Having spent several years using a free WordPress website Gaptooth decided it was time to upgrade. With a completely new brand identity, upcoming single release and her first music video on YouTube it made perfect sense. During our initial discussions she stated her desire to keep using the WordPress platform as she wanted to continue updating her blog and she also liked the powerful, easy-to-use CMS system to add and edit her own content. Before any design work began I asked Gaptooth to make a list of features and functionality that she would ideally like her new WordPress site to have, outside of simply being a blogging platform. As with any website I build the design would work around the content rather than picking a generic, restricted template and trying to squeeze everything in to that.
The list I received included the ability to add YouTube videos, upcoming tour dates and a catalogue of single and album releases with links to iTunes, Amazon and Soundcloud. I started the design process by sketching out some designs for the homepage and content pages on paper; I find this is the best approach as it is much quicker and easier than going straight to the computer. We sat down again and went through all the layouts, making changes and additions to the layout and content where necessary, making sure it worked with the Gaptooth brand identity. Once these designs were finalised it was time to fire up the computer!
Taking the approved sketches I re-created them in Photoshop until they were exact representations of how the final website would look. I emailed these to Gaptooth for any final changes before starting the building process in WordPress. Using a combination of CSS3, HTML and PHP I built the template files for the entire site. Once these template files were complete I added numerous WordPress plugins, which would allow all of the custom features and functionality to be added as well as handling all SEO and analytical data. I sourced and embedded several custom typefaces from Google Fonts, which really enhanced the overall look and feel of the site.
Finally it was time to add the content. Together we added all of the copy, images, video and audio through WordPress’ CMS system. I exported all of the blog posts from the old website and imported them in to the new site, this meant no historic data was lost and the blog would continue as if nothing had changed. Once all of the content had been added the site was thoroughly tested and a few final amends were made.
Since it’s launch the website has received a lot of positive feedback from both the public and figures in the music industry. If you would like to judge the site for yourself simply visit www.gaptoothmusic.co.uk.
