The New Fresh Prints Website
Before reading my proposal, feel free to check out the prototype page I made based on your wireframe for the gallery. Some parts of the page are functional, some aren't yet. I'll detail that more closely below.
In this proposal I will go over the following:
- Why Shopify is far and away the best platform for Fresh Prints
- A brief outline of the prototype I made of the Fresh Prints "Gallery" Page
- Why I believe I'm a good fit to work with Fresh Prints
- A timeline + budget
Shopify: the ideal platform for Fresh Prints
There are four main reasons that Shopify is the ideal platform for Fresh Prints: customizability, scalability, ease of use, and integrations.
Customizability
There are few things worse than having an awesome website custom-made for you, only to find out that if you want to add features or make some tweaks, it will take a month to do so. Luckily, Shopify offers a high level of customizability that can't be matched by Wordpress or Squarespace.
This customizability means that I'm able to code a feature into the platform that can then be utilized by someone who has no idea what code is.
Example: Quick edits can be made without a single line of code.
Say I am an employee working on the Fresh Prints gallery page, and I want to add a new design to the page. (Luckily, designs on that page can be searched by category, subcategory, or keyword.)
However, I realize an issue. The design I just added (Delta Phi Epsilon Elephant) is supposed to be in the "Formal" subcategory for sorority, but it's showing up under the "Rush & Bid" category.
Thanks to simple, dynamic code and Shopify's awesome API, fixing this issue is a breeze. See the video below.
The example in the video above shows that, when the search term isn't working properly, someone without any coding experience at all could use Shopify's platform to fix up an issue in no time. All I had to do was go to the Delta Phi Epsilon Elephant's product page, change one of its attributes, and I'm done in seconds.
The best part is that you may want to add, remove, or change these features, and the open-source nature of Shopify's API lets us do just that.
Ease of use
The big kicker when it comes to customizability is the relationship between the developer and the Fresh Prints employees who will actually be managing the website. What is coded once never has to be touched again by a dev. In essence, the life of the person working on the website post-development gets easier, not harder.
Let's follow up on the previous example. Say that this time, rather than change the subcategory of an existing design, I want to add a new one that goes into the Sorority > tridelt category.
Even if I have never used shopify's platform before in my life, adding a new style in was a total breeze. This simplicity works across the entire platform, and can save Fresh Prints loads of time when updating its website.
Additionally, the "staff accounts" feature on Shopify allows for any number of accounts to manage your website, all with different permissions. It will hardly require any training at all to get people on the website.
You might want me, a campus rep that just joined the team, to have access to your designs, but not your code or accounting. With a single click, making it happen is super easy. This is really ideal if you have interns working on certain parts of the website but don't want them to have the capability to accidentally crash your website.
Scalability
For a company growing as quickly as Fresh Prints, there is a good chance that a team of front-end developers will have to look at the code that is made on this website in a year and try to work with it. In order to do so, it has to be well documented, commented throughout the code, and organized.
It's common for freelancers to try to take shortcuts and hard-code something that may look good now, but that can't truly scale.
Here's a little nerdy description of why the Fresh Prints website I would make on Shopify can be scaled.
I write all my code using simple and easy-to-read HTML, CSS and Javascript / jQuery. I structure my CSS using SCSS, with seven folders of clearly organized SCSS partials that any front-end dev could easily understand. Throughout the project, I use consistent breakpoints for different viewports, along with dynamic SCSS variables for standardized padding, borders, and color schemes across the project. Shopify's platform allows for a plethora of dynamic variables to be added into this mix with ease.
It's no surprise companies like Tesla utilize Shopify.
Integrations
Finally, Shopify has a badass App Store that gets everything from Zapier to Live Chat on your site in seconds. These apps are fantastic. Analytics, CRM, email marketing – you name it. Plenty are free as well. I find it fun to play around and look at different apps on the store, but that might just be me being a nerd.
Shopify has become a beast of the e-commerce / hosting world. It partners with companies like Facebook and Apple on the reg to bring awesome updates.
The Fresh Prints gallery page prototype
To give you an idea of what I can make for Fresh Prints, I put together a rough 1.0 version of your gallery page. You can view it here. The functionality is minimal in many cases, but it is responsive to all screen sizes and is made with simple jQuery. It's also hosted on Shopify.
What isn't currently working in the prototype (but will work if we move forward):
- The URL path doesn't currently change when you select a category or sub-category.
- The footer and header links don't go anywhere.
- The "Submit" button that shows up on the modal (pop-up) when you click on a design doesn't currently lead anywhere.
- The floating button at the bottom right doesn't currently link to a pop-up.
- The only category with a drop-down or any designs is "Sorority".
Try clicking the Sorority category. Also, try clicking on a design. What's great is that, little things like the text that says "Customize This Design" when you hover over an image could be edited by anyone at Fresh Prints without any coding. It's scalable customization at its best.
The right fit for fresh prints
In the two years of working on a startup of my own, I have hired dozens of freelancers – photographers, videographers, graphic designers, press agents, and more. The one thing I never hired out for, however, was web design. I started making websites at nine and have loved it ever since. (Proof: Here's an incredibly embarrassing video I put on YouTube when I was 11. I made little hacks like this and put them on a website I had at the time. I have never shared this on a piece of work before.)
I have seen first hand what it's like to work with someone who can't deliver, and know the pains of sifting through different freelancers. I'm easy to communicate with, quick to deliver, and won't say that I can do something that I can't.
Timeline + Budget
Simple text pages with forms etc. should only take a few days.
The gallery page has work put into it already. It will take only 2 weeks to finish.
The product page appears to be the most elaborate in terms of features, and will likely take 3 weeks to start and finish.
The campus manager and about page should take about 1-2 weeks to finish altogether.
All in all, I expect this project to take 8-10 weeks. It's possible it could take less, and if there are any strict timelines you're on, do let me know and I can see if we can accommodate. However, I like to set safe expectations, and account for iteration / back-and-forth time in my timeline. I have worked with freelancers who promise timelines they can't deliver, so I know how painful that is.
For the project as a whole, I would charge about $9k. This would include any iterations you need on the pages and code I make – no need to worry about hourly pay. If you are on a very significant time crunch, the cost may increase, depending on how big of a rush it is.
It's my hope that the prototype page and this proposal have shown you how excited I am for this project. I'm a regular Fresh Prints customer customer, and look forward to hopefully working together.
Thanks!
Fernando Rojo
fernando@wearpatos.com