“What is My Remote Radio? Well on the surface it’s a geek-centric Podcast and Blog. But below all that, it’s a place for Andrew and I to share all the stuff that we love. Whether that be movies, comics, toys oh umm, i meancollectibles, television shows, video games, gadgets…you name it really! In fact that’s our one and only rule on this site. We only talk about things we love, not things we hate. You won’t find us bashing people, places, or things here. Because honestly, what fun is there in that anyways?”

The entire site was designed and coded in just under a month. Taking full advantage of all the new features in WordPress 2.9. Like thumbnail support, html5 architecture, and updates to the PowerPress plugin to achieve a scalable and easy to use theme for podcasting and blogging. It features a magazine style layout, mixed with a media centric CMS. Two things that don’t usually go together, but were essential in designing this website.

That’s geek speak for “I wanted this site to not only present the content in a easy to skim format, but also to be very approachable for new listeners.” They needed to feel comfortable engaging with the show and commenting on what they thought about the posts, so that we could accomplish our ultimate goal of this blog / podcast. To create a community.

Will this experiment work? Well only time will tell. But in the meantime why don’t you head on over to MyRemoteRadio.com and check out what Andrew and I are up to!

LINK: My Remote Radio.com

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Doug Hogan is a VFX compositor and freelance web designer working in Detroit. He's a 2006 SCAD graduate and has worked in both the broadcast, web, and feature film corners of the Visual Effects industry.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

© Doug Hogan 2010. | Click here to comment

This was achieved by using a recipe card style, showing not only the date and number of comments for that particular post, but also the category icon. Breakfast, Dessert, Bread, etc. Each can be used to find other similar recipes, bringing the user deeper into the blog as it grows. A similar device was used in the side bar as well, using image sprites to keep load times fast.

In the end the hardest part of designing this blog wasn’t the navigational challenges. But capturing the unique feeling of Jess as a cook. It needed to be very simple and clean, but also cluttered. It needed to have a distinct color code, but also an overall feminine hue. Very contrasting design elements, and not easy to mix together! But thankfully Jess had a very strong idea of what she wanted, and together we went through 12 different versions of the site before arriving at the final look.

What came out after that design time is a site that I’m very proud of. It expanded my style of design, both aesthetically and navigationally. Using a solid back end design making it easy to evolve as the site grows in the future.

So go check out Jess’s blog! It’s full of, you guessed it, delicious things!

LINK: Delicious Things Bakery

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Doug Hogan is a VFX compositor and freelance web designer working in Detroit. He's a 2006 SCAD graduate and has worked in both the broadcast, web, and feature film corners of the Visual Effects industry.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

© Doug Hogan 2009. | Click here to comment

To begin, I choose once again to use WordPress as my CMS. Making it easy to use by the end user, and also scalable. I also decided to try to avoid the trap of ‘fan-site’. Rather the inspiration behind my design was the question of ‘What would an Orchestra’s website look like if it was actually on Caprica and Government sponsored?’ My research began with sites like The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The National Symphony Orhestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra to name a few. All of which gave me a good foundation for how to actually structure the site.

Then it was time to get down to the design. I drew from resources like prop stationary from the series, popular design schemes from the show like octagons, and a muted color pallette to really give it that classic look. I also incorporated new design styles from the new BSG spin-off series, ‘Caprica’ which Bear McCreary is composing for as well. The header and logo for the band draws from the typography from both series which spans the gap and gives the site room to feature music from both sides of the BSG universe. Finally, I wrapped it all under the Colonial government banner and what came out was my entry for the contest!

The site features all the old standards like a biography page, a blog, links, and a press page. But also extended features like a forum for fans, an upcoming shows calendar, a music & video hosting page, and a store for all the official merch. Everything a band on the rise could want.

Though my design in the end wasn’t selected as the winner of the contest, I’m extremely proud of the final result. Especially with such a short deadline of only a week. And I’m happy to say that it’s cross-browser friendly (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and IE) and is compliant with CSS web standards as well as HTML before the PHP conversion for WordPress.

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Doug Hogan is a VFX compositor and freelance web designer working in Detroit. He's a 2006 SCAD graduate and has worked in both the broadcast, web, and feature film corners of the Visual Effects industry.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

© Doug Hogan 2009. | 2 comments

This new re-design’s goal was to show case my work in a aesthetically apprealing way, while also flexing a few new muscles and being very easy to use so I could grow the site without to do another complete overall just to make room.

It has so many new features it’s hard to keep track, but some of the ones that I’m most excited about are the new Gallery options, the optimized code, jQuery driven naviational menus, a background that’s sensitive to the time of day, more RSS feeds than you could shake a stick at, and completely redesigned Blog. All of which will hopefully bring visitors back often, while also showcasing my professional portfolio for future gigs.

That’s everything in a nut shell really, but there’s so much more that I didn’t mention. So please, take a look around and send me an email letting me know what you think!

LINK: Doug Hogan.com

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Doug Hogan is a VFX compositor and freelance web designer working in Detroit. He's a 2006 SCAD graduate and has worked in both the broadcast, web, and feature film corners of the Visual Effects industry.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

© Doug Hogan 2009. | Click here to comment

This however was easy with Andrew Marcec.com, because Andrew and I have been best friends since High School.

A freelance writer by trade, it was designed to showcase all of Andrew’s fiction writing, blogging, and even podcasting. All while maintaining a messy 1950′s / 60′s Pulp Fiction Novel style. And at the same time staying very easy to use for both the visitor and the end user. Insulating him from the thousands of lines of code that went into making AndrewMarcec.com what you see in the web browser.

I’m very proud of the final design, and really love how the site truly does feel like Andrew. But don’t just take my word for it. Go check it out and get to know Andrew for yourself by following the link below! He’s a very talented up and coming writer.

LINK: Andrew Marcec.com

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Doug Hogan is a VFX compositor and freelance web designer working in Detroit. He's a 2006 SCAD graduate and has worked in both the broadcast, web, and feature film corners of the Visual Effects industry.

He also co-hosts the weekly geek podcast Lingo: A Geekly Podcast with his long time friend and author, Andrew Marcec.

© Doug Hogan 2009. | Click here to comment