http://www.lisanicolegrace.com
About the project.
Lisa Nicole Grace is an independent singer/songwriter from Edmonton. Her music could be classified as folk, with elements of pop and country. Lisa initially approached me about her website in August of 2011, as she was gearing up to release her first full-length album, Prairie Belle. She already had a website, but was looking to revamp the design in line with her vision for the look and feel of her new album. She also wanted a fuller-featured embedded music player where visitors could listen to a few songs from the album before deciding to buy, as well as links directly to her iTunes and cdBaby stores. Additionally, Lisa had an externally linked blog hosted at BlogSpot, but she wanted to integrate her blog directly into her website in the new iteration. She had a tight deadline and a limited budget, and needed me to produce something quickly that was beautiful, yet simple.
Project scope.
When I first spoke with Lisa about her project and took a look at her existing website, considering the alterations and upgrades she wanted to make, I immediately recommended switching to a WordPress installation. This would allow Lisa to retain her existing website content, integrate her blog into her website, and easily maintain things like her show schedule and her blog herself. I knew I could use the vast library of open source WordPress plugins to put aspects of her existing content into a format where she could autonomously keep her own website updated regularly. Lisa was amenable to this course of action, and so I set to work on creating a brand new design concept for the site.
To start with, Lisa provided me with a series of photographs taken by Lillian Katz of Visible Echo for use in her album’s packaging and to rebrand her website. The photos had a very natural feel, with many shots of Lisa in outdoor settings, featuring colours and textures that were earthy and organic. This suited the Prairie Belle concept very well, as the content of Lisa’s songs are intimately tied to growing up in the prairies and her life here in Alberta. Warm browns, creams and natural pinks were staples of Lillian’s photo series, and both Lisa and I wanted to use these colours to define the look and feel of the album and the website.
Lisa gave me notes on ideas she had for how we could use specific photographs in the website’s design, as well as sending me links to a couple of other musicians’ websites that she liked for inspiration. I had a good idea of what she had in mind, and used her ideas as a base when I set to work designing. I selected a beautiful photo of Lisa against the backdrop of leafless autumn trees for the site’s fixed background image. It framed the content of the website nicely, and provided beautiful texture to the design. I also selected a scriptive font for the title accents, which was in line with the organic, feminine feel that Lisa wanted.
Content development was easy, as for the most part, all I had to do was copy Lisa’s existing website content over to the new WordPress installation. I imported all of her blog posts from BlogSpot and her existing information pages into the new design. Where it got a little more tricky was installing a plugin to manage her calendar of shows and gigs. I wanted Lisa to be able to update this on the fly without coding, and to use the information in varying places in the website’s theme. So I installed an event calendar management plugin that would allow Lisa to enter new events through the admin interface and automatically update Lisa’s schedule on the website, making it easy for her to manage. Other website features included a photo gallery plugin for Lisa to manage her own photos, as well as social media plugins to integrate Lisa’s social media presence directly on her own site.
Lisa’s site was also my first foray into WordPress themes designed expressly for mobile devices. If you visit her site on a mobile device, you’ll see a simplified version of the site using the same colours and content as the desktop site.
After Lisa saw her new website, she was very happy with the results, and asked me to also design the packaging for her CD. She wanted the CD packaging to reflect the same aesthetic as the website. Using templates provided by her print house, as well as Lisa’s notes, I created 4 panels including front and back covers, and inside panels for the CD case using Adobe Illustrator.
Client testimonial.
“After two years of pouring my heart and soul into recording my first full length record, I needed to find someone who I could trust to create a design for my website and cd packaging. I needed to find someone who would take this precious project of mine and interpret how I wanted to present myself. Kasia Gawlak took my scattered notes, the ideas and hopes I tried to express to her and to put it quite simply, read my mind. I could not be more blissfully happy with her work. She is extremely enthusiastic, passionate and attentive to every detail. I recommend Code Word Media Design to anyone and everyone I know looking for a dedicated, incredibly creative and professional designer. Thank you Kasia!” — Lisa Nicole Grace
Project extras.
CD packaging – front cover
CD packaging – back cover
