Vinod Bhardwaj

Vinod is a musician and poet who has been inducted into the Edmonton Hall of Fame. He wanted to freely share his music through his website and let people listen to his songs whenever they wish. I installed a music player on the site that pops out into its own window, allowing people to listen to the music while they browse other websites. Each album is also available to download for free. I chose colours for the site based on the famous Shahi Bridge in Jaunpur, India--a city in which Vinod grew up and the source of his poetic pseudonym Nashad Raza Jaunpuri.

Link to site

Claude Lavergne

Claude, a BMW salesman, wanted a more modern-looking site that really showed off the vehicles he was selling. I was able to create a more dynamic home page for him with a nice, big slideshow to feature his top cars. The vehicle listings themselves are hosted on the dealership's website and not able to be altered, but I worked around that problem by making sure everything else on Claude's site looked great.

(Claude recently changed careers,
so this site is no longer online)

Inspired by Colour

It was great working on a website for a paint store as it allowed me to work with a lot of really great, colourful photographs. For the site, I used the Benjamin Moore red and blue colours sparingly, as I didn't want too many colours to overshadow the colour of the paints in the other pictures. Pages with product information use "Read More" links to display more information about a product without cluttering up the page with huge mountains of text.

Link to site

Cowichan Land Trust

To launch the interactive version of its Community Green Map, the Land Trust decided to completely revamp their old, out-of-date site (see a picture of their old site). For the new site, I used big images of beautiful Cowican scenery to highlight the nature (pun intended) of the group's work. I built the site in Drupal to organize the large amount of content into easily navigatable sections and subject headings. Drupal also makes it simple for the Land Trust's volunteers and staff to update the site, adding news, more pictures and other projects whenever they wish.

Link to site

"Chris took our website from boring and confusing to colourful, comprehensive and wonderful. He is innovative, passionate, and a gracious team player. His projects are rapidly created and solid. Chris's work: excellence, enthusiasm, full spectrum beautiful"

- Margaret, Cowichan Land Trust

Kathok Gonpa

For their simple informational site, I created a new design for the volunteers at Kathok Gonpa that I thought expressed the beauty of their Tibetan Buddhist temple (see a picture of their old site). A custom CMS allows them to update every page on the site, especially their busy events page. A dynamic photo gallery shares images of the temple and events, and interactive maps help people find their way (both literally and spiritually, I suppose).

Link to site

Seeds for Change
Conference 2009

To make sure visitors were exposed to each of the weekend's speakers, a different profile was loaded at random in the right sidebar on certain pages. I also put their evaluation form online so conference attendees could give feedback.

(site no longer available)

"Working with Chris was a fantastic experience - his sharp design skills and attention to detail were invaluable to the creation of our site.  We were thrilled with the finished product and all of the support we received from Chris throughout the entire process."

- Jessica, Cowichan Green Community

Lac La Biche
Dance Society

I wanted to capture the magic and energy of dance with this design. To highlight the variety of classes available, the site loads a different background image each time it's viewed in a new browser session. There's one for ballet, one for hip-hop, one for modern dance, etc. The site also uses embedded documents to display their handbook and other materials.

Link to site

Walk of the Nations

I was very honoured to work on the Walk's site. I wanted it to convey the feelings of community spirit and inclusiveness that the Walk represents. To do this, I made sure to use lots of pictures showcasing the large number of people who came out for the Walk. I also added a way for the public to leave comments about how the Walk affected them. I added a page of resources for people to help promote the Walk through Facebook, downloadable posters and a donation link. Plus, I created a page to host a short documentary that I placed online.

Link to site

"Chris was amazing to work with; he is professional, creative and very reliable. He took our very mundane space and made it into a colourful, easy to navigate site. He also believed in the cause just as much as we did and the Committee was thrilled to have him become part of our team. Huy ch q'u (thank you) Chris!"

- Jenn, Walk of the Nations Coordinator

Penny's Yoga

Penny asked me to revamp her website after working with me on the Lotus Speech Canada site (see below). A custom CMS allows her to keep her site up-to-date, easily changing class schedules and highlighting new information on her home page. I wanted the site's new look to express how Penny's work captures the tranquility and healing power of yoga that's steeped in ancient traditions.

Link to site

"'I have worked with Chris for over 2 years now on 5 different websites. His communication skills are excellent with me and my co-workers alike. The initial design process is tricky but Chris has a way of helping me figure out what I want, before I'm even clear what I want! Chris is always quick to make any changes I need and is an amazing problem solver and on top of all this he has the patience of a saint. I would happily recommend his services to anyone! Thank you for all your hard work Chris!"

- Penny, Penny's Yoga

Lotus Speech Canada

Using an amazing photo of a lotus flower was key to transforming Lotus Speech's old-fashioned site into a more visually appealing experience. Local nature photos on other pages gave a West-coast spin on traditional Buddhist imagery. I also re-organized the group's impressive historical archive to make it easier to read and navigate.

Link to site