Santa Cruz Pride
Santa Cruz Pride Website
Santa Cruz Pride needed a website that could both celebrate the vibrancy of the local LGBTQ+ community and serve as a practical hub for information about events, history, and resources. The old site lacked clarity and visual cohesion, making it difficult for visitors to quickly find what they needed. The updated design brought a clean, modern look that elevated Pride content and improved functionality for a diverse audience.
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Design Mechanics
The redesign balanced boldness with clarity. A bright, celebratory palette highlighted Pride’s inclusivity while still allowing for a professional, organized presentation. Typography choices favored strong, legible sans-serif fonts that communicated modernity and openness. Images of past parades, community events, and performers gave the site a lively sense of energy, rooting the digital experience in the physical joy of Pride celebrations.
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Layouts emphasized spaciousness, with clear sections dedicated to upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and Pride history. This visual structure reduced clutter and allowed each element—whether text, photo, or call-to-action button—to stand out on its own. The design created a sense of celebration without overwhelming visitors.
Technical and Accessibility Enhancements
Navigation was significantly streamlined, making it easy for users to find event schedules, donation links, and community resources. Menu structures were simplified and intuitive, while buttons and links were clearly defined to improve usability across devices.
Readability was prioritized through careful attention to color contrast and font sizing. Content was broken into digestible sections, ensuring visitors could quickly scan for the most relevant information. Accessibility features, including alt-text for images and logical heading structures, ensured inclusivity for all users.
Before / After Impact
Before the redesign, visitors struggled to locate basic information and the visual design did not match the energy or inclusivity of the Pride community. The site felt outdated and cluttered, limiting engagement.
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After the update, the site became a vibrant, modern, and accessible platform. Navigation improvements made it effortless to find event details, resources, and volunteer opportunities. The refreshed visuals reflected the joy and inclusivity of Pride itself, while accessibility enhancements extended the site’s reach to more users.
Narrative and Impact
The updated website served as both a digital stage and an organizing tool. It celebrated Santa Cruz Pride’s identity with modern visuals while making it easier for community members and visitors alike to engage with content. From planning attendance at the parade to learning about Pride’s local history, the site provided a seamless, inviting experience that matched the energy of the event itself.
By combining clean, modern design with intuitive navigation and improved readability, the Santa Cruz Pride website update created a space that was as welcoming and inclusive online as the event is in person. The site now functions not just as a source of information, but as a reflection of community pride, resilience, and celebration.
Adam Spickler
Adam Spickler for Cabrillo College Website Update
Adam Spickler, serving on the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees, wanted their website to reflect the warmth, accessibility, and deep community connection that define their service. While Adam often designed their own graphics and print assets, they needed professional support to modernize the site.
Design Mechanics
Adam selected the color palette and fonts, which were rich blues paired with bright accents for confidence and warmth. The design team translated these choices into a cohesive web framework. Warm, personable photos highlighted Adam’s community work and created an inviting tone. Clean layouts with ample white space improved readability and reinforced trust.
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Technical and Accessibility Enhancements
The site was rebuilt to be fully responsive across devices. Navigation was simplified, with menus reorganized to prioritize clarity. Accessibility was a focus, with tested color contrasts, alt-text for images, and logical heading structures to support screen readers.
Before / After Impact
Before the update, the website felt outdated, cluttered, and inconsistent with Adam’s community-driven leadership style.
After the redesign, the site became a modern, welcoming hub. Adam’s personality came through in the design choices, while technical and accessibility improvements ensured inclusivity and ease of use. The update gave Adam a professional digital presence that matched their grassroots values.
Narrative and Impact
The project demonstrated how collaboration can merge a candidate’s creative instincts with professional design standards. The result was a site that reflected Adam’s warmth and leadership while serving as a functional tool for outreach and engagement.
Watsonville Committee Against Toxics
Watsonville CAT Website
Watsonville CAT: Community Awareness Website
Watsonville CAT (Committee Against Toxics) emerged when residents near a proposed housing development discovered that the site had once housed an industrial waste facility. Alarmed by the health and safety risks of building homes on contaminated land, the group organized to raise awareness and protect their community. What began as a handful of concerned neighbors quickly grew into a grassroots movement, and they needed a public platform that could both inform and legitimize their efforts. The website became that platform.
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Design Mechanics
The design centered on bright, welcoming colors—warm yellows, energetic oranges, and natural greens—that reflected hope and vitality rather than fear. This palette helped frame the group’s message as proactive and constructive, making it approachable for a broad audience. Clean, simple fonts ensured the content was clear and easy to read, reinforcing the group’s credibility.
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Layouts prioritized clarity and trust. Research from the city was presented in digestible sections, paired with summaries that made technical reports accessible to everyday readers. Legislative updates and advocacy efforts were given equal prominence, underscoring that Watsonville CAT was not just raising concerns but actively shaping solutions. Local imagery and community-centered graphics grounded the site in the lived reality of residents, putting faces and places to the issue.
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Technical and Accessibility Enhancements
The site was designed to be mobile-friendly, recognizing that many residents would access it on their phones. Navigation was simplified into three key areas: site history and research, legislative action, and homeowner resources. This structure allowed visitors to quickly find the information that mattered most to them.
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Accessibility was treated as integral. High-contrast color combinations improved readability, alt-text descriptions made the site usable with screen readers, and content was organized for logical scanning. These choices reflected the group’s commitment to inclusivity, ensuring that all members of the community could engage with the information.
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Narrative and Impact
The website became more than a repository of facts—it gave Watsonville CAT legitimacy. In a landscape where developers had financial and political power, the site provided residents with a credible, organized voice that could not be easily dismissed. By placing city research alongside grassroots advocacy, the group showed they were informed, serious, and persistent.
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For prospective homeowners, the site was a vital resource, offering transparency about the risks tied to the development. For policymakers and media, it demonstrated that the community was not only aware but also mobilized. In effect, the website transformed a small neighborhood concern into a recognized movement with influence beyond its immediate circle.
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The result was a digital presence that matched the group’s ethos: approachable, grounded in community, and unapologetically focused on protecting public health and equity. Watsonville CAT’s website showed how design can turn local knowledge into collective power, helping residents stand on equal footing with institutions and developers.