I live in Texas where we rarely ever see snow. To be honest we get super excited just to see snow furies. Most of the time those snow furies even stick. In fact the last time I got to play in a full Texas snow I was about 7.

This year we saw back to back ... Read more]]>

I live in Texas where we rarely ever see snow. To be honest we get super excited just to see snow furies. Most of the time those snow furies even stick. In fact the last time I got to play in a full Texas snow I was about 7.

This year we saw back to back snow days, and we got around 12 inches of snow. The best part was it stuck! Despite the driving conditions it was super fun to have the snow. I can honestly say I never thought I would need a snow shovel but I really needed one the last couple of days. Here’s a quick video I make of our snow adventures.

See the all the snow on my Flickr page.

I mentioned on a recent post at jcprovideo.com that I am doing a full redesign of both jcprovideo.com and jcphotographydallas.com. Currently each site is separate and basically have no interaction with each other. I want to remedy that problem. Each site will now complement the other. The blog will become one single blog. This just ... Read more]]>

I mentioned on a recent post at jcprovideo.com that I am doing a full redesign of both jcprovideo.com and jcphotographydallas.com. Currently each site is separate and basically have no interaction with each other. I want to remedy that problem. Each site will now complement the other. The blog will become one single blog. This just makes sense because I am really not running two separate businesses, but rather running one company with several services.

Design Inspiration

First off I wanted each site to have the same basic design and layout, but I also wanted each to have their own style as well. I chose to just vary the color scheme depending on which site you’re on. I also added a awesome tab feature that allows you to easily jump from one site to the next. I cannot take credit for this idea fully as I was really inspired by the work Matt Brett just did for the DPS website. He made it easy to have the blog function as if it were 3 completely different websites. I loved it, and wanted to incorporate something similar on my sites.

Designs and Colors

I mentioned the colors earlier. I think the colors are what play a huge roll in making these sites feel different, while still remaining connected. I used some browns in the current jcphotographydallas.com site and I really liked the way it turned out. However this site never really got finished so it never reached its full potential. I knew I wanted the browns to play a huge roll in the next design, so at least I had my base color. I chose blue and orange as my two colors for the site. They are all complementary and play really nice together. In fact the photography site uses both the colors very well.

I knew I wanted the sites to be more bold this time, but also didn’t need to go overboard. I mean I am running a business here. So unfortunately I knew I couldn’t grunge it out like I have been doing lately. However I did think the use of textures would take it away from being too simple, and add a bit more personality. I started playing with different textures and I realized I wanted to bring back the original ribbon design that I started with jcphotographydallas.com. The only difference was that this time I wanted it to actually resemble like a ribbon.

The Design is in the Details

I have been figuring this out the more I go along, you’ll be surprised at how it’s the little things that really bring an overall concept home. Basically the design is in the details. As I started to add the textures and some decorative elements, I noticed that the site started to have a slight vintage feel. I was totally digging where this was heading, so I decided to add some vintage camera vectors to each site. I have also got a couple of elements on my package page that is right from a 1950’s advertisement. I added some nifty shadowing to the photos, as well as some florals here and there. All of these small details really helped finish the design.

In closing I really like the way these designs are turning out. I plan to finalize these design soon and start coding. Be sure to keep an eye out at jcprovideo.com and jcphotographydallas.com as I would like to roll these designs out very soon. I really welcome comments and suggestions as these designs are still being worked out, so do let me know what you think!