Over the past year and a half, ASH + AMES has become my biggest client, and provided some of my most exciting work. To accompany the release of their Fall 2016 collection, we created a lookbook, social media campaign, email newsletters, catalog, and updated site as well as some site enhancements. It’s thrilling to be able to contribute so much to their an overall brand vision.
https://issuu.com/ashandames/docs/fall2016
I recently redesigned the site for my boys’ Chicago alma mater, Beaubien Elementary. School sites need to serve a variety of competing functions: easily sharing timely news and information, conveying a sense of the school culture and staff, segmenting content separately for teachers, parents and students, and providing a way for teachers to communicate directly with students.
We achieved this by rearranging the site structure, creating a primary and secondary content field with bold call-to-action buttons, integrating social media, and making sure the site played well on mobile. “Curb appeal” was also crucial. I enlisted my photographer pal Scott Anderson to shoot new photos, refreshed the logo (the bulldog looked a bit feral in previous iterations) and lightened up the entire color palette.
The school is still in the process of building the individual teacher pages, but that will be ready for the start of the new school year.
The site I designed for Primal Woods, a Southwest Michigan-based homestead devoted to providing milling services, maple syrup, and handmade soap launched today. The evolution of this space is very interesting–after accepting an early retirement from a corporate job outside of Chicago, John Newell and his wife Geri sought a simpler life closer to nature. Their fascinating blog charts the acquisition of their new rural home and tells how this venture has brought them closer to the earth, their community, and each other.
I have been working with the Chicago Writers Conference to help build their conference registration, which launched this week. This was a fairly complicated process involving a lot of specific logic (you must register for x before you can register for y) and options that accommodated sessions with limited times, spots, and changing prices over time.
I spoke at this conference two years ago (about designing author sites) so it was fun to work with them in this capacity (a little) less scary than speaking in front of a room of people.
At the end of April, I started managing the social media for my longtime (beloved) client ASH + AMES. I now manage their Tumblr (and blog), Instagram and Facebook pages. I’ve loved this new challenge–especially being able to engage directly with our customers and build our lists.
I try to appeal to all aspects of this business in my posts from the unique beauty of the individual pieces to the celebrity connections (Christy Turlington recently hit me back on Instagram, which was thrilling!) to the sheer empowerment of a business built by powerful, smart women. Our followers and engagement have grown by about 10% since I started–I look forward to growing it even more.
Here’s another recent site launch to promote. Kaplan DeFiore Rights is a new full-service international licensing agency for publishers and literary agents. Principal Linda Kaplan has more than 25 years experience in and has negotiated licenses on behalf of Gillian Flynn, Martha Stewart, Deepak Chopra, Barack Obama and George W Bush (among many others). We launched this site just in time for the London Book Fair last month.
I recently designed a series of email “drip” newsletters for ASH + AMES. Every new subscriber receives a series of four emails introducing the brand over a series of days. The first email orients subscribers to the brand and its mission, the second introduces the gorgeous jewelry, the third promotes the social media properties, and the fourth introduces opportunities as a brand ambassador. I used a white background to open up the space to the beautiful brand photography and let it really sing. Thrilled with how this one turned out.
The site I designed for Bay Area-based Immigration Law Firm Wiley & Jobson launched today. I designed their original site nearly nine years ago–it was great to help bring the latest iteration of their site to life. This firm has helped thousands of immigrants from more than 75 countries to obtain lawful immigration status. We included a lot of information in a very user-friendly way to help make it easy for potential clients to find the information they need and make the initial contact.
Lisa Viscardi takes a philosophical approach to home and personal organization. In one of her client’s words, “Lisa cleared my mind, my soul, and my closets. I love her.”
She came to me needing a landing page to coincide with the launch of an upcoming podcast. We turned it around in a week, creating a site that was simple, evocative of her brand, and swiftly conveyed her message.
http://www.claritybylisaviscardi.com/
