The website for Amite Pentecostal Church (APC) is the most recent project for JKBarrilleaux Designs. It was a new project without an existing website or template to work from. I love these types of projects because it gives me an opportunity to work closely with my clients. 

When starting a project from a blank slate, the first thing I ask my clients to do is explore other websites from similar organizations. I ask them to not only identify what they do like on those websites but what they don't like, and why. This helps direct me when designing the site. We then put together a "franken-site" from the features that really attract them on other websites. 

The first step was registering the domain through GoDaddy and using their free site builder to create a "Coming soon" page. The second step was to declare ownership of the Google profile and verify it. 

Then website development began! Through a series of meetings, we established a feature list. I created a sandbox website on the selected CMS, Weebly, and began working on the design elements based on the church palette in the church logo. Using Canva, I created all of the website graphics. I attended multiple services to take photographs and video. I do not profess to be a photographer or videographer! But I was able to do this for what was needed on the website. I also wrote all copy on the website based on rough drafts provided by the planning committee, both in writing and during meeting discussions. ​

I created the full website in the sandbox site, continuing to meet with the planning committee to ensure I was staying on the right track. Once all pages were designed and all copy was written, we met for a final review and to decide the official launch date. 

 Special features for the website include:

• a video banner on the homepage
• an Elsight popup widget that provides shortcuts to key pages on all pages
• an Elfsight event calendar widget that enhances the design of an integrated Google calendar
• multiple forms - a general contact form, a guest information form, and a ride request form - which are routed directly to designated church contacts

As a final step, I set up indexing in the Google Search Console and finalized the official Google Business profile to help with search engine optimization. I also updated the DNS records in GoDaddy to point the website to the church's custom domain. 

The Amite Pentecostal Church website officially launched in May 2025. 

The event calendar on the APC website is one such example. The church secretary was gathering events from the leadership and using a calendar in Word to create a printable calendar every month. We implemented a shared Google calendar that enables all members of the leadership to add events, which are automatically published to the event calendar on the website. Some church members still prefer printed calendars, however, so I worked with the church secretary to define a process to print the Google calendar once all events were added. These can be printed on demand.

As a librarian and technical writer, I am really passionate about knowledge sharing, knowledge transfer, and documentation. So, in the process of establishing a digital workflow for church events, I also created documentation using Scribe that the church leadership can use to work through the process.

The planning committee decided that printed flyers posted around the church would help communicate the website launch and draw engagement to key pages. I originally created three flyers, which all features scannable QR codes for the referenced web address. One is a general announcement about the new website launch, and included a matching Facebook post graphic. One highlights the new events calendar page. And the other encourages visitors to use the online guest information form instead of the physical form. I recently created another flyer that points church members to the church's Givlify account to pay tithes and offering or give donations. The documents were designed in Canva, using the same color palette and layout as the website graphics to carry the brand forward. They were printed in high resolution on high-gloss photo paper so they are eye-catching and engaging.

I started working with Karen over ten years ago. I was referred to her by a colleague at LOUIS, who was a friend and client of Karen’s. 

At the time, Karen’s website was built using hardcoded files on a hosting provider’s servers. Karen’s original website was also pretty basic and didn’t include a lot of the features she was looking for. She wanted better social media integration, project galleries, and additional pages to highlight her idea boards. We ultimately scrapped the original site and I rebuilt  Karen’s website using HTML, CSS, and PHP on the same hosting platform. We completely redesigned the layout and added the features and highlights Karen was looking for. I maintained the code base for this site for several years. 

Recent developments include generating two Instagram feed widgets via Elfsight. One widget replaced an existing LightWidget feed in the footer. I also replaced the “Featured Project” section with a full width layout. This makes the section more dynamic and surfaces the project highlights Karen and her team post on Instagram. Users can hover over a post to read the description and see likes and comments. This will help drive traffic from Karen’s website to her Instagram feed.