Project: Jim Wann

Jim Wann is a music and theatre artist whose work has been performed across America and around the world. He was chief composer and leading man for Broadway's Pump Boys and Dinettes, which was nominated for a Tony for best musical.

Project overview / Challenge

Jim Wann commissioned me to build a comprehensive media and listening resource for music lovers, producers, and booking agents. He contacted me to design a mobile friendly, media rich website to encourage new collaborations within the Broadway circuits while also announcing his newly released album.

For this project, I worked closely with a regional portrait photographer and directed a photoshoot in a couple of New England towns known for their artistic and architecturally rich backdrops. I designed and built a content rich website with a custom theme. For the media, I processed all of his music into listening tracks and created profiles for Jim Wann on multiple music distribution hubs. I created videos and branded them for YouTube to increase his exposure.

My Roles

  • Art Direction
  • Information architecture
  • Content Strategy
  • Branding & Design
  • Development
  • Events feed
Tasha Tudor sketch

Responsive, mobile friendly design

Jim Wann Three Views
Insight, Apelon UX, Dawn Russell

Insight

Collaborations

My approach to the site build

Flat design with a Broadway inspired feel

The most interesting part of this project, aside from getting to know Jim and his music, was his desire to attract new projects that would make use of his acting, songwriting and performance abilities. This resulted in the Collaborations section which chronicles the depth and breadth of his creative endeavors - from small performances to full scale Broadway engagements.

View Site: Jim Wann
Interface, Jim Wann, UX, Dawn Russell

Interface

Music
Music

As part of this project, I received original music on CD's which I ripped and then processed into 30 second tracks complete with envelope filters featuring the highlight of each song. These tracks were then uploaded to accounts I created at Amazon, ITunes and CDbaby to extend the outreach and encourage sales.

Interface, Jim Wann, UX, Dawn Russell

Implementation

Events Page

Content Construction

Simplify the process of adding events and collabortions

Events and Collaborations are built with content types to ease the long term authorship of the website. Relationships were created between events and venues. The feed is configured to show upcoming events in one section and recent events in another sidebar section. This way the user can keep abreast of future performances while booking agents can view an archive of his engagements.

The forms were then translated into front-end templates that display the information consistently, in the global style of the website. The challenge was mapping the fields into the designs in a way that makes the interface fun and usable. 

I worked with local photographer Danielle Tait to procure a series of photographs that we could use for Jim Wann's website and marketing materials. We worked across two locations in New England to capture a few different looks - Jim Wann, the musician; Jim Wann, inspired by Johnny Mercer; and Jim Wann, the writer.


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Connect with me

I'm currently open to speaking engagements, collaborative exchange, and select, highly creative freelance projects. Please reach out and say hi.

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