For instance, just completed this winter was setup, development and consulting for ProgPen Consulting right here in Minneapolis.

The client needed a website that could grow with their business, be easy to update and have a responsive theme design that adapted based on what device it’s viewed on. With my consultation and development help, we set up the site with WordPress and an open source, responsive theme, as well as installing and configuring plugins suited to the site’s needs. The client was able to integrate their own design(s) and content from there.

Be sure and check out their site if you’re a small business looking for IT solutions, and don’t miss what the owner of ProgPen had to say about CoH on the testimonials page!

- Stephen

When I came across the Bones responsive WordPress framework, I knew I had to try it, and what better way to run a framework through its paces than on a portfolio site? So, over the past couple of weeks I’ve been building in functionality like custom post types in WordPress to power the content for the jQuery Coin Slider on the home page, a custom query to load portfolio images, a streamlined jQuery contact form on all pages (try it, click on the contact link above!), and more.

The site of course runs on WordPress, using some of my favorite and most-recommended plugins, such as the All in One SEO Pack, BulletProof Security, Contact Form 7, Disqus, and the W3 Total Cache plugin which is set up with Amazon’s S3 as a CDN to speed things up considerably. The result? A Google Page Speed score of 95 out of 100! Not bad at all for a homepage with plenty of images and jQuery effects.

For the design, obviously I wanted to keep things simple and clean, letting the images and information speak for itself. The Roboto typeface from Google’s Android design team brings a “modern, yet approachable” look to the new branding. Even better, because the site is based on the Bones responsive framework, the site looks as good on a smartphone as it does in a desktop browser.

New business cards! (Pardon the poor quality camera phone photo.)

Of course no good re-branding effort is complete without a new business card design, so of course I worked up a new design to match the website and had them printed locally at Printz.com.

Best of all, I’m available to put these talents to work for your business. Need a great new look and a website that looks great in desktops and on mobile devices, served up fast and with print designs to match? Get in touch, all initial consultations and estimates are free, with no obligation!

The migration went smoothly, exporting the blog’s existing content and comments and importing them directly into WordPress, then moving over the client’s media files. Some theme modifications were also necessary to make it work exactly as hoped, and of course that was no trouble at all. Finally, some of the plugins the site was set up with were Disqus, BulletProof Security, ShareThis, and FD Feedburner.

Take a look at the site by clicking the image below, and take a look at what this client had to say on the new testimonials page!

Looking to move your site into WordPress? Get in touch!

The page itself uses HTML5 and CSS3 in conjunction with some basic jQuery/Javascript effects and the Mobily Slider for the photo slideshow. Even better, because everything loads quickly in one page, clicking over to view the bio doesn’t stop the music playing in the sidebar!

This holiday season I was hard at work, designing, printing and assembling my first-ever run of limited edition letterpress prints and journals!

The Damn All the Lovers series are all one-of-a-kind, hand-made prints and journals printed on Vandercook presses at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. Each one is completely unique, and is only available to order online at the website here. A portion of the proceeds goes to benefit the Human Rights Campaign, so you can support the arts and a great cause at the same time!

Pre-order by January 9th, 2012 at noon Central time to receive free shipping and $1 off each journal ordered.

Click here to view more images and order now before they’re all gone!

For now, check out the photo below of some show cards I designed for Portland’s DJ Gray Matter last year.

(Photo by Leah Nash)

The online streaming was served via a WordPress installation running the Vupango plugin, and using the Bambuser video streaming service to aggregate the feeds from each location. For the week of the event I was tasked with pre-production project management tasks including preparing written tutorials for the location personnel to set up their gear for live streaming, plus troubleshooting, pre-event testing and other scheduling assistance. Additionally, some development/programming and page layout changes were necessary before the event to accommodate the

On the day of the performances, all that hard work paid off, and I was left to handle the live event production, communicating and confirming locations, switching out live video feeds as new ones began and existing ones ended. Additionally I was put in charge of their social networking for the day, running their Twitter feed updates to ensure their followers always had up to date information.

The event went wonderfully, and I’m proud to say it was even a learning experience for myself as well. You can view the archived videos of the locations that streamed their performances from this link here. With any luck, I’ll even be able to work with Global Water Dances again for their next event!

-s h

I founded this nonprofit startup out of a passion and dedication to create a place for art & artists of all kinds(thus, makrs) to better connect with local audiences in their own cities. Offering social networking profiles, artwork portfolio albums, event listings, artists’ resources, and so much more, this network of sites uses WordPress and BuddyPress and a whole lot more, all custom designed and developed by yours truly.

Take a look at the flagship site for Portland, OR by clicking on the screenshot below, or find out more about the project by visiting the official network blog.

Minneapolis graphic designer Ben Schuster came to me in early 2010 looking for a WordPress portfolio site, with the design below mostly already laid out.

From there we worked together build an easy-to-use portfolio for him that would work well on devices without Flash. The final product features easy and intuitive AJAX and jQuery effects, including slideshows and custom WordPress loop queries, and even a blog to share his news updates.

Don’t know what most of that means? No worries, you can still visit his site by clicking below and enjoy his sharply-designed portfolio and my own hard work that went into making it work on screen.

Featuring a high-impact flash page, all jQuery effects for page transitions, and a flash player which keeps playing as you switch from page to page, this is a great instance of WordPress as a CMS. Oh yeah, and I also provided the photography for the background image on the site’s inner pages!

View and click on the screenshots below to see the live site.