Thomas C. Barrett, Ph.D. Educational seminars
Thomas C. Barrett sought a new website with a professional design, blog, and email marketing integration.
Thomas C. Barrett is a retired Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Saint Elizabeth University and a licensed psychologist in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He has over four decades of clinical experience. In 2024, he decided to apply his knowledge to a more entrepreneurial pursuit: seminars and other educational outreach.
Thomas C. Barrett, Ph.D. Educational Seminars provides seminars and other resources that explore the fundamental connection between spiritual identity and psychological health. In response to the mounting mental health crisis facing our society, Dr. Barrett has embarked on a mission to share groundbreaking scientific insights into our approach to emotional well-being and resilience.
As such, he asked for a professional-looking design that communicated with seriousness and gravity. The website needed to include a blog, email marketing integration, and have the ability to expand to support eCommerce in the future. We worked with Dr. Barrett to design a website that met all of his requirements.
Feeling entrepreneurial?
Information Architecture
Dr. Barrett provided his own content, and we collaborated to organize it into an appropriate information architecture. Information architecture is an important design step, even for small sites. It’s essential for a good user experience and search engine optimization (SEO).
Visual Design
Our visual design choices centered on creating a sophisticated, professional look that would reflect Dr. Barrett’s extensive expertise while ensuring accessibility and engagement for his audience. We developed a monochromatic color palette anchored in atmospheric blues, a choice informed by color psychology research. In Western markets, blue consistently ranks as the most preferred color across genders and carries strong associations with trustworthiness and reliability — essential qualities for a mental health professional’s digital presence.
Typography played a crucial role in balancing professionalism with approachability. For body text, we selected Inter, a humanist sans-serif typeface specifically designed for digital screens. Its business-like yet friendly character, combined with high legibility, made it ideal for the text-heavy nature of Dr. Barrett’s content. To create visual hierarchy and add gravitas to the design, we paired Inter with Lusitana for headings and quotes. This transitional serif typeface brings a vintage appeal that subtly reinforces Dr. Barrett’s extensive experience while serving as a counterpoint to the contemporary aspects of the design.
“You really did a great job! It looks different from what I initially envisioned. But I like the difference! The approach you’ve taken is much more functional and direct.”
Thomas C. Barrett, Ph.D.
Given the substantial amount of textual content required to communicate Dr. Barrett’s insights and services, we needed to prevent visual fatigue without compromising the site’s professional character. Our solution incorporated blocks of color throughout the design. These elements create visual interest and help guide users through the content.
Content Management System and Integrations
The selection of a content management system was driven by both immediate requirements and future scalability considerations. WordPress emerged as the best choice due to its robust blogging capabilities, which include content organization with categories and tags, integrated site search, comments section, and highly customizable user interface for dynamic content. These features provide Dr. Barrett with the tools needed to effectively share his psychological insights and engage with his audience. Furthermore, WordPress’s extensibility ensures that when Dr. Barrett decides to expand into eCommerce, the website can accommodate this growth without requiring a platform change.
To support Dr. Barrett’s audience engagement strategy, we needed an email marketing service that combined functionality with ease of use. After evaluation of various platforms, we recommended MailerLite for its appropriate feature set for someone new to email newsletter management. We performed the initial setup of the MailerLite account for Dr. Barrett and integrated it with the WordPress site.
Our approach ensures that as Dr. Barrett’s digital presence grows, the technical foundation can continue to support his mission of addressing society’s mental health challenges through education and engagement.
Start with the right foundation.