Projects — midwesternish

COLORADICAL, WHOLESALE WEBSITE DESIGN

Role: Operations/Design

About: Coloradical is Colorado's original lifestyle brand. Although the brand had seen great success with stockists across the state, orders were still being taken through back-and-forth emailing. This was inconvenient and time consuming for both stockists and staff, and led to a lot of miscommunication and frustration. Additionally, the payment structure for stockists was convoluted and confusing, utilizing multiple streams to collect payment, often after orders had already been shipped. The need for a wholesale website was apparent, so I got to work.

Outcome: I created a wholesale website using the customer-facing Shopify site as the backbone. I coded in the option to order multiple variants at once - something that speeds up the ordering process and reduces the need to refresh multiple pages during ordering - as well as live inventory numbers so that stockists can see our inventory while ordering. The site is password protected so that only stockists can see the wholesale pricing. This has been a huge relief for the brand, with orders large and small coming in weekly in a standardized fashion. (to date, the site is approaching $30,000 in revenue after a few months of operation) Additionally, I designed the site to include multiple shipping and payment options for the various stockist nuances, so there are options to be invoiced, pay by check, pay online, as well as pick up locally to avoid extra shipping costs.

The website allows stockists to order any time of the day or night, and streamlines communication and stocking issues that plagued operations prior to its launch. It is a one-stop repository that provides comprehensive data and clarifies the process for all parties, while syncing with the customer-facing shipping program to make labeling professional and fast. Wholesale data now lives in a single, easy-to-manage portal.

tiny diamond homes, COMMUNICATION redesign

Role: Design and Project Management

About: Tiny Diamond Homes is a tiny house construction company based in Colorado. Though they have been in business for several years, their website was not optimized for mobile browsing, was not scalable because it was built on an outdated platform, and did not effectively showcase their decades of work and experience. As mobile traffic grows exponentially, Tiny Diamond Homes was unable to reach large segments of the population. Additionally, the inbound communications were often overlooked because there was no centralized or standardized method for managing and reviewing incoming inquiries.

Outcome: I created a redesigned website and worked with their team to streamline back-end communications, as well as tighten up branding and messaging. While I would have loved to have also led a logo redesign, they were quite attached to their current one so I chose to focus on the more urgent communication and website issues. Below are some shots and details from the project.

*Note: Tiny Diamond Homes has since made changes to their website since I ended this project, so the website no longer looks like it does here (unfortunately).

The new website is sleek and optimized for both desktop and mobile devices.

In addition to the redesign, I worked with Tiny Diamond Homes on aspects of their branding. Research shows that Colorado residents are much more likely to purchase products if they are made in Colorado, yet Tiny Diamond Homes had nothing to showcase their locality. I designed this badge for the website to further develop their brand in a small, immediate way as a local product with local roots.

Beyond the need for a website redesign, there was also a crisis of back-end data management. Tiny Diamond Homes' business is largely inbound, and many of the company's emails were going unanswered because there was no system in place that could effectively manage the inquiries coming in from all over the country. I created a standardized form for the website that syncs with a Google Sheet so that all communications are uniform and capable of being filtered by different criteria. The most helpful feature of this new form is that the synced spreadsheet is now a self-generating prospective customer pipeline that can be referenced at any time for follow-up.

Since the website rollout, the previously untapped mobile user traffic has exploded and continues to rise. Nearly 40% of traffic to the new website originates from mobile sources. Note: The seeming drop for December 2015 is due to the fact that this data was taken at the beginning of the month.

imaginarium Innovation Lab, Summer Lab Academy

Role: Project Management

About: The demand for personalized learning environments in schools is growing rapidly as the education landscape continues to evolve. The inherent high stakes of standardized testing pose a roadblock for this innovative practice to be currently implemented during the regular school year. In an effort to create a no-stakes environment where new methods and approaches can be tried without fear, the Denver Public Schools innovation lab embarked to create a three week, multi-site summer personalized learning camp, and hired me to manage the bulk of the project management work. This personalized learning academy is the first of its kind in the nation.

This was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I've worked on for multiple reasons. First, I was brought on one month before the camp was to launch, and virtually every aspect of the project had to be built and managed from scratch. Second, Denver Public Schools is the fastest growing urban district in the country, and coordinating relationships from scratch across multiple departments spread out across multiple buildings to accomplish goals was crucial. Third, coming in with such a short time span as an unknown outsider meant I would need to build rapport, respect, and proof of leadership quickly. I worked hard to establish myself as a leader who was willing to manage multiple streams of accountability between departments, and to build team capacity toward a shared vision. This meant taking a large, complex, and ambiguous vision and making it concrete, measurable, and actionable for a variety of stakeholders across multiple departments.

Outcome: The program was a success, with 45 students across two schools receiving unprecedented levels of personalized instruction and exposure to new technologies - from building computers to solar robots to learning new virtual tools. The teachers and staff ensured this was a one-of-a-kind experience for the students, and the impact was palpable as student after student expressed their desire to keep learning in the new way.

Here are the areas I managed and led:

Transportation route scheduling
Student recruitment
Teacher recruitment
Student data and forms
Master scheduling
Project management for entire operation
Materials ordering
Staff orientation
Team onboarding

Renegade brewing company

Role: Graphic Design

About: Renegade Brewing Company is a microbrewery in the Denver area. With several collaborations and events in the queue, they tasked me with the creation of posters and brand collateral. I love typography and information design, so this was a really fun project to work on.

Outcome: I created promotional posters for their 4 year anniversary party and a collaboration beer they created with a local BBQ chain, as well as redesigned their year-round beer informational poster.

Noyes art designs, art TOUR brochure design

Role: Art Consultant Intern

About: St. Anthony opened a new hospital in early 2015 and Noyes Art Designs was hired to fill the new hospital with warm, inviting art. With over 600 pieces of art installed over the course of a week, the hospital also requested an art tour brochure to selected pieces. This would give waiting patients and families a peaceful way to spend time in the hospital. After sending in a few options, St. Anthony chose my design for the art tour brochure.

Outcome: 5,000 first-run copies of the brochure were printed and distributed at multiple points across the hospital for patrons to enjoy a self-guided art tour.