Complete Workwear needed a website to increase their profile with their customers and the large airlines they do business with.
Indigenous Redesign 2016
Around 2016 the site was due to get a redesign and to make it responsive for mobile devices. I had been trying to get the owner to agree to this work for quite a while but to secure indigenous funding a “Supply Nation” endorsed Web Designer had to be employed. And me not being Aboriginal couldn’t do the work. Reverse discrimination at work!
Anyway the new design does look good and use has been made of stock images as opposed to my photos taken at the actual premises. It was good to see that one of my badges made the new design. The specials haven’t been updated for ages and I suspect that there’s no ongoing maintenance from the original designer.
In 2018 the specials, along with my badge, were deleted as it’s easier than updating them.
Site Redesign, 2012
Having just finished my portfolio site using WordPress with the Ultimatum template I was keen to keep going with it to learn how to use it more effectively.
Although quite easy to use (for web designers anyway!) I did have some frustration getting the heading image to fit correctly. It’s a good idea to design your site full size in Fireworks and get the correct dimensions correct. Then you could put the correct pixel amounts into the CSS.
One drawback of Ultimatum is that it has a huge number of files. Although many hosting packages say “unlimited space” what they don’t mention is the file count limit; usually 200,000 files or so.
This can be a problem if multiple sites are hosted on the one web server user. Complete Workwear has their own hosting so this wasn’t a problem.
Photography
Another chance to meet the people you build sites for and to photograph their workplace. This proved a bit of a challenge as Complete Workwear is a small factory working as a commercial laundry. Before going I had a look at some industrial photos to get some ideas. One which was useful was finding colourful items and getting in close to get the colours, textures and patterns; which can be pleasing and interesting to look at.
Shirt finishing sequence
When at the factory I took a sequence of photos of an automatic shirt press, which I found very interesting to watch. I wish I had taken my tripod for the sequence, instead I spent time lining the images up using Fireworks, but the end result is still pleasing.
Design Versions
The first design was mainly red with a pleasing reference to Aboriginal art. The second version done in blue was a more modern design with less indigenous style about it. Both designs came from graphic designers and my job was to incorporate them into a website design.
Covid-19 Claims Another Business
Early 2020 the business closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak causing international travel to be shutdown. The website can now only be viewed at the web archive at http://completeworkwear.com.au/
However, due to strong support being an indigenous business it re-emerged as Gerrbik Laundry Services.
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