Work
Rebecca D Murphey
2407 Green St., Durham, NC 27705
919.451.9333 |
rmurphey@gmail.com |
www.rebeccamurphey.com
DailyStrength
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List Controls
A new back-end framework provided a standard way for managing lists of objects on the site, and it needed an equally abstracted way for managing them on the front-end. I created a simple UI that was managed by a simple config file for each list type, giving users an at-a-glance way to access the most popular views and a slide-down form for performing specific searches.
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Redesigned Home Page
Users were spending little time on the signed-in home page, and spending a lot of time looking for the content that was important to them on other pages. I worked with the design, product and engineering teams to devise a new approach to the home page that would surface important content, and developed it using a modular approach that greatly consolidated the CSS and Javascript overhead.
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Select-Based Autocomplete Widget
We wanted a way for users to be able to select an element from a long list of items by typing in a box, but we wanted a solution that would degrade gracefully without Javascript. I wrote a simple reusable widget that leveraged a plain HTML select element to provide the list of options and to pass the data to the server in the form submission.
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Mood/Status Widget
DailyStrength users were accustomed to setting their mood using a widget that appeared on just a handful of pages; we wanted to give users the ability to set their mood on any page, and at the same time roll out a new status feature. I was able to quickly prototype a new widget and show how it could be incorporated into the page. I opted to write my own, small edit-in-place plugin to serve our exact need rather than accepting the file size overhead of existing, fuller-featured plugins.
webslingerz
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webslingerz Workflow Tool
We needed a better method than email to manage client requests. I researched a few solutions and together we decided that the open-source trac-0.11 would fit the bill. I designed and implemented a custom workflow, trained internal and external users, remixed it with jQuery to add customized ticket submission forms and logic.
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ROI Calculator
The client came to us with an Excel-based ROI calculator full of inline help text and comprising more than 100 fields. I worked with a PHP developer to scope and estimate turning the Excel document into an interactive, easy-to-use web application; then, I developed the tabbed UI and implemented it with jQuery, hooking it up to the PHP back-end to give users instantaneous feedback based on their inputs. I also connected the tab interface to anchor-based URL navigation, so users could easily revisit a page later.
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Nortel Solutions
The client wanted a fresh look for the Solutions section of their site, but they didn't want to abandon the fundamental style of the site. They also wanted their multimedia and case study content to be visible at a glance, all at once. I retooled an existing template to add accessible, semantic HTML for the multiple sections, then added jQuery to create tabbed navigation of the content.
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WUNC Navigation
Our lead designer wanted to bring some Web 2.0 effects to his redesign of the North Carolina Public Radio site, but didn't know where to start. I pointed him to jQuery and helped him write accessible markup enhanced by Javascript to give him Suckerfish menus, tabbed content and an accordion sidebar.
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Nortel.com homepage
With its content served from static files instead of a dynamic back-end system, the Nortel homepage presents some challenges. I was tasked with implementing a new, interactive design, but with very limited changes to the underlying back end. I taught myself the lightweight jQuery library, then wrote a reusable class to read content from (static) XML files and build and populate the “billboards.” I gutted the existing tables-for-layout HTML and rewrote the page using valid XHTML and CSS-based layout, and overhauled existing Javascripts to use the DOM instead of document.write().
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Nortel Template Change
Expanding Nortel’s Products section from 780 pixels to 970 pixels wide meant retooling their main menu. Eleven buttons. Two button states each. Seventeen languages. I turned to some tools from my days doing print design, and developed a process that required half the time it took the last time the template size changed.
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Nortel Marketing Site
In the midst of a major project, our client had a hot request: Revise a bland marketing site that was put together in a hurry — and do it, again, in a hurry. I leveraged a design by our lead Flash animator to create a 20-second landing page Flash piece, created my own Flash piece to guide the visitor through the site, and created multiple HTML pages, all in the space of four days, resulting in what the client called “the best site we’ve done”
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Nortel Blogs
When our primary client came to us needing a high-profile blog in a hurry, I leveraged my experience with Wordpress to develop a design that would be easy to template and that adhered to the spirit of Nortel’s style guide without looking excessively branded. Within days of the launch, other executives were lining up to get in on the blogging. Since the launch, I have provided metrics and blogosphere analysis and support, using the client’s internal metrics software, custom blog monitoring software, Google Analytics, and Apache MySQL logs.
