A lot of what happens at Nook is behind the scenes, marketing for clients, data analysis, website and web system support, so it is really satisfying to complete a new website for a client, especially if the website looks pretty.
Essentially with the website the objective is to make a responsive website so that it performs equally well on a desktop or tablet or mobile phone.
The objective of the website is to provide information to prospective travelers who may be considering a ski holiday. Take a look www.amazingski.co.za.
This is a simple website for Jo O’Connor, a friend who is an artist, a space where she can upload her portfolio of past work, show people what she is currently working, and possibly do some blogging.
WordPress was the most logical selection for this, and the clean lines required made the requirements even simpler. Despite the apparent simplicity, it took us about a year to get all the bits and pieces together for this site.
These self catering apartments in Gardens Centre, Cape Town offer real value in a great with incredible views. I am not trying to sell this to you, but this is what we needed to get across on the website.
An important lesson here is to not oversell, to promise what you are offering while presenting crisp, clear information and visuals.
The revision of the Montagu Springs website was an opportunity to better communicate what accommodation is on offer as well as the facilities available. A fun aspect of the place is that they keep a wide range of waterfowl which are really interesting for kids at the resort.
The brief was to make use of Missibaba’s existing look and feel to create an informative website with news/blog publishing as well as an online shop www.missibaba.com.
Rotating images can be managed in the CMSThe technology chosen for the online shop is Prestashop
Dolphin Beach Hotel has incredible views of Table Mountain and direct access to the beach, the brief was to replace the outdated website, provide a CMS for rates and content updates.
Freeworld Design Centre recently opened their doors and needed a platform for their design centre consultants to publish regular content in the format of a blog. The solution is a simple WordPress blog allowing the team to publish their content as themselves, thereby enhancing their profile as well as that of the team at the centre.
Clementina is a Cape Town based ceramist who produces beautiful ceramics generally with strong, sometimes zany, colours. She designed the Africa Cafe range of crockery which I am sure everyone in SA has seen at some point.
The Brief
The site serves as a home to Clementina’s work and the Clementina shop which carries other ceramists work as well as some other products. There is the possibility that an e-commerce component will be added to the site in the future.
Design a clean uncluttered website that will allow the work to stand out.
Provide a CMS for easy editing of pages and for the addition of news.
TakeAway Theatre is a Cape Town based theatre company well known for industrial theatre, corporate and social intervention theatre. Their existing website had the fun element and featured well for the phrase “industrial theatre” but for other relevant topics they did not feature.
Before
Visitors to the website were greeted with a doorway page:
Takeaway Theatre Old Doorway Page
The doorway page, had one navigation option through to a welcome page from which you could then navigate the website.
Takeaway Theatre Old Welcome PageTakeaway Theatre Old Section Page
The Brief
Keep the fun! Make use of existing design.
Content management system to enable regular updating/adding of content.
Include a blog
Make navigation clearer and consistent.
Optimise for search engines
Have we already mentioned the fun element?
The Result
The existing design and layout was reused as the client really wanted this to remain as is. The result is a fun website but now the content is also engauging and fresh, www.takeawaytheatre.com.
Content management system was provided allowing the client to update website content, create new pages, manage menus, etc. The website makes use of the WordPress CMS system.
Website sections and navigation were reworked to make getting around the website more logical.
Breadcrumbs on pages
Sub-navigation within sections
Full section navigation from home page
The home page was built so that anyone arriving on that page would be able to navigate directly to any page within the website. Also the website sections make use of fun terminology; Favorites=Theatre Types, Ingredients=Themes and Specials=Theatre Packages, the challenge was to clarify these website elements’ meaning without detracting from the menu style of the site.
It is always satisfying to get a new website out the door, but when it is really quick it can be immediately gratifying. Threadcount is a collective of Cape Town based independent contemporary textile designers and producers, and their need was for a simple online home. One of the members had asked me advice on how to best achieve this using WordPress.com for a free platform.
After discussing the simple requirements, it was decided to complete the project for free. Two late nights and some tweaking after that resulted in the live site at Threadcount.co.za.
Essentially with the website the objective is to make a responsive website so that it performs equally well on a desktop or tablet or mobile phone.
