Project Overview
For my NAIT capstone project, I worked with two classmates on the redesign and development of a 9-page website for Print|ED, a local printing company in Edmonton. The problem with the website was that it was not functional, and more of a “glorified business card” with not much content or pages that show products and services that the site offers. This capstone project was a competing one, where two groups work with the same client, where the client chooses their favourite design out of the groups for their final website.
The Process
During the first meeting, the client wanted some featured products and services to be featured prominently on the website. One of the client’s goals was good SEO for the featured products, where the user would search for the product, and it would link to his website. Another deliverable was a redesign of the client’s current logo. My role in the group was to help with both the design and development of the website. Using Figma, I adjusted the design elements using CRAP principles, created wireframes and layout designs for the products, and was also responsible for redesigning the logo. Using Astro as our framework, I created the navigation and footer components to be reused throughout the site.
Challenge and Solution
One of the goals as a team for this project was to learn new technologies, so we decided to learn and use Strapi as the content management system and Astro as the front-end JavaScript framework. We faced a challenge with Strapi because it needed a separate server to host all the web content itself. We did a lot of testing and research on different cloud hosting providers and decided on Strapi’s own service, because of the free tier for development and flexibility for the client to upgrade to a paid tier.
Results and Learning
I learned that I am capable of delivering and handling real-world projects for clients, learning new technologies, and working collaboratively with team members on projects. Using the keywords that we chose, the website ranked in the top 10 positions in Google searches. The client was so thrilled with our website that they have decided to choose our design as the final website.