Building Rebecca Camille
Rebecca Camille was built as more than a website.
The site was designed to bring the Accel Game Plan Methodology to life.
The Build in Stages
Rebecca Camille began with a blank slate.
I explored templates first, but found them too generic for what I wanted to build.
I wanted the flexibility to control the site in every aspect, from its structure and navigation to how its pages connected and functioned across the site.
That control was especially important when it came to the underlying schema markup and how I wanted the information on each page to be identified.
Building from a blank canvas gave me the freedom to let the site develop around the business rather than fit the business into a predetermined design.
I also wanted to use my own photography rather than rely on stock images.
As I searched through my photographs, I kept returning to a vast collection from years of exploring the Mojave Desert.
The more I looked through those images, the more I began to see a parallel between the landscape I knew so well and the business site I was building.
The images began to tell a story that felt remarkably connected to how businesses are built and explored.
There were paths leading somewhere and trails that disappeared.
Open expanses offered a wider view, while hidden mines revealed what could exist beneath the surface.
Changing terrain required a change in direction.
Plants found ways to grow in difficult places, wildlife left clues behind, and discoveries often appeared where they weren't expected.
I knew that landscape well enough to understand that what you see at first is rarely all there is to find. The same was true of the businesses I wanted to explore.
The Mojave Desert wasn't chosen as a theme for Rebecca Camille.
It revealed itself as a way to tell the story.
Five Stages Took Shape
That discovery began to shape the Accel Game Plan Methodology visually.
Each of the five stages needed more than a name.
I wanted each medallion to carry symbolism that reflected what happens during that stage and to connect that meaning back to the landscape that inspired it.
Clarify, Analyze, Strategize, Implement, and Accelerate each developed their own identity, while remaining part of one continuous path.
Before the Mojave
Clarify and Analyze were the first two Accel Game Plan medallions.
Their original designs used familiar visual representations of business discovery and analysis: magnification, checklists, charts, data, and a destination ahead.
They represented the purpose of each stage, but they hadn't yet found the visual language that would become Rebecca Camille.
When it came time to design Strategize, the Mojave Desert changed the direction of the series.
Strategize Changed the Direction
When it came time to design Strategize, the Mojave Desert changed the direction of the series.
I thought about the way I explored the desert when treasure hunting. Before heading out, I used Google Earth Pro to study the washes, map possible routes, and determine how I could reach the areas I wanted to explore.
There was always a destination in mind, but getting there also meant considering the time and resources available and what the terrain might require along the way. Once I was on the ground, the map was only the beginning.
Ravines, changing terrain, sedimentary layers, an old mercury mine, or simply discovering that a path was taking me in the wrong direction could change the plan. I began to see how closely that process paralleled strategic planning in a business.
A business can identify where it wants to go and map a path toward it, but strategy also means paying attention to what is discovered along the way.
New information can reveal an opportunity, expose an obstacle, or show that the current path is no longer leading toward the intended goal.
Sometimes moving forward requires changing direction. That became the foundation for the Strategize medallion.
I envisioned it almost as a treasure map: paths moving through the terrain, markers identifying points along the way, a compass for direction, and a pickaxe representing the need to dig deeper into what might not be visible from the surface.
Strategize became the first medallion built around the Mojave Desert, and a new direction for the Accel Game Plan visual language was born.
The Series Takes Shape
Strategize established a new direction for the Accel Game Plan medallions.
With the visual language now taking shape, I continued forward with Implement and Accelerate. Both were designed around the Mojave landscape, carrying the paths, terrain, direction, movement, and discovery established with Strategize into the final two stages.
Together, Strategize, Implement, and Accelerate created a visual language that now felt distinctly Rebecca Camille.
