire) in Typescript.
There are a handful of CMS’s that I am a very big fan of, like: CraftCMS, Kirby, Payload CMS, and even Squarespace. However, I have really found my sweet spot in custom WordPress setups. Using Timber, SCSS, and a little JS, I can achieve any design with relatively little struggle. Plus, the hosting options are incredibly diverse; I personally prefer Cloudways, because DigitalOcean has always made hosting as pain-free as it can be. And if that isn’t enough, the customization opens wide with Advance Custom Fields, which also pairs incredibly well with Timber! It’s a match made in Valhalla.
View my WordPress starter theme on GitHub: Timber Starter Theme
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HOLO Footwear
HOLO Footwear is sustainable, attainable, and all-terrainable.
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Michigan Cider Association
The Michigan Cider Association (MCA) exists to elevate and grow the Michigan cider industry by uniting cider makers and apple growers and connecting hard cider enthusiasts and soon-to-be fans with Michigan ciders that they’ll love!
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Transfigure Print Co.
A Michigan-Based, LGBTQIA+ Owned Screen Printing Collective.
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Grand Rapids Branding Co.
Prints, accessories, and apparel based on the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan.