Adonal Foyle	MAR 1 07
Coolest. Client. Ever.

The original site click to enlarge

How many clients have sent you a $250 check just for being "an overall good person"? My answer was zero, too, until I snagged the AFE account completely by accident. Adonal's former assistant found Angled End on Craig's List several years ago, and a beautiful working relationship was born. Many free Warriors game tickets and a couple of lavish island parties later, we're still going strong.

Adonal was an unknown entity to me (a relative newcomer to the Bay Area) when I was first contacted, but it wasn't long before his rags-to-enlightenment story grew on me and I became a proud Adonophile. The main project when we first started working together was Adonal's original website, which would be used as a platform for his personal, political and athletic ventures. A few comps, some palette changes and many tweaks later, AdonalFoyle.com debuted in all its funky, glittering glory, complete with intrusive but impressive intro animation.

That version of the site held strong for a few years, until the mere age of it demanded a replacement. There really weren't many things "wrong" with the site as it was, but there were certainly things that I had developed misgivings about over time. I generally steer clients away from dedicated intro pages nowadays, for example (most people just want to click past them), and the site didn't fill larger browser windows very well.

New and improved! click to view the site

So the modus operandi for the revision project was to freshen up the look but avoid reinventing the wheel. The new design included, among other improvements:

• An animated intro integrated into the home page, which doesn't force people to make that extra click to get where they're going.
• A wider site layout that fills browser windows more effectively, and it's also centered so that it looks good even on giant screens.
• Sharper, cleaner, more modern graphics that maintain the slick/organic motif of the previous design.
• A new and improved photo album that flows better and is much easier to update.

The project went very smoothly and was a hands-down success. The Adonal camp was thrilled with the updated design, as was I. I have to admit that I'm going to have a harder time abandoning (and improving on) this version when they inevitably decide they're ready to update it again, but I'm sure I'll find some way of spending Adonal's "good person" money. ;)

:: whit