Blog, News & Updates
Northern Rivers Antiques
No website should stay the same for for too long ... and I've just done a refresh for Northern Rivers Antiques. This was also prompted by the imminent launch of the online store, and really did need to freshen it up! I think it looks modern and fresh (I know, I know...
2019 Lismore Friendship Festival
And that's a wrap!! The 2019 Lismore Friendship Festival was a fantastic event yesterday, 23 June, the day after the Lismore Lantern Parade - it's a BIG weekend here in Lismore!! The Festival website was first established last year, and this year was refreshed...
LCCI Northern Star 2019 Lismore Business Awards
A mini site for the 2019 Lismore Business Awards - two anding pages with core information, categories, video, sponsors, and a form to ensure visitors read and accept the terms and conditions before proceeding. Ultimately, these pages will include winners, and other...
Nickel Renewable Energy
I love it when clients return after being away! I first did the Nickel Energy website way back in 2014 (leumesindesign.com.au/project/nickel-energy) which they managed themselves. A few weeks ago, they got in touch - there had been some significant changes to the...
2019 Australasian Law Academics Association Conference
‘Real’ laws in the post-truth world - this year’s Australasian Law Academics Association (ALAA) Conference - will be hosted by the School of Law and Justice at Southern Cross University’s Gold Coast campus in July. This site is the conference landing page which will...
Law in End Times – School of Law and Justice at SCU
Conference site for two separate events in December this year: Juris Apocalypse Now. Law in End Times, and Survive, Thrive, Die. Law in End Times. The website needed to accommodate both conferences which run back to back, with a shared postgraduate day in the middle....
Leumesin Design
I admit it, I'm a bit of a junkie when it comes to changing my own site! I tend to change it fairly regularly, and often at the spur of the moment, usually very late at night after I've seen another site (or a specific thing on another site), and I think 'oh, I would...
LismoreBiz
A bit of a refresh for LismoreBiz. Hmm well, a total overhaul really. New and improved directory, job board, classifieds, event calendar and currently working on a marketplace for local businesses who want to sell online but don't want the hassle. Have also added a...
Lismore Health Hub
A new site for the Lismore Health Hub, a business that has been here for some time, but only made the decision to create a website in the last 12 months. It's very simple, easy to maintain, with a focus on services and events which support the local community. Site...
Lacebark – Landscape Design and Environmental Planning
Mandy, Lacebark's owner, specialises in Landscape Design and Environmental Planning. Lacebark is a multi-disciplinary practice providing ecological and landscape design services on the Far North Coast of NSW from Coffs Harbour to Tweed Heads. This site is an update of...
Lismore Friendship Festival – Piazza in the Park
A brand new site for the Lismore Friendship Festival which is on 24 June 2018. The festival is a free fun-filled family annual outdoor event acknowledging the contribution Italians have made to the Northern Rivers. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate community by...
Black Tie Photobooths
This is a rework of an existing site which Felicity from Black Tie Photobooths was keen to do. This of course, is very much a work in progress and there will be more work on the site over the next few months with some of the planned elements held back for the time...
Akrasia Boutique
A lovely simple site for a new online clothing boutique. But really, nothing is ever simple when it comes to online stores! The trick is to make it appear that way and hide the workings!! This is a Wordpress site, WooCommerce for the store, plus customisations for the...
Are you ready for the recently announced changes to the Fb newsfeed?
Changes are afoot! Facebook, like Google, have a complex algorithm to show you your news feed or search results. Personally, I find it a bit creepy when you're searching for something and then that very thing pops up as a sponsored or popular post. Don't really want...
SLJ Research Blog
This new blog has been established for the School of Law and Justice at SCU to highlight research activities undertaken throughout the School. It will also provide opportunities for staff and guest lecturers to contribute to the blog with commentaries on current...
What happens when your hard drive falls over and your backups go pear-shaped?
I've had a pretty wild/busy start to 2018 - between my younger daughter turning 21 a week before Christmas, Christmas, and my elder daughter's birthday a week after new years, there were 3 pretty wild storms that dropped a lot of water and some impressive lightning on...
