Role
Team
Tools
HTML 5/CSS, Javascript, Canva
Timeline
Project Summary
For one of my final projects at UC Blue Ash, I was tasked with designing a complete website from scratch for someone else's business, building on the foundational skills developed in an earlier single-page portfolio project. This project called for a more intricate site that reflected two semesters of growth in CSS, JavaScript, and overall web design principles. I chose to design a small-scale redesign of the General Electric Aviation website for my mother, a Quality Engineer at GE's Evendale plant in Ohio, using the project as an opportunity to design for a real person in a real industry rather than a hypothetical client. It remains one of my favorite projects from that program, and it was an early confirmation of how much I genuinely enjoy web design as a discipline.
Phase 01
Concept & Direction
Since this redesign was built with my mother in mind, a Quality Engineer navigating internal tools and information as part of her daily work, I approached the direction with clarity and function as the top priority over decorative flourish. I looked to GE Aviation's existing brand identity, its blues, grays, and clean industrial typography, as a starting point, then focused on simplifying the layout and navigation to make key information easier to locate quickly. Using the CSS and JavaScript skills built up over two semesters, I focused on creating a responsive, well-structured site with clear visual hierarchy, prioritizing usability for someone who would be interacting with the site as part of a technical, detail-oriented role rather than as a casual visitor. The direction leaned toward professional and understated, letting structure and legibility carry the design rather than heavy visual styling.
Defining a New User Experience
The redesign centered on one core principle: simplicity. I stripped back visual noise, competing navigation, and dense information blocks in favor of clear hierarchy, generous white space, and a singular focus on what users actually needed to accomplish. Every element earned its place by serving the user's task, not the page's aesthetic.
Phase 02
Wireframes & Process
Before moving into development, I sketched out a series of hand-drawn wireframes to map the structure and flow of the site across multiple page types, from the homepage layout to internal content pages. Each row explores a different page concept, working through header placement, featured content blocks, navigation structure, and footer organization, iterating on hierarchy and layout before committing to a final direction. Sketching by hand let me quickly test different structural approaches, like grid-based content blocks versus list-style layouts, and work through how a user would move between a landing page, a media or gallery section, and detailed content pages, before translating any of it into HTML and CSS.
Phase 03
Final Deliverable & Reflection
This project marked the end of my time at UC Blue Ash, and looking back, it was one of the moments that genuinely shifted my direction as a designer. Building a full website from scratch, working through structure, hierarchy, and real user needs for someone else's business, gave me a level of ownership over the process that earlier coursework hadn't. It wasn't just an assignment; it was the first time web design felt like something I wanted to keep pursuing, not just complete for a grade. That spark carried directly into my transition to DAAP. What started as a two-semester intro sequence in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript became the foundation for a much deeper interest in interactive and digital design, one that's shaped nearly every project I've worked on since. This project wasn't the peak of that interest; it was the starting point.
Next Steps
Even after graduating from DAAP, this project still feels worth revisiting, not because it fell short, but because I've grown so much as a designer since. Here's how I'd approach it differently today.