As a personal project, I’ve developed a small scale member site for my RPG (role-play gaming) friends. Its a collection of tools to collect and share information from our homebrew campaign. For those who are unfamiliar with role-play games, our group gets together on a video chat and participates in a collaborative story-telling. One member acts as the main storyteller or facilitator, and the rest play as characters that interact with the story’s world and people. These sessions can be lengthy and it can be difficult to remember all the details of a particular interaction. And with online groups (or really any group) scheduling is difficult leading to long breaks between meetings.

To help other members in our group remember important information and to integrate them into the story better, this website is a compendium of knowledge, rules, and lore. There are places where members can record notes about their character, summaries of previous sessions, and ideas for story direction or game mechanics. Members can upload images and documents to help build out the world of the current story.

This site is a custom iteration of the myWiki WordPress Theme, and has custom pages and post types to organize and display data in an easy and appealing way. Besides developing the site’s visual identity, I have also spent much time creating character portraits, image assets for menu icons, illustrations for character races and creatures etc.

The visuals are inspired by pixel based video games and clean/cute user interface design prevalent in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Database entry and management is also a large part of this project, as all members need to be able to create, edit and publish content. Some data should be visible only to certain players, and specific roles that dictate what kind of content can be created and shared is also necessary. Moodboarding and wireframing have been essential tools for mapping out what info should be shared and how it might look visually. By creating a static prototype of the website, I’ve been able to make design choices faster and develop customizations more easily.

I’m still working on figuring out how users will be able to upload information to the site, as it can be confusing of what needs to go where and if it’s even worth it to move game data from one system to another. But ideally I’d like users to be able to add content through the site directly, either through a form or something else, without the need to log-in to the admin panel or the database interface.

I’ve developed a custom website for my client on WordPress, adjusting an available theme design by coding custom pages and styles in PHP. Additional customization was added through a careful selection of plug-ins and including specific website assets to match the client’s preferences.

A large part of this project has been developing brand identity, from styling the content to creating custom illustrations for each post. In addition to creating the logo and brand guidelines, I’ve designed template formats for digital downloads.

Another important portion of this project is collaborating with the client to manage content and make regular updates to the site. My client has requested e-commerce integrations so we can easily offer archived recipes and other related digital products. I’m currently working on polishing content and getting the site ready for launch.

This website will be publicly available in mid April 2024.

This project has required me to analyze the visual elements of Delftware (finding commonalities in motifs and subject matter, noting brushstrokes and linear forms, and the hue and value of designs) and find corresponding elements related to South Dakota and its native culture. I’ve collected images of local flora and fauna, research local native tribes and their art, and investigated adjacent cultures (specifically their pottery and paintings).

To get a unique style for this pattern, I’ve traced specific pieces of pottery, focusing on the brushstrokes and forms in the ornamentation. Delftware has a specific visual language of mark making that is different than that of Native American cultures. I’ve researched the process of how delftware is painted and glazed to gain insight on what mediums would produce the detail in value and shape I’m looking for. Pottery is painted in a ink-like glaze with brushes and quill-like instruments. This glaze when wet and unbaked looks black, but becomes a vibrant royal blue when passed through a kiln.

I’ve practiced drawing motifs, animal, and flowers with watercolor and ink to recreate the simplistic style of the Scandinavian designs. Typically you see windmills and fishing boats, or pastoral scenes on the traditional blue and white pottery. It’s my goal to paint Dakota’s common motifs (western wildlife, native symbols, and local plants) in that style.

I’ve got some more wildlife studies to paint before I start creating individual elements and constructing a composition. And after that I’ll need to decide what pattern structure would best suit my designs. Once my designs are finished I will mock up some products showcasing the patterns and post them here on my site.