Matt Brundage

Two new redesigns for your enjoyment

ECTutoringEducational Connections

Small Image In June, Annie got a referral from a book publisher in need of graphic design and layout for an upcoming title. As it turned out, the client also needed intensive web development, which presented a golden opportunity for Annie and me to work together for the first time. The book, Homework Made Simple (left), features her cover art, layout, and illustrations.

For the website, Annie provided page mockups, designed the logo, and gave much-needed creative input. I made a decision early on in the redesign process to ditch the site’s integration with WordPress — a decision I didn’t make rashly. WordPress definitely has its uses, but for Educational Connections, the drawbacks of WordPress outweighed the benefits.

The site is unique among my projects in that it boasts prominent stock photography of photogenic children and teens. I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but I believe I have a new-found appreciation for happy, bubbly stock photos.

Practical PocketsPractical Pockets

Practical Pockets caters to, admittedly, a very niche market. Post-surgical recovery accessories for women? Hey — the site can’t redesign itself. A caveat: page content is served by a CMS which the client edits from time to time, so any peculiar page-specific layout decisions were probably not made by me.

I think my greatest accomplishment for Practical Pockets is that, even though I developed in Firefox and Chrome, used beaucoup progressive enhancement, and tended to push “aggressive” CSS rules, my Internet Explorer fixes file consists of a single float declaration.

For both of these projects, I “flipped the switch” and opted for the HTML5 doctype. Many developers are of the impression that HTML5 is “the future.” The future is now! Coding from the beginning in HTML5 now means not having to go back and correct markup later, as Jens Meiert can attest.

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