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Nortel Technology & Innovation
Armed with a scant outline, I sourced photos, created a storyboard and taught myself ActionScript to complete the Flash piece for Nortel’s revamped Technology & Innovation section. I also created the underlying pages and shepherded them through multiple rounds of revision; later, I adapted a piece of open-source software to automatically update the latest blog article on the page using the blog’s RSS feed.
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Nortel My Business
Using rough guidelines from an advertising agency and content that was in a constant state of flux during production, I created brand-compliant pages for a microsite to support an advertising campaign and generate leads for Nortel’s Small and Medium Business offerings.
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UNC MURAP Alumni Database
The client wanted an easy way for alumni to submit, search and browse contact information, but wanted to be able to overwrite the Web database with information from an Access database at will. I created a password-protected application that allowed import and export of the data, as well as search, browse and update functionality; then, I worked with a designer to integrate the application into the existing design.
Koroberi
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FKI Logistex Brochures
The client wanted a unified set of brochures, one for each customer-facing division. After the art director developed the overall look, I created in-depth templates and stylesheets in InDesign, ensuring consistency down to the smallest details across the suite.
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Newsletter Programming
Programmers were spending high-dollar time writing the HTML for a client’s internal newsletter. Worse, they were doing it using a non-modular, table-based design. I adapted the newsletter design to a modular CSS-based layout (inset), and created this internal PHP/MySQL tool. Now, an administrative assistant can create, test and send the newsletter — all without the help of a programmer.
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Document Production
The client gave us two weeks to divide a 100-page instruction manual covering four product models into four separate manuals covering one model each. Before we started, I mapped out the process we would use to meet the tight deadline, prepared and named the graphics files for easy reuse, and created Word and InDesign templates that would play well together. The pagination of the four new documents, totaling nearly 400 pages, was completed in less than two days, with the help of text-parsing scripts I wrote for InDesign.
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Hickory Hardware
The client was integrating five decorative hardware brands into one new brand, and needed a web site for the new brand in a hurry. I interpreted loose comps from a swamped art director to create this small but serviceable site, and was able to re-use the HTML and CSS for the client’s online brand book (inset) as well. When the time came to create the full-fledged site, I got the call even though I had taken a new job — I had to decline.
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Trade Show Site
The client needed a low-budget web presence to complement a big-budget PR campaign leading up to ACHEMA, one of its biggest trade show events of the year. Using the client’s corporate site as guidance, and using content provided by Koroberi’s PR team, I developed the CSS, HTML and Javascript for an English and German microsite to highlight the products and solutions that would be featured at the show. The site drove media to the Flowserve booths, and was so successful that ACHEMA organizers used it as a case study in how to promote a company’s presence at the show.
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Image Production
The production department was asked to produce the logos for a client’s online “Logo Download Wizard” — 50 brands, three logo position variations, seven color variations for each position, in file formats for desktop, print, and web. A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation showed that we were talking about creating thousands of files. I developed a solution using Illustrator, Excel, XML and XSLT that automated the creation and naming of the files. The finished Logo Download Wizard was honored by the North Carolina chapter of the Society of Technical Communicators.
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Flowserve Brochure Concepts
The client had just acquired several smaller companies, and wanted to adopt a consistent look and feel for all product literature. However, very few of the products had strong photography available, and the sheer number of products meant that re-shooting them was cost-prohibitive. When Koroberi was asked to offer concepts for the new product literature template, I suggested designs that relied on plentiful line art instead.
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Leak Seal Brochure
Careful selection of dramatic photography rescued this brochure about the client’s industrial leak-sealing services. The brochure was also one of several proofs of concept I offered as I convinced the Koroberi production team to switch from Quark to InDesign.
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Email Design
Koroberi’s talented PR writer was also attempting to write the HTML for e-mail blasts, with less-than-optimal results. I took his concept (left) and applied proper branding while minimizing the use of graphical typography. I created a table-based version with inline styles for Outlook and Lotus Notes, and a CSS-based version for the web.
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Web Concepting
The client, a pharmacy services company, wanted a web site, but the source material was limited to a JPEG logo and a brochure created in Microsoft Word. With little to go on, I developed several concepts that could be easily accomplished using CSS-based layout techniques and that would be flexible enough to handle whatever content the client eventually decided on.
