Mary Chapin Carpenter

Project Details

I was enormously thrilled when the world-renowned agency Red Light Management contacted myself and my programming partner, Tom Benway about building a new website  for 5-time Grammy-winning artist, Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Known as one of the most accomplished singer-songwriters in the industry, Mary Chapin is often listed– deservedly –as a peer to musical giants like Dolly Parton, Roseanne Cash, and Willy Nelson. So it goes without saying that I felt a deep responsibility to get it right when I was asked to provide creative concepts, layout and design for her new online presence.

As you may infer from the samples, I spent a great deal of time on the iterative process for this site.  Given it’s high traffic and considerable  marquee value, I wanted to make absolutely certain that the website accurately represented the caliber of the client’s music, and also reflected her personal tastes and esthetics.

Her songs are famous for their poignant, gut-wrenching earnestness, and with an enduring commitment to humanitarian programs like Habitat for Humanity and the National Fair Housing Association, Mary Chapin is known as a remarkably down-to-earth, authentic person, despite her imposing achievements. It was critically important that her website  felt as warm, inviting and human as her music, so I took extra care to give each design a unique, imperfect, hand-made quality.

Using paper textures, 1800s catalog illustrations and letterpress prints as an inspiration, I ultimately came up with a design that I thought struck the right balance between home-spun charm, professionalism and elegance. Happily, Red Light Management and Mary Chapin Carpenter felt the same.

One of the many joys of working on this site was that I got to team up once again with my great friend, and unfairly talented development partner, Tom Benway at  VectorDefector.  In order to code the site in time for the release of Mary Chapin’s new album, Tom performed nothing short of a development miracle to get the site functioning smoothly and looking good under remarkably tight deadlines. I can’t credit him enough for all his skill and hard work.