Mike Felan, IT Consultant
IT Services Without the Hassle
We were approached by local IT consultant, Mike Felan, to help develop a new website for his mobile computer services. Mike is well known in the Vancouver business community as being a reliable resource when there are computer-related or IT related needs to be addressed. Mike’s business has traditionally been referral related and because of that his website had sat dormant for a long time.
Mike was clear that he did not want to use any of the typical IT stock photography that his competitors use on their sites.
As we began talking about the project, Mike was clear on a few points. He was adamant that he did not want to use any of the typical IT stock photography on his site—even taking it so far as to say that he would be, “happy with no real imagery on the site at all”. That would pose a unique design challenge.
Using Illustration to Skirt the Issue
Rather than bypass any type of visuals, we created a series of custom illustrations to represent Mike and the services he provides to his clients. We ended up with a series of illustrations that pulled away from the traditional imagery used by IT businesses while getting into a look that Mike was comfortable with. We paired the illustrations with a custom, minimal site design utilizing WordPress as the backend and ended up with a solution that felt a step apart from his local competition.
Building for the Future
The site structure itself was fairly paired down compared to what we are normally called on to create. We might have been able to get away with using a basic static site rather than a full-featured CMS like WordPress. In the end, though, because there was a question as to functionality that might develop in the future, we decided to give the site a little more power and ability to meet those needs. WordPress is a great resource for that kind of big picture thinking. It excels at staying small and compact when starting out, but being able to scale for years to meet the needs of a growing company.
About shop
We are Shop, a web design and graphic design studio based in Vancouver, WA. We’re a small group of designers, developers, writers, and makers who have banded together with the goal of creating beautiful design.
