31Three

Design Ideas for myfamily.com

Just a quick “behind the scenes” post today, as I’m busy working on another project that I should launch in a couple of weeks.

I recently had the opportunity to work with myfamily.com (a sister company to Ancestry.com) on a redesign for their control panel. While I was working on that project, they also had me do up a few home page designs to give their internal design team some different ideas.

Using their existing site as a base for content, I created a few mockups for them that appear to being the starting point for their newly launched redesign.

Permalink // 31 Comments // April 1st, 2008

eWedding Redesign

There’s been a bunch of projects that I’ve done over the last year that I’d love to post here, but haven’t been able to because they’re still under a NDA. One of those projects just launched yesterday (congrats Matthew!).

If you’re planning on getting married anytime soon, head on over to eWedding.com and sign yourself up. The launch is still in the early “honeymoon” stage, so there might still be some bits and pieces that need tweaking.

Permalink // 28 Comments // March 28th, 2008

The 411 on 313

A few weeks ago our family went to church and Heather decided to leave Lucy in the nursery for the first time. Each child is assigned a number when they check in, so that if the nursery worker needs to notify a parent that their child needs attention, they can display that number on a small screen at the front of the church. Lucy’s randomly computer generated number was… (drum-roll please…. ) 313. Cool eh?

Wait… it gets better…

Permalink // 48 Comments // January 15th, 2008

Moved Out

Man I’ve been neglecting this blog lately. You’d think finally getting an off-site office after working out of the house for 5 years would be at least worthy of a mention. I actually moved out of the house around 3 months ago and am just getting around to posting about it now. Lame.

My house (and former office) is located in a funky little part of Grimsby that has some really cool history to it. The community was originally a Methodist campground during the mid 1800’s, and most of the houses were built as summer cottages. Summer cottages != spacious, so when Lucy showed up on the scene, I knew my days of working at home were numbered.

Along with space issues, Sadie (my 3 year old) was starting to wonder why I had to work during the day, and couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t just want to play instead. It wasn’t that she was distracting me from work, I was just getting concerned that she would start thinking that I valued work more than her. So when a good friend of mine offered me some office space and bookkeeping services in exchange for a bit of design work each month, the decision was a no-brainer.

I don’t have any pictures to post of the new office, because it’s basically just a cubicle right now. Nothing that you would find inspiring. Come spring time though, there are plans to move the office into a newly renovated building, where I’ll get a lot more space to work with. If I’m on the ball by then, I’ll have to post some photos of the decorating / furnishing process.

Any suggestions on quality office furniture? I think I’m going to forgo making my own this time around.

Permalink // 14 Comments // January 12th, 2008

Cloned

I just noticed that this design studio…
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Developed this website…
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And while I was taking screenshots of those, I got an email about this one…
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I swear there’s a cloned and slightly demented version of me out there making half-baked 31Three esqe websites. I think this cloned-me needs a name. Any ideas?

Update
My clone has apologized and has learned a hard lesson. Part of me wants to leave the post up as a warning to others, but a bigger part of me knows that I’ve crossed the line in the past myself, and I ought to extend some grace here. I’ve deleted a few comments that linked back to his site… my apologies to the authors of those comments.

Permalink // 14 Comments // January 11th, 2008

Mobile Web Book Design

When Cameron first asked me to do the design for his upcoming book Mobile Web Design, I’ll admit that I was a tad intimidated. Even though we’ve worked together in the past, this was the first project where he would be the end client. And I tell ya, there’s something about designing for another designer that adds a layer of pressure to the mix. Especially when that designer is as capable as Cameron. Mixed in with the intimidation and pressure though, was a feeling of honour. I knew how much time and energy he had put into this book, and was humbled that he would ask me to be a part of it. Continue Reading →

Permalink // 38 Comments // September 13th, 2007

Lucy Mae Bennett-Chamberlain

Even though I was given 9 months notice, watched her heart beat on the ultrasound monitor, and was reminded every time I looked at Heather’s ever growing belly, I was completely unprepared to finally meet Lucy Mae Bennett-Chamberlain yesterday.

I have to tip my hat to the Creator on this one, 6 pounds and 11 ounces of baby never looked so good.

Permalink // 80 Comments // July 10th, 2007

31Three.com Redesigned

This site has been looooong overdue for a redesign. I gave it a small refresh back in October of 2005, but the basic design has remained unchanged for the last three years. Three. Years. My business has changed a lot in that time, and my previous site just wasn’t keeping up.

The largest change I’ve made with my business has been shifting my focus from web development to web design. As a result, the vast majority of my clients are now developers. In order to reflect those changes on my site, I’ve dropped all mention of logo, print, and full website work, and have instead given much more room to showcase my web designs. I’ve also tweaked the copy quite a bit to better target the market that I would like to work with. Continue Reading →

Permalink // 122 Comments // May 23rd, 2007

Embrace Pet Insurance Process

A few weeks ago I gave a behind the scenes look at a project called Embrace Pet Community. What I didn’t mention then was that this particular project actually involved two different websites, and also marked the first (and hopefully not last) time that I was able to collaborate on a project with Cameron Moll.

The wireframe portion of this site went fairly quickly. Embrace wanted a simple three step process (Learn, Compare, Get a Quote) to be used, as well as a few other standard items. The first wireframe was a bit visually awkward, but the other two had enough good things going for them that we felt comfortable moving into the design phase. Continue Reading →

Permalink // 25 Comments // April 9th, 2007

Happy Daddy

I received an email last week that really caught my attention and put a good smile on my face...

I know you're busy, but I thought I could ask again, with a perk this time... See below to see your sign on bonus, a brand new unopened Nintendo Wii, this will vanquish "Grumpy Daddy" forever! I heard you liked bowling on the Wii and know this is perfect for taking breaks.

If you can do just 2 pages and new identity, I can have this to you in 2 days. Don't you owe it to your family to be "Happy and Fun Daddy"?

Continue Reading →

Permalink // 22 Comments // April 6th, 2007