July’s Smoothie of the month winner is Jimi, better know as Justify on the Squeeze Forums. His site Home and Glory is just a pleasure to see. The cardboard used in the header, the Polaroids for the menu and the lined paper sheet for the content is a great mix of every-day objects used in harmony to provide a beautiful home and garden boutique shop online.
Let’s get on with the interview and see how all this came about shall we?
What specifications or direction did the client give you for this project?
The client approached me looking for an e-commerce site that she could sell her products on, which are sourced from around Europe, to the UK audience. I was briefed on style to be ‘Vintage and Original’. Always a problem when your using a e-commerce pack.
Where did you find your inspiration for this design?
The inspiration came from seeing a lot of the items that were being sold by the client. A lot of items are based on old practical things. Such as old print blocks to spell out ‘LOVE’. I remember an art project where I used packaging material and watercolours to create a horizon scene with a twist. I think this was one of the biggest influences. I implemented the same kind of thing onto the first design, never working with black but creating a background which would be overlooked by a user but adding contrast to the main design. The lined paper was an idea that I loved on www.webdesignerwall.com. I thought I would take it a bit further, and instead of vector art, I would use an actual scan.
How long did you work on this project from start to finish?
A long time!
Getting used to magento was the problem. As I used the first version, some things didn’t work. You would disable a module, but actually have to go through code pulling out the pieces that you didn’t want showing.
Design wise, I got the site done in a small amount of time. Usual problem with cutting the site in photoshop to get the navigation to line up, but got there in the end.
What types of languages, technologies were involved in the development of this site?
Magento is highly object orientated PHP with SOAP extension. It’s a great piece of kit, but speed wise it takes it’s toll. They are constantly releasing patches to fix some issues. This site was started on a stable release of magento but is kept up to date via there patching system (When it works….). I would recommend Magento over any competitor! But be prepared for hate mail from your server guys.
Did you find any aspects of this project to be challenging?
Magento
What part of this project is your favorite?
Designing it. For somebody who wishes to go into development, I really hated trudging through the code of the shop.
How did this client find you?
I currently work full time at a print shop. I designed her logo and stationery etc and she mentioned about wanting a site.
On a personal note, how long have your been designing and developing websites?
Over the last couple of years I have picked up Web Design again. Photoshop played a huge part of my youth. Was a perfect chat up line on msn to the popular girls at school.
Great content. I’ll keep coming back for similar posts which I cannot wait to read….