Adventure Travel with a Conscience
January 29th, 2014 by Gage Pacifera
When I was approached with the opportunity to build a website for volunteer vacation tour startup Good Nomad, I didn’t have to think too hard on it. Would I like to help support a business that mixes travel, adventure and exploring new cultures with community development and environmental stewardship? Done. I’m so in.
At the beginning of the project, I had some trouble communicating with Seattle-based director and entrepreneur Jeff Johnson. It wasn’t his fault. He was deep in the mountains and forests for several weeks building relationships and signing contracts with the local villagers. When he would briefly return to civilization, we had some painfully laggy video conferences from Peruvian internet cafes. Then when his laptop was stolen near the end of the trip, he lost his primary means of communication as well as much of the content he was developing for the site.
But no matter, after a rocky start the site turned out just great! We built it using a pre-built WordPress theme with content supplied by Jeff. The logo was designed by former Portlander Jennifer Wallace. I really like the site’s clean look and the responsive layout. We adapted a version of the logo for the header that turned out great. The tab functionality on several pages does an effective job of condensing and organizing content. And the big orange Apply Now button combined with a Contact Form 7 form makes it super easy for conscientious adventure seekers to get in touch.
Much of the credit goes to my partner in crime on this project, the illustrious Matt Drouhard. Without his diligent assistance, I’m not sure this project would have gotten off the ground. Matt, you are awesome.