School of Law and Justice SLJ Research eNews
I haven't done much print work for a while, so it was nice to be able to refresh my Photoshop skills and put this newsletter together for the School of Law and Justice before Christmas. Most of my Photoshop work these days is image enhancement, and much smaller...
Are you organised for Christmas?
I can just see you falling about laughing, unless you're one of those wonderful people who are indeed organised. I try so hard to do this, but have to confess that even though I'm very much a 'list' person these days, I was actually much more organised when the kids...
The Men and Family Centre
A site refresh. Wordpress, customised Divi, Bloom, Ninja Forms, and the usual security and SEO plugins including Wordfence and Yoast SEO. Site released: 1 July 2017 Visit the Site: menandfamily.org.au
Lismore Chamber of Commerce Member Directory
The Lismore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) website has been an evolving thing since I first became a Chamber sponsor, and started working on the site back in 2013. A big overhaul in 2014 was also done after a significant change of name and rebranding...
Byron Bay Chamber of Commerce
This was a site redesign for the Byron Bay Chamber of Commerce, including an online members directory and event calendar. This was also an opportunity to highlight member stories, and generally update all content. The original site hadn't been updated for some years,...
Lismore Bathroom Renovations
Grant from Ranford Construction, aka Lismore Bathroom Renovations, contacted me a few weeks ago about a new website. Three days later, the website was done - no mucking around! It's a simple one-page site, which also benefits from referrals from Echo Bathroom...
Lismore Women’s Festival Workshop
Start a new website or whip the one you’ve got into shape, and how to decide if social media really is the perfect match for your business. Having a professional, comprehensive website is important for pretty much every new business. But getting started can seem...
Bristax … Business Accounting Services
Stephen from Bristax got in touch with me early this year about his website. He's done an awesome job of building the site himself, but realised that at some point he really needed to focus on what he is expert in - Tax / Accounting / Superannuation - and stop...
Aurora Suspended Fires
I've been working with the lovely people at Aurora Suspended Fires for some time now, first on a "help, save my site" job after the original developers caused some issues, and more recently when it was decided that it was more efficient and practical to essentially...
Manage my (your) own Website
A handy little app to help you get a grip on your website! One of my own projects over the Christmas break (yes, I know it already seems like such a long time ago!) was to create an app ... it's been on the list for ages, and finally v1 is done, and published on the...
Flu bugs, fame and getting stuff done!
WOW ... it's been a challenging and busy few weeks ... nothing out of the ordinary really but the flu bug really bit, and that was the thing that made the difference! I was powering along beautifully, getting a LOT of work done, then the universe decided I needed to...
I’ve been absent (from blogging) for a while!
I've been absent, but in a good way! Busy working on many and varied projects, I stopped doing my usual post when I 'released' a new client website. And partly because of that I've not been blogging at all. My bad! The reality is that while blogging comes more...
Stellas … what do you do if …
Hello Stellas, thanks for coming along tonight (May 2016). Here's notes from my presentation which you are free to share. Since posting, I realise I may have inadvertently mailed this out to my list by accident (posts are set to go automatically), so even there's...
When I was two I was nearly new…
When I was one I had just begun When I was two I was nearly new From Now we are Six, AA Milne I'm not quite sure where the last 12 months has gone, but all of a sudden Leumesin Design is two! Last Saturday in fact … 25 October. Woo hoo!! It's actually been quite a big...
A one-page landing site for Ezi-Make™
Ezi-Make™ (Making the bed just got easy!) is a new product, invented by a local business owner - David Martin, who also owns a bricks and mortar store (InStyle Sleep Centre) here in Lismore. I've been doing more one-page landing sites for clients lately, and they are...
A beautiful new website for Market Edge Photography
Update July 2016 - sadly, it would seem that Market Edge Photography is no more. Photography websites are always a little more challenging that some other varieties of website! I know all websites need to look their best, but for a photographer who relies on the...
