Goal
A complete redesign and re-organization of an existing WordPress site.
Overview
Equinox is a group of attorneys based out of Bellevue, Washington. They had a lot of information that they wanted to get out through their website, which they also use as a regular blogging and event staging platform.
Visual Designs
Their existing site already had a lot of content, and they were looking to add more. I needed to find a way to properly organize all of this information, so I took my time creating a sitemap that the client was happy with, and getting a feel for the layout of some of the main pages by way of wireframing.
Once I had a feel for the layout, I came up with several design options:
They had specific desires for the look and feel of the content, so this particular client was very hands-on for the entire process from here on until deployment. They ended up choosing a combination of two of the design options, so I was tasked with combining two slightly different design styles into one.
Being an organization owned and run by women was an important distinction they wanted to make through choice of imagery. Specific images were chosen for content, and various headers throughout the site.
Translating Robust Content to Mobile
It's easy for so much content to become overwhelming on mobile platforms, so I put a lot of thought into slimming down imagery where possible, and altering layouts on small screens so users would still be able to find critical information even when skimming through content.
In addition to changes in layout and imagery, I relied on distinct headers and buttons to break up flow and draw attention to the areas that needed it most.
Thought was put into optimizing the user's mobile experience.
Active Blogging and Events
Equinox likes to engage with the community, which is showcased by an active events platform for which they use a paid events plugin. I made sure to match the plugin's styles with the new site, and included shortcode on the homepage which would highlight the next upocoming event.
In addition to events, they have a very active blog which they wanted to increase their subscription numbers. I added shortcode to the homepage showcasing the latest three posts, which not only helps get their blog out there but also can boost SEO providing dynamic content to the homepage. I also sprinkled newsletter sign ups throughout the site, including in the footer and the blog sidebar.
Stylized WordPress Content
This was all done within a custom WordPress theme which I created specifically for this client.
Knowing that this particular client was going to be making many of their own website updates, I wanted to be sure that future additions would look professional and styled to match the existing content. I created numerous stylized reusable content blocks so the client could do things such as add testimonials, add employees, and swap out content at will while retaining the same look and feel.