Website Design
My computer graphic design work dates back to around 1997 when I first became interested in developing websites. I started with with websites for my Army Reserve Unit, Karate School, and Policemen’s Benevolent
Association Local #75. This took off from a hobby to several commercial sites at the end of the 1990′s. Throughout the following decade my skills increased and I took on projects designing websites for local restaurants, businesses, politicians, and personal interests.
HTML was the basic Internet language to start, but delving into database driven websites I soon learned ASP 3.0 with connected Microsoft Access databases. For highly graphic websites it was necessary to learn Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, Flash and some 3D programs. Many businesses lacked professional identity packages, so I would often start from scratch providing sharp vectorized logos which could be reproduced on the web or on print media.
Content Management Systems have been an area of interest in the past few years, offering website owners the ability to update their sites through a database driven back end administration console. My experience is that many owners, focused on their business operations, rarely updated their websites. Instead, most people prefer to hire a designer to make updates, or they simply let their sites become stale.
Through my experience, entrepreneurs who want a professional web presence tend to want to hire a web designer to both create a website and to provide some sort of maintenance option. This second option keeps the designer involved in the running of the website, and the owner retains a professional who can work out any technical issues when they eventually arise with the Internet Service Providers regarding hosting and domain parking. It is also a good idea to have someone around who can easily make updates or add new design elements.
In addition to basic website design, I offer many other services which are usually part of the design process. Cleaning up and digitizing logos is a common need for many businesses so they can then have good quality graphics ready for print media such as letterhead or business cards. I also retouch photographs using Photoshop. Please take a look at my portfolio to see some of the graphic design work I’ve done over the years including 3D and video.
- 28 Random Website Designs
* These are all websites which I’ve designed since the 1990’s. Each represents current trends in Internet design during the time which the site was live. Websites were once designed for 640 pixel wide monitors, and as screen size increased, layouts continued to change until today where most sites contain their main content in layouts 1,000 pixels or more, with backgrounds accommodating the largest home monitors. Technologies also changed from static HTML sites aligned left, to dynamic database driven sites, Flash sites, and currently to wide angle database driven sites with large bold slider images located in the premium space of the design.