New website: Catholic Parish of Alstonville and Wardell
Following changes to the Catholic Parish of Alstonville and Wardell, a new website incorporating both Our Lady of the Rosary at Alstonville and St Patrick's at Wardell was needed. At the start of this project, Our Lady of the Rosary at Alstonville had had website for...
Living Communities website – a refresh and transfer to WordPress
Living Communities is a resource site designed to raise the awareness for individuals and communities to the issues of suicide. Matthew, the site owner, is a new client, and he wanted to be able to manage the site, and update information in a straight-forward way. The...
A brand new website for Effective Workplace Solutions
Effective Workplace Solutions is a local business who needed a new website - their first! Greg Arnold, their principal consultant was incredibly organised and could give me a clear brief about what was needed and examples of sites he liked. Greg also had logos in the...
A website refresh: LEXSA – Southern Cross University Lismore & External Student Association
LEXSA - the SCU Lismore and External Student Association - is a new client, already using Wordpress, but needed a refresh of their website for the new academic year. They did have two other sites that had been created previously, and imagery and content from those...
Child Care Centres on the North Coast: 4 sites in one!
When Jen Morrin called me just before Christmas last year, we talked about her four child care centres and the need for a website. and fast! It sounded quite straight forward to start with, but there were actually four mini-sites needed under the one umbrella...
TNT Personal Training: the quickest (WordPress) website I’ve ever done!
Update February 2015: Unfortunately, this business is no longer operating and the website is, therefore, unavailable. I had a call last week from John White from TNT Personal Training (tntpt.com.au) - a brand new small business on the Gold Coast - who had put...
The Newtown Review of Books: from wordpress.com to wordpress.org
I've been working with the lovely people at The Newtown Review of Books (NRB) since the release of their first blog - a wordpress.com site - in March 2012. Last year we began talking about a redesign, but as can often happen, initial designs were done, themes...
A totally crazy mad start to 2014! In a completely good way!
I can't quite believe we're in the middle of January and I'm still trying to finish posts I'd started last year, one of which was intended to be a bit of a review of the year just gone. Repurposing has always been a favourite thing of mine and it works for blogs too!!...
NCA Consulting: Site transfer – Joomla to WordPress
This was an unusual request for me - transferring a website from its original Joomla iteration to Wordpress for NCA Consulting. Although I have some limited experience with Joomla, I'd never had to transfer a site before and I was pleased (and relieved) to find it was...
If it’s Friday I’m in love … with Wunderlist!
The dreaded to-do list... I don't know about you, but I struggle with my "to do" list and on any given day, my desk is littered with bit of paper, stickies, a "proper" to do list, notes on the computer desktop, and my book, without which I'd really be lost! Not to...
New online store and branding: SOBI Boutique Lismore
Update June 2015: Sobi closed their bricks and mortar store and went 100% online. Since then, Sobi's owner has found a new career, and has scaled back the online shop! SOBI Boutique is a well established local bricks and mortar fashion boutique at Lismore...
When will I be famous (or “when will I be #1 on Google”)
When will I get to #1 on Google? I've lost count of how many times I've been asked this question! The short answer is that there is no short answer! It doesn't happen by magic and you do need to be prepared to invest some time (and patience) in improving your search...
New Website: Lindy Cooke Celebrant
A new site out for a new local business - love those! Lindy Cooke, Celebrant needed a range of materials, including her first website, business cards, and a DL flyer. She had already established her Facebook page, is in the process of setting up LinkedIn, and...
My first year in business – Inspiration, Appreciation and Revelation!
“Become the leader of your life. Lead yourself to where you want to be. Breathe life back into your ambitions, your desires, your goals, your relationships.” — Steve Maraboli I celebrated my first year in business last week - 25 October to be precise! When someone...
New Website & Branding: Hudson Accounting Services
Hudson Accounting Services is a local business located at Bangalow. A new partner has recently joined the business there's been a name change (they were Hudson Management). It was time to establish their first website, and to look at overall branding for the business....
New Website: Little Mate Productions
Little Mate Productions owner Phil Hanlon is a film and video producer living in the northern rivers region of NSW. He produces corporate, online and wedding films and videos from the sunshine coast to Sydney (further afield when asked!). Phil contacted me about his...
