Summary

A small portal that's grown into a 5 site WP Multisite network with 3 differing themes

About the Project

IRF.red was created out of the need to create a one-stop shop for information about the Imperialist Robloxian Federation, a large ROBLOX Community that I’ve routinely done work for and volunteered in for numerous years.

The Brief

The goal for IRF.red was simple: create a simple, easy-to-access portal for information that could easily be edited and updated by the volunteers within the group.

The Approach

Because this project was being purely undertaken by me in the Design and Development stages I had quite a lot of free reign over how to approach the site. I originally sat down and went through the positives and negatives of the following approaches and CMS usecases:

In my mind I wanted to create something purely custom due to my love-hate relationship for WordPress and because I wanted to continually grow my skills. Unfortunately after undertaking research within the community and the volunteer editing teams I realised I needed to promote ease of access and editing over something bespoke, some volunteers already had experience with WordPress and in terms of generating an MVP it was the fastest route to water.

IRF.red was fully designed by me, in a rare twist from my usual work as a developer. I have always wanted to grow my design skills but it’s certainly an area I struggle in - however with IRF.red I’m very pleased with how my creative vision panned out.

The Outcome

IRF.red was very well recieved by the community and is now home to over 155 articles and 30 pages spanned over a 5 multi-site network also designed and integrated by myself.

The website has recieved praise for it’s simplistic yet appealing design, the option for light or dark mode and the user-friendly editing interface.

You can view the sites by visiting here. Only the “Government” website is fully developed due to shortages in volunteer editing staff.

Reflection and Key Skills

Working on IRF.red as a solo designer and developer really harnessed all my skills not only from a design/development standpoint but from a project manager, holding myself accountable and setting deadlines to meet.

Specifically I: