Portfolio - Web Design and Development
Buncombe County Medical Society
The Need: BCMS works to improve health in their community through access, advocacy, education and innovation and is also an association of 800+ professional North Carolina area physicians. They need a multi-tiered user system with various levels of access to information and tools.
The Solution: Some of the tools PET had developed for BCMS include online registration, donation, physician searches, file uploads. We have developed an online bulletin board for physician musicians to connect with each other, and also a searchable archive of the "Ask The Doctor" weekly column.
Coalición de Organizaciones Latinoamericanas
The Need: The Coalición de Organizaciones Latino-Americanas (COLA) is a regional network connecting and strengthening organizations that empower Latino communities in Western North Carolina. COLA needed to provide public and private information for its user base, including meeting information, special events, and legal information.
The Solution: PET is proud to be multilingual, and to provide services in both Spanish and French. PET created a design that evokes a Latin American aesthetic, a bilingual site architecture, and a Google Calendar API interface for the event calendar.
American Project Access Network
The Need: The American Project Access Network aims to facilitate the development of local Project Access Programs around the nation (networks of physicians and administrators that work to provide health care services to those without insurance). They needed a site that could serve as a central point for these networks to search up-to-date databases, and to coordinate various efforts, access educational materials, and forms.
The Solution: A site with SSL (secure internet connection). A login system that can accommodate multiple types of users insuring confidentiality with a complex system of access privileges. A file-sharing system for coordinating projects over large distances.
Project Access
The Need: Project Access is a network of physicians and administrators that work to provide health care services to those without insurance or high income by encouraging physicians to donate their services. They needed a site that could serve as a central point for medical practices to search up-to-date databases, and to coordinate various efforts electronically while keeping the security standards of HIPAA.
The Solution: A site with SSL (secure internet connection). A login system that can accommodate multiple types of users insuring confidentiality with a complex system of access privileges. A through-the-web interface where medical practices can search for available physicians and currently enrolled patients online, instead of the previous telephone method. An online secure email system. A flash header integrating extensible photo slideshow of Project Access physicians and patients.
Buncombe County Dental Society
The Need: The Buncombe County Dental Society had not yet made the leap to the internet. Start to finish consulting was needed to come up with an optimal internet strategy.
The Solution: Met with the board of directors to discuss internet objectives, scope, budget, hosting, and strategy. A ground-up plan was made to start a simple web presence with room for growth when necessary. Provisions were made for a public section as well as a private members-only section. We solved the issue of frequently changing page of events and meetings with a flat text data file and php scripts that highlight upcoming events and archive past events.
Western North Carolina Interpreter Network
The Need: Primarily Latinos, but also Ukranian and other immigrants are forming sizable communities in North Carolina. Quality medical care is difficult without accurate communication between Health Care providers and patients. The WNC Interpreter Network was formed to coordinate the interaction between qualified medical language interpreters, doctors, medical practices, and Limited English medical patients.
The Solution: A fully interactive web-based application that lets staff administrate users and interpretation appointments via interactive forms, calendars and other tools. Medical Practices login to maintain lists of patient information, and request interpreters for specific dates. Interpreters login to get assignments, practice information, patient information, and report on length of appointments, car mileage etc. Staff use the site to track invoicing and generate financial reports. All this is done through a secure SSL connection and complying with HIPAA regulations.
North Carolina Association for Healthcare Access
The Need: NCAHA is the product of the need for a state-wide association to collaborate and advocate for those without healthcare. This project will be ongoing as the objectives of NCAHA are met one by one.
The Solution: A site where users can register for conferences and workshops, pay securely through PayPal, and where the administrators have a back-end interface for managing registrations. Tools that are currently in development will allow administrators to collaborate on projects virtually due to its de-centralized nature.
Roeder Orthodontics
The Need: An orthodontic site mixing admin information, education, entertainment and accessibility.
The Solution: An extensible modular site with room for growth. A flash animated header with office photographs. Plans for possible identity package re-design, photography, flash introduction, and promotional video.
North American Gem Carvers
The Need: This high-end gem art dealer wanted to increase their visibility and reduce the overhead spent on paper-based press release material.
The Solution: Pixel Earth set up a photo studio in their office, and shot all of their inventory. Then we made a database of their inventory, and designed a flexible and dynamic web site that would integrate all of this information seamlessly.
McPhee Glass
The Need: This artist wanted to sell his products to jewelers, retailers, and wholesalers. He wanted to visually demonstrate how they could sell his pieces as finished products and/or set them in their own creative ways.
The Solution: Pixel Earth received sample products by mail, and made digital photographs. We then designed a website that would allow retailers and wholesalers to choose from the many designs available, and make purchases online through Paypal.
Buncombe County Medical Society Foundation
The Need: The Foundation site needed to be brought up to date and re-designed.
The Solution: Essentially a re-design project, Pixel Earth worked with the Foundation to enhance the look and feel of the website. Also the static HTML site was put into a modular, extensible format to facilitate future growth, future projects, and make maintenance more efficient.
Note: Since this writing, this site has morphed into this one.
Robert Thomas Music
The Need: A basic web presence for generating performance booking, CD sales, and maintaining a performance schedule.
The Solution: Converted CD tracks to MP3 format and made select cuts available on the site. Photo Gallery. Performance schedule. Media reviews.
Heart Strings
The Need: The home site of an annual Spinning fund-raising event for Project Access.
The Solution: A lively design, permanent display of 4-tiered sponsors and a simple navigation system. The need of frequent updates necessary for the many team members was solved by having an administrator maintain a flat text data base file that php (server side scripting) read and displayed accordingly.
A. Fain Books
The Need: A basic web presence for custom hand-made bookmaker.
