Website redesign

Url: http://infocusoptical.ca/

Portfolio: Website – In Focus Optical

Challenge

  • client’s existing site wasn’t mobile ready, and also used Adobe flash elements which were incompatible with mobile devices

Strategy

  • find a suitable optical theme, copy/update the existing content, and add additional content to give the new site fresh appeal.

Implementation

  • theme: found an eye clinic theme that had a unique design that made it less boxy than most.
  • photos: the store’s interior and exterior had gone through significant remodeling, so I took new photos inside and out. Also updated staff photos.
  • logo: the original logo was in bitmap format, but not anti-aliased (edge pixels are dimmed to give smoother edges). Placing it in the header gave it a bit of a rough feel, even if a soft outer glow was added.  The ideal contrast would involve having the logo a light color, against the darker blue background. So I took the bitmap into Corel Draw, and used it as a guide to create a completely vector-based logo. It’s not an exact reproduction, but very close. And the magnifying glass and eye elements feel a bit more lifelike. Here’s the old and new:

 

  • seo: after doing research into the site’s online presence in directories, discovered there were a lot of outdated, incorrect listings (the store had earlier in its history been at a different address, with a different phone #). Where possible, claimed/updated those listings.
  • pdfs: normally using these is something to avoid, but in this case there were official insurance forms the store wanted to make available online. Installed a pdf viewer module, to improve the display and handling of these forms.
  • links: the old site used internal links that weren’t seo friendly, such as http://infocusoptical.ca/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=3&Itemid=103 to go to the women’s glasses page. Fixed this in the new site – the women’s glasses page now has the link http://infocusoptical.ca/womens-glasses
  • redirects: permanent redirects were set up on the old site links, to auto send users to the applicable new pages, to avoid having broken links.
  • included my 10-part item list

Result

The new site is now mobile ready, much more visually appealing, And because it’s a WordPress site, changes/updates will be able to be handled by the staff’s tech guru.