Logo for Be Safe, Texas
As part of a new website aimed at communicating safety tips and alerts to the UT Austin student body, this logo was developed using an orange shield to reference the UT seal and convey protection.
Commons Center Redesign
The Commons Center is an event and dining facility located at the UT J.J. Pickle Research Campus. The site was long overdue for a redesign and just received a new logo. I was responsible for visual design based on the center’s new logo and color palette and developed a new architecture. The daily menu was by far the most popular page so a data-driven piece was developed to show today’s menu on the home page.
Document Solutions Website
A name change from “University Services” to “Document Solutions”, all-new branding, and a new online business card ordering system meant it was time for a redesign. The logo and color palette were dictated by recent branding guidelines and a half-tone-like texture was added to play off of the circular logos and the department’s role in printing. A look at Google Analytics reports helped inform the information architecture, and jQuery was used to rotate through specials and promotions.
UT Police Website Refresh
A few years of “can you add one more link to our home page?” made the previous design cluttered and unorganized. The need for a new information architecture coupled with a recent change in branding made for a perfect time to give the site a new face. jQuery was used to add a big rotating feature and categories were used to divide up the links below. The color palette and visual design were adapted from branding guidelines and previous print work to help the site match other media.
Jodi Filleman Logo & Website
Jodi Filleman, LPC, needed a website template for her practice that combines yoga with counseling. The only requirement was for use of bamboo and that it have a calm visual tone. The graphics were created in Illustrator and the site was built out in good ol’ XHTML using Dreamweaver templates.
UI Color Study
This color contrast study was part of a UI project for a new web-based employee management system. The study compares white, black, a neutral, and burnt orange text on various background colors.
Travel Management Website
The UT Austin Travel Management site was ready to shed the old orange and gray UT template and make their content easier to understand. Flat, illustrative design and soft, cool colors have literally made users feel more calm. A copy editor helped rewrite the content with specific audiences in mind.
Family Life Website
The UT Austin Childcare Center and Employee Assistance Program wanted to create an online resource for parents and families. Using artwork from children in the Child Development Center, I created a simple layout with soft color and typography.
UI Icons
UT Austin’s employee record system transitioned from a green screen terminal system to a web-based interface. I developed a number of UI elements to represent an applicant’s status, future appointments, and much more. All icons were created in Adobe Illustrator.
Meadows Center Logo & Website
A new research unit at The University of Texas at Austin needed a logo and website template to match. The only requirement specified by the client was an orange and green color palette.
Open Video Toolkit Layouts
The Open Video Digital Library Toolkit is an open source project designed to allow libraries, museums, and organizations to easily create an online video library. The project lead needed a visual designer to create layouts based on wire frames.
Charity Bash Website Redesign
This pro-bono work was for a local non-profit that raises money for other non-profits. The new homepage immediately highlights the non-profit selected as a beneficiary and provides one-click access to e-mail sign up, Facebook, and Twitter.
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About me
I’m a web professional here in Austin, Texas with a background in visual design. I work full-time at the The University of Texas at Austin as part of a team responsible for web support to over 20 operational departments. While at UT, I’m finishing up a master’s in information science to study information architecture and usability. Some companies might label me as a visual designer, UI designer, UX designer, interaction designer, information architect, or even the classic Webmaster.
Skills (AKA Jargon & Trendy Acronyms)
- People: working with clients is one of my favorite aspects of web design. I make it a point to reassure clients what can be done and to be honest with them when something is out of scope.
- Coding: I make it a habit to use semantic, standards-compliant, and accessible HTML. I’m familiar with §508 and WCAG 2.0 guidelines. I also enjoy a good CSS challenge.
- Art & Science: my experience plus my graduate work in information science gives me a foundation in search engine optimization (SEO), usability, information architecture (IA), and user-centered design (UCD/UX).
- Web technologies: I’ve created sites in WordPress, written small apps with PHP/MySQL, added some jQuery for enhancement, incorporated Google Analytics, and made a few maps with the Google Maps API.
- Software: Adobe Creative Suite — including Dreamweaver, InDesign, Photoshop, and especially Illustrator. Some of my favorite Firefox add-ons include the WCAG contrast checker, Web Developer toolbar, HTML Validator, FANGS, and of course Firebug.
Things I Love About Web Design
It’s so darn fluid and dynamic. We can consume, create, re-purpose, and find so much information in so many ways. This fluidity requires designers to design for something that is always changing and that is rarely “finished.” In academics, no one department or discipline owns it — communications, journalism, business/marketing, fine art/design, psychology, and computer/information science all bleed into this convergent discipline that affects us all. It truly is an art and a science. To enjoy web design is to enjoy change.
About this site
This is my first site with a HTML 5 doctype. I’m using jQuery (loaded from the Google API Libraries), the Fancybox plugin, and the 3KB Cycle Lite plugin.