Today I launched a new site for Jill Kelly, an author, speaker, and wife of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. Jill is the author of 3 books that will hit the stores nationwide this year, and she speaks often at special events.

Five years ago, Jim and Jill lost their 8-year-old son Hunter to Krabbe Disease, a brutal condition that often claims its victims in the first 2 years of life. Through the painful trial of losing their son, the Kellys found hope and comfort solely in God, the giver and taker of life. Jill often journaled, documenting the pain, remembering the joys, and preaching truth to herself. These writings eventually lead her to pen the books that will soon be published.

When I first spoke with Jill about this project, I asked her what her main objective was. “I want people to know Jesus,” was her reply. That made me smile. I love working on projects that I’m on board with the vision.

Check out jillk.org.

This morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that Inspiration Cruises and Tours just launched their new website redesign. I was commissioned to design the initial layouts which were then passed on to Scott Jantz who did the development. Inspiration is a travel management company specializing in group travel experiences for Christian ministries.

Inspiration’s creative director Josh Smith, whom I worked with at Hume Lake for 3 years, was the one driving the ship (pun intended) on the website relaunch, and it was great to work with him again. Josh has always been a great source of creativity and brilliant ideas, and one who has taught me a lot about design over the years.

The main goals in the redesign were to improve search engine optimization, usability, accessibility, and overall look and feel. I’m quite pleased with the final result, and I’m confident these objectives will be met with the new site. Feast your eyes on the goodness that is the redesigned Inspiration Cruises and Tours.

This summer will mark my 10th year of designing professionally. I recently came across one of the first sites I ever built, which happened to be the first Flash site I ever attempted: trutech.net. The site is still surviving the same way I left it almost a decade ago, Flash 4 disclaimer and all.

I designed this back when I first started freelancing as UnderdogGraphics, in cahoots with Curtis Suderman of Mind’s Eye. There are plenty of things about the site that now make me cringe (as do most of the sites I’ve built in years past), but I think it’s a pretty decent example what cutting edge was back in Y2K: background music & sounds, intro animation, and huge raindrops. (Ok, I made that last one up).

Sorry iPhone/iPad users, this one’s all flash; enjoy the blue legos. The rest of y’all, feel free to partake in some vintage web design: visit trutech.net.