This is the third major re-design I’ve done for SharkPig.com, since launching the original site back in 2010. One of the biggest improvements is the new responsive design for both desktop and mobile.

Over the years Shark Pig’s client list has grown as well as their impressive portfolio. My design approach was to get out of way and let the content shine through. Like the previous iterations of the site,  SharkPig.com features a custom backend that allows videos to to be easily added and arranged in the portfolio.

For the past month or so, I’ve been building a set of Twitter tools to automate repetitive tasks and search for accounts to follow. I originally started this project a few years ago using PHP and MySQL, but this time I thought I would try using Node.js and MongoDB.

One example of functionality is the ability to sort through hundreds of thousands of user accounts and use filters like whether or not their description contains certain keywords, how many followers they have, how many accounts they follow, whether or not their account is protected, etc. After I’ve found a large set of users to follow I can store them in a database and automatically follow a certain amount of them everyday.

So far, it’s been a lot of fun and it seems like every other day there’s a new feature to add. The goal isn’t to create another mindless spam bot that DMs everyone with “thnx for the follow, now click on this link to check out my channel / podcast / crap I’m selling.” I’m hoping to build something that makes it easier to find the people to connect with.

If you’re interested in seeing what social media tasks I can automate for you or help with finding more internet pals, let me know.

The NomadicNosara.com is a hotel / surf hostel located in Nosara, Costa Rica. When I starting working on this site it had already been built using a commercial WordPress theme, so all additional styling and functionality were added through a custom plugin.

The updates included:

• New color scheme and background images
• Custom styling on all pages
• Custom About page image grid
• Add Reserve page and Reserve bar
• Custom contact section with Captcha

The FriendsAndFamilyLA.com site was a super quick, but fun project, where I coded a responsive site that was designed by Eric Junker. (If you don’t already know him, check out his stuff!)  This little site shows that it’s possible to create an affordable custom site where the client and designer can choose the exact options they want, instead of having to look through hundreds of pre-made templates and then figure out how to hack one into something close to what their original idea.

It makes me hungry every time I look at it.

Kristinesshair.com is the official site for Kristin Ess’s hair care line. I lent a hand by coding “The Signature Line” section on the homepage as well as a few layout tweaks here and there.  The site is built on the SquareSpace platform and because of this all updates were added through the Code Injection page. The benefit of coding this way is that the template doesn’t have to forked and will continue to receive official updates.

Once again it was a pleasure working with Kristin as well as Puno, and the Maesa Group.

TheBeautyDepartment.com received a full redesign. The new custom WordPress theme is mobile friendly, and automatically formats images to display correctly as thumbnails and hero images. It features a Peruse section that allows users to quickly browse posts. I really like the custom Instagram plugin that shows the latest nine images in a grid on the homepage. It was a blast working with Eunice Chun who did the design, plus Kristin Ess and  Amy Nadine, the masterminds.

Check out this Randomizer I made for Shark Pig Weddings. You’ll need to please enter the magic word, if you please.  Click anywhere on the Randomizer to spin the wheels. Once they stop you’ll get a animal combination and a random video will play. If you’re using Chrome a voice will say your animal combo.

SharkPigWeddings.com is an LA based event videography company that specializes in song length featurettes shot on both HD video and Super 8 film. The site I designed and coded features a custom backend that allows them to manage the portfolio section. It also has fun randomizer. It’s hard to believe it, but I’ve making stuff with Brian and Jonathan for 17 years now.

The DesignLoveFest – Social Media Workshop is a video seminar taught by Bri Emery. For this project I updated the automated system that I originally built for the Blogshop Workshop.

The system includes:

• Frontend of the workshop page + the workshop description page integrated into WordPress.
• An automatic email sender that sends a unique username and password to the customer after they pay via Paypal.
• A login system that gives users 48 hours to view the workshop after the initial login.
• Security that only allows the workshop to be viewed in one browser window at a time.
• A discount code system that gives admins the ability to create coupon codes and set what dates they’re active.
• Backend user account management.

Blogshop Online was a video seminar on Photoshop geared towards bloggers, taught by Bri Emery and Angela Kohler. For this project I developed an automated system that handled payment and content delivery.

The system included:

• Frontend the class page + the class description page integrated into WordPress.
• An automatic email sender that sends a unique username and password to the customer after they pay via Paypal.
• A login system that gives users 48 hours to view the workshop after the initial login.
• Security that only allows the workshop to be viewed in one browser window at a time.
• A discount code system that gives admins the ability to create coupon codes and set what dates they’re active.
• Backend user account management.

Later on, I updated the system and it was used for Bri’s DesignLoveFest – Social Media Class.

Custom WordPress theme for the AngelaAndIthyle.com blog.

The Animation Project is a creative arts therapy program for at-risk youth founded by Brian Austin in NYC.  Spencer Bagley did the design and I coded the custom WordPress theme. It was a good time working with both of those gents.

Back in 2012 I coded the redesign of the blog A Cup of Jo. It has since been redesigned again but you can read about it in this post. Since it was on the Blogger platform back then, all layout changes were done through Javascript. This was one the first projects I did were Javascript wasn’t just used to add a little widget but to actually do the heavy lifting.

Yeah! Rentals is an event furniture rental company based in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, and San Francisco. The site I built for them showcases their inventory of mid-century modern, industrial, and cosmic desert furniture. Michael Antonia’s clear vision for his projects always makes it a great time working with him.

This was version 1.0 of TheBeautyDepartment.com. It has since been updated, but I wanted keep it posted here so I could talk a little about the hosting set up. The site launch had publicity from Lauren Conrad and Ryan Seacrest had a spot about it on his radio show, so it needed to be ready for traffic. To handle the spikes we set it up on a multi-server setup behind a load balancer. To be honest, it was my first time working with a site that needed to handle that much traffic, and I was a bit nervous, but everything worked as planned. The server setup was just the right size, and ran smoothly for years, until we eventually upgraded to a new setup.