Website Redesign: North Coast Telephone Systems
North Coast Telephone Systems is a local business who supply, install and maintain business phone systems. They've have had a website for many years. The challenge for them was to maintain the website effectively, not because they didn't have the time or the desire,...
10 Favourite WordPress Plugins
There's 27,000+ plugins in the Wordpress directory and a few more that aren't! I spend a lot of time researching the "best" plugins to use for a variety of purposes, and am always adding to the list. I generally only use plugins that are in the Wordpress directory,...
Website Redesign: Regional Development Australia – Northern Rivers (RDA-NR)
A site redesign for Regional Development Australia - Northern Rivers (RDA-NR) - a partnership between the Australian, State, Territory and local governments to develop and strengthen the regional communities of Australia, and covers the local government areas of...
Lismore Turf Club
A site redesign for Lismore Turf Club - a racing venue and event and conference function centre here in Lismore. The Turf Club's existing site was in a '.com' domain, and hadn't been updated for some time. Unfortunately, they had difficulty in keeping in contact with...
Keen Street Clinic
A brand new site for Keen Street Clinic - a family medical practice here in Lismore. Keen Street Clinic had their website on the list for some years I think, and after a very unsatisfactory first go using a "business" hosting plan that included a free website (that...
Integrated Bookkeeping Solutions
Andrew from Integrated Bookkeeping Solutions - a new business - wanted a simple site but one that could grow as his business grew. The challenge, as always, was initially having minimal content, and knowing how to present it in an engaging way! I worked with Andrew on...
The Date Night Project
Fabulous new product - The Date Night Project - and of course, a gorgeous new website! In a nutshell, The Date Night Project is a unique program for couples who are serious about creating more connection, fun and spark in their life! I've been working with owner and...
TNT Supplements
A new business, online store, and website for TNT Supplements selling products from BSc, one of the biggest supplement distributors in Australia. I've used WordPress, with a fully customised premium theme. The site is easy to navigate, responsive, and easy to manage...
The Stella Network
The Stella Network is Lismore's Women in Business network . It's an informal network where members can ask advice, and support and mentor each other. I've been going to Stella Networking events for the last year or so. Stellas has been active on Facebook for some...
Foreva Young – Boutique Beauty Salon
29 February 2016: I was advised by my client that the business is no longer in operation. Sad but true. A brand new site for forevayoung.com.au - a boutique beauty salon at Maclean (NSW). The brief was to create a site that was clean and simple. This resulted in...
Hayley Biddle – The Body Sculptor
April 2015: Unfortunately this business is no longer in operation. A brand new site for Hayley Biddle - The Body Sculptor. The brief was to create a site that was sexy and stylish, appealing to both men and women. Black (or shades of black) was an obvious choice, and...
SCU Gym and Pool
NOTE: A few months after this site was released, this site reverted back to a "new" template which lost much of the functionality of this site. It doesn't look like this design featured here any more. Hot off the keyboard! The new SCU Gym and Pool website!! This is a...
Lismore Gateway Motel and Restaurant Bridal Expo
A beautiful new website for the inaugural Bridal Expo at the Lismore Gateway Motel and Restaurant. This is a special purpose site, image-rich and designed to draw in our target audience. I worked with the photographer and venue stylist at the photoshoot and was able...
10 Ways – your website is like a haircut!
You're thinking "what is she talking about" aren't you? Here's 10 ways your website really IS like a haircut! 1. You don’t start with much! Most of us don’t have much, if any, hair when we’re born. We don’t always know what colour it’s going to be, how long it might...
Lismore Gateway Motel and Restaurant
This is the second release (version) I've done of the Lismore Gateway Motel and Restaurant website. The Gateway Restaurant site was recently completed as well. There are strong similarities in the look and feel of both sites, but they each have their own style. New...
10 Ways – to manage your website over Christmas
Update 4 December 2017 ... I thought about this list over the weekend as I was putting up the chrissie tree and though it would be useful to update it. On reflection, the list is as similar today as it was when I first put it together a few years ago! The one thing I...
