Web Design & Development

Often a bad website can do more to damage your company's image than no website at all. A good website lets visitors easily accomplish what they want to do - whether they're seeking information, entertainment, or products and services. Good websites these days also do something more - they build a buzz, tell stories with video and animation, create active communities of people interested in similar issues, and allow users to share knowledge. The websites we build often serve as "communication hubs" for our clients.

We combine expert functional and technical planning, logical and efficient information design, visual design and streamlined implementation, to create sites that enhance our clients' businesses and organizations. Through our extensive knowledge of web technologies, we design and build internet, intranet, and extranet sites. Obviously, we use the latest technologies (you name it, we do it). We also offer database, software, and multimedia integration. These are some of the web services we provide:

• Web-Based Application Development: Do you depend on an inefficient, manual, and/or paper-based process that could easily be adapted for the web? Often we work with teams who've been sharing Excel files or even worse, tracking internal processes on 4x6 note cards. Our customized systems help eliminate "paper pushing," reduce repetition of work, and allow our client's customers, contacts, or employees to submit and retrieve information from database-driven web systems.
• Usability Testing: The best way to determine if a website is working is to try it out early and often on users. We perform rigorous testing and analysis to determine how users interact with websites.
• Content Management Systems: We offer our own, proprietary, hosted Content Management System option, Bulldog CMS, which we developed internally and actively continue to optimize. Bulldog CMS is a web-based, password-protected system built on an open-source framework. It allows for frequent, easy modifications to the site content and navigation through a single user-friendly web interface. If selected, we build it into the site, and our clients simply pay a monthly lease fee to use the system . The fee includes training, support, hosting and upgrades to the system. Our clients tell us that the system is intuitive for not-so-techie folks, as well as robust and flexible for all of you coders and developers. We also have experience integrating and customizing many other kinds of content management systems like Drupal, Joomla, Open CMS, Mod X, and Ektron.
• Discussion Forums: Why not let your target audience talk about their needs, issues, concerns right there on your website?! Discussion forums let visitors to your site sign up as members and discuss pertinent topics through conversation threads., Clients find they can easily add and manage categories/topics of discussion, and it's a great way to keep your audience interested and coming back to read other points of view.
• Blogs: We encourage our clients to use blogs to position themselves as experts in their industry or field. A blog allows you to regularly contribute written entries as posts to your blog. Then site visitors can comment on your brilliant thoughts and theories. Blogs are also a good way to let your target market know that you understand and are concerned about the things that are most important to them.

Branding / Identity Design

We apply our big brains, creative marketing knowledge, and design skills to develop memorable, striking, and emotionally charged verbal and visual identities for our clients. Here are the services we provide:

We combine expert functional and technical planning, logical and efficient information design, visual design and streamlined implementation, to create sites that enhance our clients' businesses and organizations. Through our extensive knowledge of web technologies, we design and build internet, intranet, and extranet sites. Obviously, we use the latest technologies (you name it, we do it). We also offer database, software, and multimedia integration. These are some of the web services we provide:

Positioning, Naming, Tagline, and Message Development: Having an identity crisis? Wondering how to set your company far apart from the pack? We work with clients to help them assess the competitive market. We help them identify their own uniqueness, and create a plan to communicate in succinct yet emotional ways with their target audience. When we say branding, it means we'll work with you on...

• Positioning
• Competitor Analysis
• Business Naming
• Tagline Development
• Key Message Development (for marketing initiatives)
• Marketing Plans

Comprehensive Identity Design: A company's identity has to visually communicate a few powerful key concepts in one graphic expression that represents the entire organization. We take a holistic approach to our client's goals, mission, vision, culture, marketing plan, and messaging (among other things). Then we develop a comprehensive identity that communicates the client's overall image and message to employees, customers, and business partners.

Supplemental Graphic Design: When clients already have a strong, positive, recognizable identity, they often come to us for design work that enhances that brand - some are seeking a customized look for their Powerpoint presentations, some need brochures or annual reports, others need new letterhead or business cards. With each project, we work to support client's goals and the integrity of the brand.

Video Production & Multimedia

Video Production: Many people argue that SHOWING is better than just TELLING. So, why not SHOW your target market what you do, what sets you apart, what makes your clients happy and thrilled to work with you each day? Through video production (scripting, storyboarding, shooting, editing), we help our clients craft compelling stories that engage their target markets and inspire action.

Interactive Design: We develop compelling interactive environments where we combine intuitive content structure and interface design with animation, illustration, photography, audio, video, and 3D graphics to develop goal-directed multimedia experiences.

Art Direction & Strategic Writing

Art Direction: In web development, video production, and advertising, the whole is not always equal to the sum of the parts. While designers, coders, and other specialists create pieces of a project, it's up to the art director to tie these parts together for a strong, unified effect and maximum business results. When clients hire us for art direction, we come up with creative ideas or concepts that communicate in emotional ways. We nurture those ideas from storyboards - through copy - through design - and finally production.

Content Development: While it's true that our clients are experts in their chosen fields, often they are not great writers and/or they just don't have the time to compile content for their websites. That's when they hire us to research, gather, organize, write and edit content for their site. When we say “content,” we mean text, graphics, photos, audio clips, movies, or other media. The text we write for our clients' websites and blogs is optimized for search engines. Content is "king" for Google and the other search engines, which means they look at the actual sequence of words in the text and navigation of your site to determine your page ranking. We work with clients to make sure the text on their sites is loaded with the actual terms and phrases your target audience would use to find to find products or services like yours.

Copywriting: Have you ever noticed that some websites, blogs, or newsletters are just fun to read? Some of our clients think that their content has to be a bit "academic" because they want to be perceived as professionals and experts. They figure that since their competitors use industry terminology and long dull sentences, then they should do the same. And to that we say "Hog Wash!" We write copy for our clients that conveys their expertise, but is also loaded with personality and is easy to read because it speaks directly to their readers' needs, interests, concerns and desires.