Tai Chi School

Beta website for my own business, Tai Chi School, offering online Tai Chi instruction. After completing numerous client projects, I welcomed the opportunity to work on a personal venture.

The site represents my inaugural commercial Ruby on Rails project, utilizing Spree for shopping cart functionality. Initially employing Foundation for styling, I ultimately switched to the Susy grid system to better serve responsive design needs.

Key Features & Design Decisions

Market research revealed customers desired lifetime access combined with comprehensive course material, resulting in approximately 12 hours of content. The primary technical challenge involved creating an access control system for hundreds of forthcoming videos.

I observed that competing platforms typically offered either monthly memberships granting full access or one-time purchases for complete content. Instead, a tiered access structure was implemented: Courses > Units > Lessons. Spree hooks automatically assigned ownership following purchases, while ActiveAdmin handled administrative functions.

I gained valuable experience in video production and editing while applying Lean Startup methodologies.

Project Details

• Timeline: Winter 2015 - ongoing (development phase)
• Technology: Ruby on Rails, Spree, Susy, ActiveAdmin
• Team: Kim Foale (development), Mark Dormand (design)
• Website: taichi.school