Lismore Gateway Motel and Restaurant on Facebook
The cover images used for the Lismore Gateway Motel and Restaurant's page on Facebook change frequently! Starting with a series of Christmas banners, new ones are added for events such as the recent Bridal Expo, special days such as Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's...
Leumesin Design
Various things I've created for Leumesin Design: Website. This has morphed a few times into its current form. I've since retired the self hosted potfolio site and merged it with this blog. Much easier to manage! Facebook (and there's also Twitter, Pinterest, Behance,...
Lismore Gateway Restaurant
This is the second site I've completed for the Lismore Gateway Motel and Restaurant. It is a gorgeous new site, and involved creating new content including menus and wine lists, and the ability to book a table. Several landing pages have been created specifically for...
Keepsake Quilts by Leanne Ryall
Keepsake Quilts by Leanne Ryall is a new site, to showcase Leanne's beautiful work - gorgeous keepsake quilts from all sorts of materials - everything from old ties to wedding dresses! Released: 12 November 2012 Visit the site: leanneryall.com.au (not available as at...
Website briefs
No, I'm not talking about underwear! I'm talking about writing a great brief for your website! When I get briefed to create a website or "fix" an existing one, I might get something like this: Client: I really need to do something about my website. Nobody visits it....
A shiny new website!
Ask any website developer which is the most difficult site to develop, and bet they would (nearly) all say their own. After all, a web designer's website has to sell their talents and portfolio, and it can be incredibly difficult to do that when you are your own...
Newtown Review of Books
The Newtown Review of Books is a book review blog - fiction, with special emphasis on crime fiction – memoir, biography, politics and true crime. Co-founded and editored by Jean Bedford and Linda Funnell, both well known in the publishing industry. Peter Corris...
Doctor Concrete
This is the second site I've done for this lovely client (the other was is for Affordable Concrete and Paving). This one is a customised Wordpress site which is deliberately small and simple! Release date: 27 August 2012 Visit the site: doctorconcrete.co.nz
MJ’s Dance Studio
This site was originally a single landing page. It has been refreshed and reworked in Wordpress. Additional functionality expands on the original embedded video and includes slideshows, Paypal for DVD sales, Mailchimp for eNewsletter signup, expanded social media...
Know Yourself Grow Yourself (KYGY)
This site redevelopment was stage one of a bigger plan! A new, fresh public website was needed to publicise personal development courses that were being held in September and October 2012, with the second stage of being development of an online course in 2013. Because...
Cranky Cow Milk
This was a great site to work on! Not only was it for a new product (no legacy bits!), but the client was very involved and engaged in the whole process. He had significant input into the design, which makes him the exception rather than the rule with regard to client...
Affordable Concrete and Paving, Christchurch NZ
I've just finished work on a complete redesign of the Affordable Concrete and Paving website - with the brand new site released last Friday (22 June 2012). The site is for a family-owned business who have been in business in Christchurch for more than 20 years. Their...
alanbeazley.com (eWasteMuch?)
I've just finished a new landing page, designed to be a gateway to Alan’s social networking sites and the soon to be released blog on the topic of eWaste. Here's the Wikipedia definition of eWaste, but you can also go to Alan's site/s to find out more as well! The...
Summerland Credit Union
This was a redevelopment of the existing staff intranet for the Summerland Credit Union. I worked with their in-house teams (Marketing and IT) and specifically worked on converting 300+ pdf documents to html, created the navigation framework, and subsequently...
Women in Contemporary Music
The name says it all. This was a beautiful site to work on and even though it is a few years old, I think it still looks fresh and contemporary. (The site no longer looks as I designed it, and was given a corporate look late in 2012). Release date: 2009 Visit the site...
QULOC
I redesigned this website for QULOC (the Queensland University Libraries Office of Co-operation). The existing site that hadn't been refreshed for some years and hadn't aged well (see screenshot below). We virtually started from scratch - retaining what content was...
Southern Cross GeoScience
A new site for Southern Cross GeoScience, a new research centre at at Southern Cross University (2009). The overall design was done by the SCU advertising agency (see screenshot), and my task was to turn that design into a fully functioning website. There was some...
