brassblogs

Loretta, Dagmar, Vanessa…and well, the rest of the UCLA art and film students who are a major part in creating this site…needed some fixes.

Seeing as how they are college students – and “starving artists” at that – that had a complicated site and a very small budget. (You remember college, right? Cold pizza for breakfast and Ramen Noodle Soup for dinner?) Their original designer, unfortunately, couldn’t keep them on as a client anymore, so in stepped Brass Blogs.

This site is part of MTV University, an online resource for college students. Their part of the MTV world consists of getting questions from peers on – you guessed it – how to say something. It’s sort of an updated “Dear Abby” with a twist. Since it’s run by the film students of UCLA, the submissions, and responses sent in by other students, are in video format.

Now, when I was brought in, the design was already completed. It was WordPress based, and they had some issues. They also had a desire for certain functions and features which they believed weren’t possible – but I told them to lay ‘em on me anyway.

I’ve been able to put in a lot of custom scripting for this site, added some extra plugins (some of which aren’t even being used yet), and had some creative back-end methods to allow these students to maintain their site with as much ease as possible. I have them “type, insert and save” capabilities on a site that would normally take a lot more effort to maintain.

I also have to say that, because of these really creative and enthusiastic individuals (and the “stickler” staff at MTV), my skills with WordPress increased tenfold: they kept me on my toes by asking for things they really thought couldn’t be done – and being the kind of gal I am, I made them possible. These students have been the most fun I’ve ever had in design and coding – they really stretch me – and they keep stretching me with new ideas and innovations…that I get to pass on to others!

Go ahead – take a look at their site, and see what’s going on. Perhaps you’d like to get one of your own?