When Dr. Rachel Goode created the Living F.R.E.E. Lab and research team at the University of North Carolina several years ago, we had the privilege of helping establish the lab’s brand and website. Dr. Goode and the LFL team cultivate solutions and resources to help people reconnect with their bodies and rebuild their relationship with food, with research and interventions specifically for people of color.
It’s been amazing to watch Rachel’s research and online reach expand over the years, as both LFL and her personal coaching business became thriving resources in her field. As is often the case after a few years, the Living F.R.E.E. Lab website was a bit overdue for a facelift, so we were excited when Dr. Goode reached out again.
About This Recent Project
Website Design and Development
This time around, Rachel provided her own updated brand kit for us to incorporate into the site design. Differing from the previous more academic style, the new brand identity package has a much more conversational and welcoming feel, and it was important that the new site design follow suit.
After verifying any necessary content or page layout updates as per the previous website, Maria created individual page mockups for all key pages of the website. During the design approval process, the LFL team requested the addition of a new Media page to highlight interviews, awards, and publications where their work has been featured. We enjoyed helping plan and organize this page in particular—so neat to see the recognition Dr. Goode’s work has received.
Once the lively new page mockups were approved, Mandy began implementing the design in a custom Kadence child theme. Part of the development process also included removing the Elementor page builder that had posed several issues for the Lab team in recent months, so the new design was built solely in Kadence Blocks and Gutenberg. This helps ensure the longevity of the design and the website’s functionality since we focused on using native tools for WordPress. (This method also improves the site load speed since there are no unnecessary scripts loading on top of the theme or core site files.)
The final steps of our work included upgrading the Google Analytics property for the website to Google’s new GA4 property, migrating the historical data over, and submitting the sitemap to the Google Search Console. Also, we provided a series of tutorial videos to help the Living F.R.E.E. Lab team learn their way around the new site and give them the confidence needed to make future page and post changes on their own.
Though this project was a bit smaller in scope than most of our brand and website designs, we thoroughly enjoyed giving the site a fresh new look and providing a new online home that Dr. Goode and her Lab team can easily navigate.
What Rachel had to say…
“We are so grateful for you and your team and the work you did to help us design our new website!”
Services Included in this Project
- Custom WordPress Website Design and Development
- Removal of Elementor Page Builder
- Training for Gutenberg Block Builder
- Ongoing Tech Support
Team Members Involved
Randi Avant
Mandy Roberson
Maria Whittaker
Find out more about these ladies and the rest of the team here at MRM: Meet the Team
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