I’ve been involved in the redesign of hundreds of websites. But aside from the design of the initial bWEST website, I have never redesigned my own website, until now.
It hadn’t occurred to me until a day before the launch of the new site that I would actually be saying goodbye to the original bWEST website, which of course is a necessary part of a redesign. I was surprised at how nostalgic I got .
I guess it’s because bWEST was my first company and being virtual the website is the main manifestation of the business so I had this emotional connection to it. And making the step out on my own was a big deal so that intensified the connection.
It was quite a simple site, but that’s what I liked about it. Lots of white space, subtle west coast colours and simple navigation. We got numerous compliments on the site. The site was designed by Russ Willms, the art director at Suburbia Advertising, where I was working before I started bWEST.
I Still Like the Site
The main reason for the redesign is that the site was built in Drupal and I wanted to migrate to WordPress which is much easier to use, especially for blogging, and is a lot more flexible in what you can do with it using widgets and plug-ins.
The new site has retained the original logo, thanks to Hubert Marczuk for that, and the blue & green colour scheme that of course represents the ocean and trees of the west coast,which was the inspiration for the company name.
When we decided to move to Victoria from Toronto we knew we wanted to “be west” and that’s how the name came to be. So no, my name isn’t Ben or Bruce West, as some people have asked.
And so I bid you farewell original bWEST website and welcome the new. As you can see the new site features people (clients mainly) that are the focus of our business and the part we like best. Kudos to Chris Whiteley our Creative Director for designing and developing the new site.
We’d be happy to hear your comments on the new site design, or about website redesigns in general. How did you feel about redesigning your company website?
1 thought on “Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend”
I like that Chris mentions:
“As you can see the new site features people (clients mainly) that are the focus of our business and the part we like best.”
That was a big thing for me when I joined bWEST. The clients & their successes are extremely important. I felt that I could really identify with that. Think about it for a moment: How many bWEST clients consider Chris a friend? Now that is the sign of someone that puts the client first.