SamBragg.com

New Website Launched…HyrumSmithFarm.com

I’m excited about a new website I just launched at www.HyrumSmithFarm.com!

This is a vacation home in Nauvoo, Illinois that I manage through Nauvoo Property Services (NPS), which manages about 30 properties.  Of the many ways available for marketing our vacation homes, I have long wanted to pursue individual domain names specific to each home.  This allows NPS and/or homeowners to individually market their home.  It also improves our search engine results by having multiple sites linked together as well as more potential result pages.  We can have targeted search engine ads directed to specific homes.  And I’m sure there are other benefits and potential uses of individual sites.

To develop this idea, I decided to register the domain www.HyrumSmithFarm.com and begin working on a dedicated website for that home.  After quite a bit of experimentation, I feel like I have put together a pretty nice template for presenting the homes individually.  I do have more ideas and I expect the template to evolve, but I really like this as a starting point.

Enjoy!

Screenshot of the current home page.

Tags: hyrum smith farm, illinois, marketing, nauvoo, vacation homes, web design, websites

Check out Calatrava.com

This weekend I was working on a Flash project, and I ended up looking for inspiration online.  While I found a few helpful resources, I was mostly taken in by this website, www.calatrava.com.  It is the official website for Santiago Calatrava, one of the world’s leading architects.  I remembered studying some of his work in my design class at Sacramento State University.  I was impressed at the time, but I am even more impressed after seeing more of his projects.

Take a look at this landmark opera house with the dramatic tidal wave shaped roof design:

Tenerife Opera House by Calatrava

Building: Tenerife Opera House
Location: Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Completed: 2003

Both the exterior and interior of this building are absolutely amazing.  You can find several pictures on his website, or using your favorite search engine.

Calatrava has a distinctive style. Almost all of his bridges share common features, and the buildings all embrace contemporary design.  I love the turning torso building in Malmo, Sweden and the sundial bridge in Turtle Bay.  I was amazed to find out that bridge was completed in 2004 practically in my own backyard of Redding, CA.  Ok, it is a few hours away, but I will definitely check that out in person sooner rather than later.

 After being immersed in the high-profile, physical work of Calatrava, the flash work for his website seems more trivial.  Still, I am really impressed with the form and function of the website.  You don’t find a lot of websites completely designed with flash that load so quickly and combine simplicity with visual appeal.  There are a couple of navigation quirks that I noticed, but ultimately I was inspired by www.calatrava.com.  I hope you enjoy!

Tags: architects, buildings, contemporary, flash, sacramento state university, santiago calatrava, spain, tenerife opera house, web design, website reviews