Andrew Krisson
Andrew Krisson was looking for a modern refresh for his personal site and chose me to lead the redesign and rebuild.
Project Kick-off
The project kicked off with a call where I dove into understanding what Andrew envisioned for his revamped website:
- A sleek, modern design
- Strategic incorporation of photography
- A robust solution to drastically reduce contact form spam, a major problem with his existing site.
Design Process
Wireframing: The journey began with drafting wireframes to outline the site's content and layout at a high level.
Design Exploration: With wireframes as our guide, I explored creative aspects like colors, typography, and refined layout options.
Final Designs: Selecting the most compelling design exploration, I developed high-fidelity designs that detailed the site's visual identity and user experience, embodying Andrew's vision.
Throughout each stage, collaboration with Andrew was key, ensuring his vision and requirements were met.
Sanity + Next.js ❤️
For the blog section, I opted for Sanity as the content management system, and it turned out to be an excellent choice, especially when paired with Next.js. This combination allows for a dynamic, fast-loading blog that's a breeze to update and manage.
I created a custom embedded Sanity Studio, allowing Andrew to manage his content in a more intuitive way.
Contact form bot protection
I'd like to highlight a key issue with the old site that required special attention during the rebuild: the contact form was constantly hit by spam and bots.
I tackled the problem by integrating Formspark for form management, coupled with Botpoison to thwart bots' attempts at spamming the form. This combination proved to be a formidable defence against unwanted submissions. Since implementing these tools, we've successfully reduced spam emails to zero, marking a significant improvement.