Project Overview
DeLynda Realty was looking for a refresh of their online presence. I designed a concept for a new website and developed it using Ghost, a Node.js based CMS.
A good website is crucial to securing leads online, as well as presenting yourself as a trusted and credible brand. Previous versions of the website were completely static, and make it hard to manage content, change designs, or even change some styles. This redesign process brought the website to Ghost.org, a CMS that uses Handlebars.js for simple and easy templating and theming. The existing blue-centered brand was given a refresh that matched the new and modern look and feel of the website.
The first step in the design process was seeing what I had to work with. Throughout the website’s several iterations, I saw things that I thought I could keep, remove, and spice up for the redesign.
Starting at the website’s archives, I knew there were some things I wanted to keep. Credentials, certifications, affiliations, and designations are very important to realtors, independent or at a large agency. In later (unarchived) iterations, some of these same old-school branding elements still remained.
Later versions did a good job of maintaining functionality and had decent design for the time period. it also made use of professional photography provided by the realtor.
This was also the first introduction of a newer logo (which has been changed since), and the blue color that the realtor liked. This version website used unconventional methods to maintain responsiveness, and was relatively slow on first load. It used a virtual DOM to create a reactive experience. This created some issues with external APIs that were also being used.
The first action of business was defining a new color scheme, font, and style. for this process, everything was on the table, but we decided to stick with the blue colors and to also throw in some softer ascents to make it feel more “lively”. we also made sure that all design elements (even other logos) were made to be on-brand.
After some changes to the hero images, colors, components, and copy, we finally brought it together on Ghost, rather than the old WordPress then hand-coded, hard-coded website.
The project was completed, meaning the website was now cleaner and easier to manage, and used a CMS that kept it on budget. Overall, I believe that this project was a great success. I was able to combine my creativity with the requirements from the realtor, and provide them with a modern, professional website.