About

Thinking caps are an essential part of the design process.

My full name is Christine Winckler, but just call me Christine. I’m a bicycle-riding environmentalist, a coffee shop groupie, a hat enthusiast, and an all-around geek, which should be no surprise because I live in Seattle.

In WordPress terms I am what is often referred to as a theme developer, which basically means I both design and code websites. This allows me to give clients the features they need without adding lots of bells and whistles they don’t need, while saving time and money that would be spent coordinating with another designer or developer.

How I come up with designs

  • If you have an established brand, I’ll look through your brand guidelines and any other publications you have. A good design embodies that brand and fits in with other brand materials.  If you don’t have an established brand, I’ll ask you about the mood and personality you’d like to convey to your visitors.
  • We’ll discuss your audience and business goals, so I can tailor the design to meet that target.
  • I’ll ask you to find designs you could see yourself with, or have aspects you really like. It’s a great way to communicate design preferences that are hard to put words to.

My coding philosophy

Since web technology is relatively new, it can be easy to get caught up with all the things it can do and to try to add as many features as possible to a website. However, when that happens you can end up with a bulky, confusing system.

I start simple and add only what I think you will use. I believe this is the philosophy WordPress operates by and why it has become so popular as a content management system.

I’ll pay close attention to your work habits and patterns, to ascertain what information you will produce and how often, and which aspects of your website you will want to change frequently. For your website to be a success after it’s built, it’s important that the structure and capabilities are a match for your needs; otherwise it will become unmanageable.

“Christine took the time to get to know our organization and understand what we were hoping to achieve with our new website. She broke the process down into manageable steps and helped us design exactly what we wanted – a website that is clean, attractive and easy to use.”

Jessica Nguyen, Housing Development Consortium