An online resource with detailed ways of how to get rid of a variety of problems. The topic ranges anywhere from computer viruses, to hiccups and ants invading your home.

Design Objectives

• Use a professional color palette that exudes a trust-worthy appearance.

• Create an intuitive homepage that encourages the viewer to read more.

• Visual indicators throughout top and side menus to indicate the user’s site location.

• Designed a unique header that changes for each category.

Go To HowToGetRidOfStuff.com

Header Image for Homepage

Header Image for Computer Problems

Header Image for Health Problems

Header Image for Stains

Header Image for Pests

Ryan Quiel’s Resume

 Updated: 10/2009

American Bridal

Santa Barbara Insurance

Cathy Quiel

Golden Gate Park

How to Get Rid of Stuff

Natural Cures For

Photoshop Examples

Established in 1989, Baxter Insurance is based out of Santa Barbara. It is family owned, and values relationships and honesty combined with hometown service.

Design Objectives

• To greatly simplify and reduce the ‘noise’ of the homepage.

• Create a website with more warmth and family imagery to market healthcare.

• Implement an easy 3-step process to receive a free insurance quote.

• Create a corporate identity, and visual icons for each insurance plan.

Go to BaxterInsurance.com

Visual icons to indicate the different insurance plans that are offered.

Select images of Santa Barbara that were chosen to bring more warmth and local appeal to the site.

The goal of this site was to be an informative resource on attractions and events in Golden Gate Park. The creators realized the need for a central site dedicated solely to the park, as there are so many activities and events that are constantly taking place in it. It also serves as an online community for visitors to share photos, and inform other visitors on future events.

Design Objectives

• The color theme was chosen to match the greens of the park, and the burnt orange tones of the Golden Gate Bridge.

• Built on a CMS foundation that allowed the user to interact on informational pages, photo galleries and forums, using a one-time log-in.

• Designed catchy menu icons that would encourage and help the user navigate the site.

• Photos stream from the gallery to correlate with the information on each page.

Golden Gate Park

Shown below are menu and page icons used throughout the website.

Shown below is a gallery screenshot

Shown below is a forum screenshot

A noted watercolorist and instructor, Cathy Quiel was seeking to design a website that not only allowed her to better communicate with her students and to create active forums, but also as another medium to sell her prints and DVDs.

Design Objectives

• Upgrade website by utilizing CSS for dynamic widths and galleries.

• Reduce load time by replacing text images with CSS-styled text and buttons.

• Introduced a forum with SSI output to homepage.

• Incorporated a shopping cart.

Go to CathyQuiel.com

Shown below are examples of extensive layering and Wacom techniques used in Photoshop. Each composite has over 50 layers of shadowing, highlights, images and text. The project was for a Graphic Communication (GrC) class.

The professors from the GrC department were used as the photo subjects to be superimposed into the movie poster from “The Pirates of the Carribean”.

An online resource with a variety of natural remedies for common ailments. Also includes detailed information on herbs, vitamins, minerals and leading a natural lifestyle.

Design Objectives

• Create a corporate identity and logo.

• Move from a static HTML site to a dynamic CMS foundation.

• Use energetic images for category pages and more subtle image for category headers.

• Intuitive visual indicators that increase the website’s usability.

Go to Natural-Cures-For.com

Examples of category page imagery

Examples of category header imagery

American Bridal was founded in 1997, and is now one of the leading bridal gift stores online. They offer a wide range of gifts for men, women and children, many of which offer personalization options.

Design Objectives

• Redesign corporate identity

• Improve navigation by altering layout and menu hover and active states

• Create more inviting visuals with products

• Improve usability by reducing clutter

Go to AmericanBridal.com

Shown below is a screenshot of the old layout, and beginning stages of redesigning the interface.

Shown below is a screenshot of the welcoming image and tag lines on the homepage. Image was chosen due to its simplistic nature, and that it lead the viewer’s eye to read the text.

Header for ‘Bridesmaids’ page.

Header for ‘Groomsmen’ page.

Header for ‘Popular & Personalized’ page.

Header for ‘Clearance’ page.