Challenge
The Jibe's existing Drupal website was showing its age, both in terms of design and functionality. Key challenges included:
An outdated design that no longer reflected the company's innovative spirit
A cumbersome CMS that made content updates difficult and time-consuming
Poor performance and slow load times, particularly on mobile devices
Lack of modern features and animations that could engage visitors
Difficulty in maintaining and updating the codebase
As the lead developer for this project, I needed to propose and implement a solution that would address all these issues while ensuring a smooth transition for both the development team and content creators.
Goal
Our primary objectives for this project were to:
Completely overhaul the website's design to align with The Jibe's current brand identity
Implement a modern, React-based frontend for improved performance and user experience
Integrate a user-friendly CMS that would streamline content creation and management
Incorporate engaging animations and interactive elements to boost user engagement
Develop a modular, component-based architecture for easier maintenance and future scalability
Ensure the new website was fully responsive and performed well across all devices
Complete the project within a 4-month timeframe among other ongoing projects
Result
Through meticulous planning, effective team leadership, and leveraging cutting-edge technologies, we successfully delivered The Jibe's new website, exceeding expectations:
Launched a visually striking, fully responsive website built with React, GraphQL, Sanity.io and Gatsby, resulting in a much longer user's average time on site
Implemented Sanity.io as the CMS, reducing content update times and enabling content and styles configurability, and receiving positive feedback from the owner and content team
Utilized Framer for animations, creating a dynamic user experience that increased user engagement
Developed reusable components of different sizes, including a contact form, footer, typography, buttons, hero section, animated cards, logo stacks, and etc., accelerating development speed for future projects
Improved website load times
Increased mobile traffic due to the improved responsive design and performance
Completed the project in roughly 3.5 months, two weeks ahead of schedule
As the lead developer, I successfully guided a team of three engineers from conception to completion, ensuring seamless collaboration and high-quality output. The new website not only met but exceeded The Jibe's expectations of a CMS, providing them with a powerful tool to showcase their brand and engage with their audience with a performant new website. The modular architecture and easy-to-use CMS have set the stage for continued growth and easy maintenance, positioning The Jibe for long-term digital success.