How We’ve Grown: The Evolution of the StratLab Homepage

Thanks to the Internet Archive’s “Wayback Machine”, we’ve been given a priceless opportunity to look back and reflect on how we’ve changed and grown over the years (or at least, how our website has!)

Sep 3, 2021|byCarter|inBlogging, Innovation, Website

2012.

Our Humble Beginnings

Very short and sweet, and complete with the ubiquitous early-2010s beveled buttons and subtle tiled background textures, this simple and unassuming landing page is where it all started.

2013.

A Study in Grey

Moving away from the underground blogger aesthetic and into a regrettably rather bland corporate aesthetic. Our 2013 homepage was a stepping stone in finding our identity, and this was definitely not it, chief.

2014.

The Futura is Now

Starting fresh with another overhaul, the 2014 homepage was clean and sleek and ahead of the curve, though clearly somewhat minimalist. It was a step in the right direction!

2015.

Doubling Down

This year, instead of scrapping the old theme and starting fresh, we decided to stick with what worked and just build onto it. Above adding additional content and layout elements, this year we discovered our company motto and it’s been a driving motif ever since:

Be Findable, Be Trustable, Be Remarkable

2018.

Enter Enfold

After spending 3 years resting on the sturdy site we had made in 2015, we decided it was time to give our homepage a fresh coat of paint. This year, we started using the WordPress theme Enfold, which has remained our go-to theme for building sites ever since due to its simplicity and flexibility. Clearly, we were just getting the hang of things in this new theme, but the StratLab spirit shines through.

2019.

Year of the Flamingo

It’s loud, it’s proud, it’s pink! We decided to go with a modernist bubblegum palette for this year as we honed our skills with our theme of choice.

2020.

Fancy CSS Time

StratLab has arrived! For 2020, we went all in on custom CSS to augment the style and uniqueness of our homepage, something we now do with most of the sites we build. It stays loud and proud, but now feels more deliberate and fun.

2021.

The Present (at time of writing, anyway)

Just look at it. Drink it in. This artistic and interactive design, dreamed up by our lead designer and brought into reality by me, is a marvel to behold. At least I think it is, but I might be biased. Featuring a custom-coded starting animation that introduces you to our site with Hollywood flair and proudly displaying our skilled and passionate team, this is truly a homepage to be proud of.