Michael Hale > Design

UI/UX

VM Builder

This is a frontend GUI to easily create pre-configured VMWare virtual machines - "platform engineering" before the term was widespread. The goal was to eliminate the time developers spent researching all the command line parameters. It also served to limit configuration variations and provide guardrails which were vetted to work within the bounds of the overall infrastructure. On the coding side, it uses Bootstrap and jQuery Validation to enforce choice limits. This app creates an XML file within the browser to be ingested by a complementary app (not included here) which interfaces directly with VMWare for virtual machine creation. Also has a dark mode option, and there was a planned batching feature which was not implemented.

Website Design

These are some of the notable original website designs I created for myself and clients. Later, I would start to work with dedicated designers on most professional projects so am not able to take credit for more recent work outside of personal projects. Even then, the more recent projects tend to take on a much more functional, simplistic approach rather than attempt to capture any kind of overall unique aesthetic. Eventually I'd like to return to that and make this portfolio site more unique.

Click the thumbnail for a larger version.

Coffee Bytes — (2009) Pre-responsive web era, going for a glass diffusion look and using the Dreamweaver templating system.

South Shore Media — (2010) A big update to the company site and aimed to communicate and showcase more of my capabilities and service offerings. Experimenting with CSS3.

City Lakers Baseball — (2010) This was my first attempt for a client with the recently finalized CSS3 specification, implementing many of its groundbreaking techniques.

Michigan City Parks Department — (2011) My big break and most ambitious project by features up to that date. Using Joomla as the CMS.

Michigan City Summer Festival Committee — (2012) Really aimed for a summer feel and something to set a branding tone where none existed. Also using Joomla.

Graphic Design

Building on the website design section above, here is a list of items within each project which I designed for them.

Coffee Bytes - site template, logo, site header, menu, background
South Shore Media - site template, logo, menu, footer background
City Lakers Baseball - site template, site background, logo re-coloring
Michigan City Summer Festival Committee - site template, logo, site header, background image

Logos

(2009) The South Shore Media logo

TBA - Southern Shore Music Festival

Misc

(2011) Created a logo for the Michigan City Summer Festival Committee promoting the 125th anniversary of the city

(2012) Another yearly theme logo promoting the Great Lakes Grand Prix