The Solution: Design concept, product photography, magazine advertisement.
Mary Katherine Cloud
The Need: To design Katherine a site that succinctly and readily communicates to viewers her professionalism and the quality of her work without being showy. And this on a tightish budget. Katherine wanted a streamlined professional online portfolio to refer potential employers to after getting her PhD. This was the second project I'd ever done without ever meeting the client face to face (the first was a logo and letterhead (print design) for a radio station in Louisiana). Both cases were unsolicited (and unexpected) word-of-mouth referrals from people familiar with my work.
The Solution: We used a university motif, calm but strong colors, and a very clean layout. Communicating solely by email, we were able to put up a finished website in a couple of weeks.
WiplWood Furniture
The Need: Artist and creator Bill Whipple needed an online presence and photo gallery of his work. Being a very hands-on person, he wanted a site he could maintain by himself.
The Solution: As the client is an artist in this case, we worked very closely together on the visual design and layout to match his aesthetic and tastes. PET made a photo gallery that is easily added to. The data associated with the gallery is also easily modified and stored in simple text files. We also provide training in basic web-development principles.
Enlight Photo Design
The Need: This shutterbug was ready to turn her hobby into a business. She needed an online portfolio that reflects her aesthetic and showcased her portfolio that was easily maintained as the portfolio developed.
The Solution: A simple site visually tailored to the photographers personality and a flash-based extensible photo gallery.
Note: This site is currently undergoing a change of host and domain. In the meantime, a skeleton of the site can be seen here.
International Link
The Need: This non-profit provides services to the foreign-born population in their area, and promotes inter-cultural awareness, events and education. They wanted to get the message out about their services, including: language classes, crisis management, interpreting, translation, interpreting classes, film nights, and an in-house art gallery/store. They also needed a means of accepting donations online.
The Solution: A tri-lingual site with a programmatic menu system for frequently changing events, and classes.
Hoorah Cloggers, dance troupe
The Need: As this dance group grew in popularity, so did their need to provide high quality booking information. Also, since the dancers are all busy individuals, they needed a means of organizing their practice times and performances, and to exchange ideas and changing information.
The Solution: Pixel Earth started by writing and collecting the text for the web site and scanning recent and old performance footage. Booking agents could then peruse photos, videos, reviews, pricing and availability and decide if the group was right for their event. Message and bulletin boards were installed on the site, providing an online "common room" for information exchange among the dancers.
Shelter Alternatives, home designers and builders
The Need: This building company's website was getting a little dusty and the time had come to expand it. They wanted to show photos of their work, their new employees and feature some of the many wonderful compliments that their clients had written about them.
The Solution: Pixel Earth started by turning their static site structure into a dynamic one through server-side scripting, which then made modifications to their site a breeze. Then we set up a database of their clients' quotes and made a random quote appear on every page. We added an employee biography page and an easily navigable visual portfolio of their work.
Computational Cell Biology Lab, VA Tech
The Need: This molecular biology researcher was spending far too much time maintaining a static website of thousands of pages, with too little time, and know-how. She needed a better system of organizing and relating the vast amounts of information she had amassed through her research.
The Solution: After several hours of consultation, Pixel Earth went to work transforming this titanic static site into a more nimble, dynamic one. We engineered an intricate navigation system in which the user would never get lost. We deployed a database for the results of hundreds of experiments and another for twice that many references. We made dynamic links between parts of visual reaction models and the text that explained them.
New River Valley Old Time
The Need: Build a geographically decentralized online community where people gather (virtually) to learn about, discuss, and enjoy traditional American Old Time music playing and dancing.
The Solution: This is the kind of site we here at Pixel Earth want more of: soul food. This site provides historical information, community contact information, discussion boards, online lessons, photo gallery, and music jam and dance schedules.
Pathway Wireless
The Need: This entrepreneurial computer scientist wanted to provide an affordable alternative to cable-based internet service in his area, with the possibility of expanding this business model to other areas. His vision was to offer wireless service in non-alienating, non-exploitive way.
The Solution: The crux of this project came down to graphic design, and demographic analysis. Pixel Earth studied his target market and geographical environment, and fashioned a site that would appeal to his target market's sense of adventure, identity, and the depth of their pocket book.
Note: This business has unfortunately closed its doors. The owner is now studying to be a minister. We wish him the best.
Projects in Mid-course & Case Studies
Not to step on anyone's toes, but these cases offer interesting insights...
Exp******* in Inter***** Liv** - Ecuador (in course?)
The Situation: This private language school and intercultural center had let their previous site stagnate. Pixel Earth reconstructed their site and trained an individual to maintain it. Since then the site has stagnated again despite ample visual evidence of unsuccessful attempts to modify the site's overall structure.
The Lesson: It's not enough simply to have a web site made. Individuals and organizations need to budget for the continued maintenance of their site. It's smarter to have quality maintenance of a site, than to hire someone to repair ineffective maintenance.
L*** W***, Gem Carver (in course)
The Situation: This gem artist was so interested in having a site that he wrote us a check directly after talking with us about doing him a site. Since that time, 6 months have passed and we have received one image for his site and nothing else, despite half a dozen emails expressing the intent to prepare the necessary content.
The Lesson: It's great to be zealous about getting your first web site, but be forewarned: It's not just the web designer that must work to achieve your desired results. Your organization must also work along with him or her, writing, organizing, preparing photos, text, and all other content for the site. It is no small time and energy investment.
Ch*** Im*** Art Gallery (in course)
The Situation: Similar to the situation above: this art gallery received a generous gift. An associate of theirs decided they needed a website, and gifted one to them. That's right! Their associate has paid us for the website, but the art gallery can't find the time to produce the content.
The Lesson: Same as above.