The Hotel School Sydney
I worked with the Hotel School for many years, designing, developing and managing their site. Everything from copy writing, adapting print designs for the website, graphic design, training, support, advice, guidance, and everything in between. Great clients who...
First Year at SCU
This site was developed as part of a wider program of activities to support first year students at SCU. I was given much latitude in terms of design, and ultimately used "Slidedeck". Even though this is an "off-the-shelf" product, it did need customisation to fit...
Assignment Navigator
This site was part of a set of initiatives to help support first year students at SCU. The original design was done by FLDS - Flexible Learning Development Services at SCU - which I then adapted to work as a fully functioning website. Sprites, embedded video, special...
Impact! Captivating Communications
Release date: 2009 Visit the site: robertgrayson.com.au (not available as at April 2016)
Research at SCU
I worked on a number of websites for the various research centres at Southern Cross University. Most of these sites would, most likely, look quite different now, but original sites included: SCU Whale Research Centre (2007): Very simple, but featured some beautiful...
SCU Alumni
The Alumni site was redesigned in 2010 and is part of the larger Corporate and Community Relations portfolio at SCU. The screenshot I've used here is the final site, just a few days before it was released (which is why the news stories are test/text...
SCU International
This is a suite of inter-connected sites that represent the many aspects of the International Office at SCU, and was a major body of work which has many hundreds of hours invested in it. Six individual sites: Portal, Future Students, Study Abroad, Exchange, English...
SCU Campaign Landing Sites
Landing pages were typically created to coincide with key student recruitment campaigns and would generally be done twice a year. Designs were provided by the SCU advertising agency, which provided the visuals for the website. Release date: The screenshots here...
SCU Staff Christmas Party
The websites for the SCU staff christmas parties were themed each year (as were the parties!). I created these sites each year from 2001 through to 2010 so I've only included a sample here. The 1970's featured a custom splash page with multiple image galleries, all of...
WebWIP eNews
This was an eNewsletter I sent out weekly to all site administrators at SCU - it was an effective way of keeping everyone informed about anything to do with the SCU web space - new sites, maintenance, staff absences, training opportunities, conferences etc,...
Discover SCU
I produced the newsletter, from design and testing to dispatch. An associated website was also created each month. Content was the responsibility of Communications & Publications; banner produced by Marketing and updated annually. Email list management and...
SCU School of Tourism and Hospitality Management eNews
This is a quarterly eNewsletter produced for the School by Communications and Publications at SCU - in a very similar process to that used to produce DiscoverSCU. I produced most issues from the first one late in 2008 through to mid 2010. Release date: Summer 2008/09...
SCU Community and Partners: The Healing Circle
The "Community and Partners" portal at SCU was made up of 9 interconnected sites (see below). A 10th site, Community Engagement, was designed and hosted off-site at that time. The design for the portal for all of these sites was, as is often the case, provided by an...
SCU Alumni Matters eNews
Details: This was a redesign of an existing eNewsletter which was required as result of the redesign of the Alumni website. The template only was required for this project. List management and email dispatch was managed by the Alumni office using the CRM system....
Digital Printing Services
This site was created from a design prepared by a graphic designer who specialised in print materials and who didn't fully appreciate the complexities of turning a simple design into a fully functioning website. It was a challenging job, and we all learned a lot! Site...
SCU Community and Corporate Relations
A multi-layer suite of sites for Community and Corporate Relations which includes: Marketing & Recruitment Communications & Publications Community Engagement was also part of this portfolio, but I've not included it here because I didn't personally work...
SCU Home Page
There have been several versions of the SCU home page over the last 12 or so years and I was responsible for several of those. The first of these was in 2000 as part of the then website redevelopment project; 2004 was the next major change along with significant...
Australian Electronic Journal of Nursing Education (AEJNE)
This site is very, very old but I include it because it was ground-breaking at the time. It was the only online journal of its kind when it was released, and was incredibly popular, consistently ranking in the top 50 most used parts of the SCU website. I don't know...