I’m an architect on the information superhighway.

But that’s just my day job. By night I build websites on the internet.
(Selected examples follow.)

Fair Share Housing Center

A small legal-advocacy non-profit, Fair Share Housing Center’s mission is “to end discriminatory housing patterns which have deprived the poor of the opportunity to reside in an environment which offers safe, decent, and sanitary housing near employment and educational opportunities.” The website needed to convey their determination to fight for affordable housing, but also to focus on the ultimate motivation for these battles — New Jersey’s low-income families. Bold colours combined with clean typography and plenty of whitespace create a confident, welcoming aesthetic, and encourages visitors to learn more about the the issues at hand.

Design, HTML & CSS, CMS implementation
December 2009
Arbeiter Ring Publishing

ARP is a small press run out of Winnipeg, MB that publishes “cultural, fiction, and non-fiction titles with an emphasis on progressive political analysis of contemporary issues.” The new site shines the spotlight where it should be: on the books. A prominent, rotating slot on the home page allows ARP to promote featured titles or important events, and with their stable of titles fully tagged and searchable (cross-referenced with related books, news, reviews, and media), readers can more easily delve deeper into the site. All backed by ExpressionEngine so the collective can manage the site effortlessly.

Design, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, CMS implementation
November 2009
Private Ear Recording

Private Ear has been one of Winnipeg’s premiere recording studios for 15 years, but has never had an online home. After the studio moved into a new, custom-designed 3000 sq. ft. space, they asked Amphibian to fill that online void. Offering all the need-to-knows, the site also hosts a diverse catalogue of recording samples from the studio’s repertoire, a photo gallery of bands in the studio, and more. The randomly-loading pool of images taken during various live sessions keep each page visually unique, and the striking home page gives a pro first impression — all managed easily by the engineers/owners using ExpressionEngine.

Design, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, CMS implementation
October 2009
Manitoba Council for International Cooperation

As an organization that disburses some one million dollars a year to overseas projects aimed at improving the lives of people in developing countries, the MCIC needed a website that quickly and clearly communicated their mission to visitors. Amphibian developed a design with a bold and clear navigation, a rotating pool of striking images in the site header, and an inviting colour palette matching MCIC’s existing identity — all backed by the powerful ExpressionEngine CMS.

Design, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, CMS implementation
August 2009

Greg MacPherson

A modest design refresh for my friend and occasional band-mate Greg MacPherson, one of the most talented songwriters in Canada, on the eve of the release of his fourth full-length album Mr. Invitation. A simple, minimalist approach, using photos taken on tour by Greg as oversized background images, providing new textures and landscapes on each page load.

Design, HTML & CSS, CMS setup
March 2010
GigPress

GigPress is a free, open-source WordPress plugin that I developed, targeted at musicians and other live performers for easily managing their performances on their WordPress-powered websites. The current site was developed with the release of version 2.0 of the plugin, a major upgrade.

Design, HTML & CSS, CMS setup
September 2009
The Uniter

This was a complete overhaul for the official student weekly of the University of Winnipeg. The staff needed a publishing system that was easy to use, and could fit into their weekly workflow to ensure that if it was in the issue on the streets that week, it was also available online. For the design, they needed more effective use of images, and to highlight the key stories from each new issue, drawing readers deeper in from the home page, and prodding them to keep exploring at each article’s end, with discussions, related content, and featured stories.

Design, HTML & CSS, JavaScript, CMS implementation
March 2009
Propagandhi

After designing the CD and LP packaging for Propagandhi’s album “Supporting Caste”, I overhauled their website to follow the theme set out in the packaging, using classic typography; an aged, muted colour palette; and the gorgeous painting by artist Kent Monkman as a footer piece.

Design, HTML & CSS
March 2009
Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy

Based in NYC, the Furman Center is “a leading academic research center devoted to the public policy aspects of real estate, land use and housing development.” They needed to replace their dated, poorly organized website with something fresh, clean, organized, and easy-to-use (for both end-users and administrators). As the staff reorganized their content, I built the new site from the ground-up using the ExpressionEngine CMS, and developed a new design using a refined black and white palette, contrasted by bright, punchy greens, and a great collection of photos taken by the Center’s staff.

Design, HTML, CSS & JavaScript, CMS implementation
January 2009
Fair Trade Manitoba

A project of the Manitoba Council on International Cooperation, Fair Trade Manitoba promotes fair trade through various projects, including their guide to buying fair trade products in Manitoba, now taken online for the first time. The guide is fully searchable by product, city, or keyword, and includes dynamic mapping of each listing. Visitors can also submit corrections and updates to listings. MCIC staff now use the website as the primary database for the guide, which they can easily update using the site’s CMS, and then export for their semi-annual printed version of the guide.

Design, HTML & CSS, CMS implementation
October 2008
Into the Music

Into the Music is the premiere spot for finding quality new, used and collectible CDs and LPs in Winnipeg, and is a veritable institution there — indeed the longest-running independent record store in the city. Amphibian designed and built their debut online presence, with a plethora of new and used titles for sale using a custom shopping cart that maintains that personalized, “mom and pop” touch.

Design, HTML & CSS, CMS implementation, custom cart
September 2008
We Are All Prostitutes

Bay Area graphic designer John Yates’ agency work portfolio site. Once again (as with his other sites Stealworks and Planet of the Yates), John provided me with finished design mockups which I translated into interwebbery with clean, semantic markup and some scripty goodness.

HTML & CSS, JavaScript
August 2008
Smallman Records

Smallman is an independent record label in my hometown of Winnipeg, MB, and is run by some nice folk. Recipe: brand-new design (using graphics courtesy of Dead By Design); synergising (yes, synergising) of audio, video and ringtones throughout; more comprehensive band pages; RSS feeds for tour dates and news updates; tour dates in both iCal and hCalendar formats; a new, modern CMS for the label staff to giggle about; and more.

Collaborative design, HTML & CSS, CMS setup
August 2008
Next American City

Complete design and technology overhaul for this Philadelphia-based magazine. With a new identity and magazine redesign by art director Keith Webb, I brought the magazine’s new look to the web (no pun intended.) The new site encourages reader interaction through content submissions and discussion, and gives focus to their popular Daily Report; all using the extensible and powerful ExpressionEngine CMS.

Design, HTML & CSS, CMS implementation
March 2008
Alice’s Drive

The Alice’s Drive project hopes to recreate the 1909 drive of Alice Ramsey — the first woman to drive across America — on the 100th anniversary of her historic drive, in a restored 1909 Maxwell DA. The site serves to keep interested folks updated on the progress of the project; as well as solicit partnerships and sponsors to make the drive possible.

Design, HTML & CSS, CMS setup
January 2008
24HourRoadTrip: Philadelphia

The 24HourRoadTrip is “an interactive experiment that blends psychogeography, sight-seeing, and exploration.” Next American City was organizing the Philidelphia edition and contracted me to design and build a micro-site for the event. (This version is now archived.)

Design, HTML & CSS, Google Maps integration
August 2007
From the Ground Up

Making Green Building A Mainstream Practice was the theme of this, the inaugural event of the Urban Innovation Series. The organizers needed an informational site for the event to announce the speaker list (featuring actual news anchor celebrity Tom Brokaw) and provide logistic details; plus a space to present archived audio and video of the event afterwards.

Design, HTML & CSS
February 2007