Have you ever met someone, either virtually or in-real-life, that is so much like you that a double take is necessary? Friends, meet Jerusalem Jackson Greer. I was introduced to her by a book, her book, A Homemade Year, to be specific. After ordering it for a work resource, blog stalking her, and then ultimately meeting her at a conference it dawned on me….
We Are Basically the Same Person
You see, she is a church lady. She works as a Children, Family and Youth Minister in a church in AR. You may or may not know this, but I am also a church lady. I hold the current title of Director of Children’s Ministry here in Sun Valley, ID.
She is also a designer. Once upon a time she owned an interior design company. I am a graphic and website designer, obviously.
She wanted to have all girls and ended up with boys. I wanted to have all boys and ended up with girls. sigh, we do love our children but mourn that which will never be…. sigh again….
She owned a retail store. I also owned a retail store.
She has many side hustles. I do too… I design, assist for a dentist, work at a church, and occasionally still attend births as a doula/midwife assistant.
She has chickens… you got it… I do too!
I Had to Redesign Her Site
Jerusalem has been blogging for a little over 12 years.
LET THAT SINK IN … 12 years!
It all started at the dawn of the internet, or close to, with a Blogger site. A few years later she transferred to a WordPress.com site. It was a sweet site to be sure but it was lacking something. Her brand was well defined. She had excellent photography. The site logo was adorable. BUT it could be better, it could capture the essence of Jerusalem in a more complete way. She needed custom.
I had ideas, dreams, and ambitions for her. Thankfully, she trusted me and gave me the keys to her site with permission to design at full tilt!
Nothing Could Stop Me
Being that we are the same person, basically, the design came naturally. I had the best time refining her brand. We tightened up the color palette, choose new fonts, and sweetened up her images with ornaments. We added pretty wallpaper and loads of call-to-action options.
But what really made the difference was the organization of her content. It is one of my main gifts as a designer. Give me the huge, hairy, unruly sites and watch has they fall into natural, organic pathways of easy navigation.
Special Feature
I am most excited about the Tutorials page. We used the theme’s portfolio featured as a showcase for all of Jerusalem’s DIY projects.
I don’t know about you, but I hate scrolling through a long list of blog posts trying to find that “how-to” you saw on Pinterest. Or hearing about so and so’s awesome tutorial but no matter what search term you use you just can’t find it in the 1000+ blog posts!
Enter the most genius solution: Jerusalem’s Custom Portfolio Filter Feature!!! Simply click on Tutorials and then click on the button that best describes the project you wish to do.
Click on Paper, if you feel like cutting and pasting.
Or Recipies if you need to cook something southern and comforting.
Or click on All and see all the options at once.
NO MORE SCROLLING for years!! It’s all right there at your fingertips.
*fist pump*
Go to the Happy Place
One of the best compliments I’vereceivedd for my work was from Jerusalem. She said, “The other day after I had a rough conversation, I opened up my new site and just stared at it. It is my HAPPY PLACE.”
Friends, it is one of my happy places too. It was born of real friendship, commonality, and sweet, sweet design. I hope you love it as much as we do.
