October, 2005
Web Projects: Courts Richard Carter
OK, career-wise working at a dot-com hoping to profit from producing and delivering online entertainment content was, in hindsight, a less than stellar move (this was 1999 afterall, it stretches the memory muscles, but recall that way back then "online entertainment" meant doodie.com, the onion, and "all your base", a low bar but low for a reason -- most people only had high-speed at work... you can see the problem with the entertainment business model, eh?).
Be that as it may, those heady startup-dot-bomb days afforded a unique collaborative environment where one wasn't pigeonholed by a rigid job description filed in mega-conglomerate's HR department. Instead, anyone with knowledge on a topic was able to make significant contributions. As such, I was able to work on nearly every aspect of numerous web sites. In exchange for untold all-nighters I was rewarded by seeing my work in action. Sure, it's all gone now, but I've continued this spirit of providing soup-to-nuts site development, as demonstrated by the projects highlighted below.
The list at the bottom of each project outlines the technologies and tools I used. color-codes key
Charles Phoenix
Complete redevelopment of existing static site. Choose WordPress for client-enabled article editing and visitor comments features. Wrote phpList plug-in (mailing list management) for multi-column weekly newsletter. Designed newsletter templates.
Kalipayan.org
A friends-and-alumni site for a Filipino dance company. Includes photo galleries and user forums.
Basic Flowers
Downtown LA flower shop. Have done several print pieces in addition to the web development, from business cards to flyers. Also emails.
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Johnies Wilshire
Promotional micro-site for fundraiser event held by the Modern Committee of the LA Conservancy.
Southern California Association of Governments
SCAG is an advocacy and research group born from the alliance between 187 cities in the 6 southern California counties. SCAG prepares economic and growth-impact studies. I revamped SCAG's web site and intranet, upgrading and enhancing various functions such as the calendar, Verity search engine, photo galleries, and even event registrations. Oversaw the replacement of their quarterly printed newsletter with a monthly email/web site system targeted toward city officials (update: this piece has been submitted for a government technology excellence award). Lastly, did small print pieces.
SCAG Ticketing System
Replaced legacy work request tracking system with a user-configurable, web-based one. The technically interesting bit is its ability to add "ticket types" that ask users for additional information which the system then uses to generate Javascript validation and reports. An admin may, in a matter of minutes, setup a new work group, define tasks the work group would like to track, define key bits of information unique to each task type, and promote these edits. This is where this system far exceeds the core features of other similar system such as bugzilla.
Footnote: SCAG management OK'ed freely giving this code away under a Creative Commons license.
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True Vinyl (film site)
Promotional site primarily geared toward selling DVD's of the film of the same name (True Vinyl was a limited release independent film about DJ-culture and rivalry) Site offers video clips, photo galleries, and cast & crew bios.
Here are the original design comps the client reviewed (navigate between designs using the controls at the bottom of the page)
Hard Candy, David Heming, & Urban Decay
Built the original commerce engine for these sites (UD and HC recently moved the stores in-house). This was an enormous project (the 1.0 version was built by only two developers over a six week period). Full-featured site included a robust administration site, coupons, discounts, wish lists, secure cart with real-time credit card authorization, and numerous email notifications. Strong use of ColdFusion MX components and an emphasis on SQL Server stored procedures and triggers for data integrity.
Crazy 8 Productions
Animated five minute educational film (character/set design and animation). Title sequence for Bureau of Land Management educational film. Prepared print materials for show pitch meetings.
Details on video project page (see: Lost Coast Adventure, Ecolutions: Aldo Leopold, ElderCool)
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4orty2wo.com
The name may not be familiar but their marketing campaigns are the stuff of much admiration -- both from the marketing community, but most importantly from the thousands of people who participate in these scripted, viral-marketing experiences. Most recently they ran the award winning "I Love Bees" campaign.
Because of the necessary mystery surrounding their ongoing campaigns we employed unique javascript encryption in addition to robots.txt to prevent search engines from indexing some site information.
Tarantula Bros Tool and Die
Jack-of-many-trades for a short film that is currently being prepared for the move to full-length feature: I was assistant director, worked on digital mattes, and art/props.
See video projects of details about 1212.
DCM Solutions
Prepared an online price comparison worksheet for marketing group.
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Dare for Dollars (show site)
Dare for Dollars was a z.com property that predates the now ubiquitous "humiliate me for some cash and a few minutes on t.v." show concept (MTV's Jackass being a well done example). I worked on the original site (surviving details and examples are archived here) and a subsequent "returning soon" site. The original site featured forums where visitors voted and bid on stunts. The site added one new episode every two or three weeks.
thePOSADA.org
AIDS Service Center serves the Pasadena area and depends upon its volunteers and a few key events for their services and funding. The POSADA is a candlelight walk held in Pasadena's Old Town. Site allows online signup, contribution via PayPal, and general event information.
digitalgravel.com
Digital Gravel, an established hip-hop clothing e-tailer, needed a customized sales system quick (their existing provider was shuttering). I worked with Digital Haiku to design and build the back-end and the front-end (secure cart, wish list, searching, brand subsections, gift certificates).
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Online Opinion Zine
Converting existing (static HTML) online zine to a customized open-source publishing system. Currently evaluating client's needs and what tools are available (Mambo, PostNuke, Typo3, Props, etc). Given the project budget (what budge?) will definitely run LAMP. Using Perl to extract content from the existing 7,000 pages, which are, unfortunately, not consistent in their formatting.
maximo fitness
A clean little site promoting my friend's personal training business. They've since moved on to other business opportunities.
z.com
Long gone is z and with it went some nifty bits of my work (*sigh*), but here is an overview of the e-cards (postcards, whatever, we never settled on the name).
Details on Z's eCards.
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3sixtyclothing.com
3sixty was a really fun site to do first because the client had a very clear idea of the image they wished to project and second because I always need a new t-shirt. A tight ten day deadline (a major trade show loomed over our heads) meant we had to quickly make decisions and keep the scope modest but informative. The site is used for business-to-business marketing. Layout design, photography, and code.
typql.com
I'm hesitant to post this BUT as a cautionary tale i offer it to you now: one must feel a true part of the internet lifecycle when a clothing store becomes a porn site -- and then even that disappears. Originally did the site promoting their Venice, California hip-hop clothing store. Therein ends my participation.
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Key:
Server Technology :
ColdFusion, Javascript, HTML, PHP, Perl, ASP
Database :
SQL Server, Oracle, Access, mySQL (ERwin always used)
Design tools :
Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, InDesign, Streamline, Dimensions
Motion Graphics :
AfterEffects, PremierePro, Flash, cameras (Canon XL1, Nikon 990, Canon D20)
Server Applications :
Open-source (usually) components used as backend (i.e. WordPress, phpList, SMF, Coppermine, iSearch)