StephanieChurchill.com Website Launch
6.9.09
Stephanie Churchill is a talented yoga instructor and massage therapist based in Philadelphia, PA. It has been a pleasure to work with her on several projects including her Totally Zen health and yoga blog and e-commerce store.
Stephanie wanted her personal site to reflect the simplicity of her yoga practice and spiritual outlook. We settled on a spare, almost modernist design approach, incorporating a wonderful series of photographs showing Stephanie practicing various yoga poses.
If you would appreciate a personal approach to your yoga or wellness practice, contact Stephanie through her website today!
Services Provided:
- Web Design
- Web Development (CSS, XHTML & PHP)
- Project Management
- Information Architecture
Center City District SIPS Happy Hour Banner Ads 2009
5.21.09
Given the weather today I can almost believe it's summer—and once again Center City District is planning their SIPS Happy Hour events. From June 3rd through August 26th, 2009 participating bars and restaurants throughout Center City, Philadelphia will be offering summer drink and food specials.
Every summer the Center City District promotes these events through regional publications and websites, such as Philly.com and Philly2Nite.com. This banner ad campaign was designed in the visual style of the events' print advertisements to form the final piece of unified media campaign.
So, support your local establishments and take advantage of this great way to enjoy your summer. If you see me walking back to my table with a curacao margarita shaker, feel free to say "Hello!"
Services Provided:
- Banner Ad Design
- Image Optimization
Download the full campaign sample sheet (PDF, 423 KB) and take a look up close.
A & M Berk Tax Services Website Launch
2.5.09
Well, it's tax time again! And while most of us are busy sorting receipts, downloading 1040s and finding a calculator, I've been helping A & M Berk Tax Services move their business online. A & M Berk specializes in individual and corporate tax preparation, back taxes & prior year returns, tax refund loans and small business accounting. They have served the Philadelphia area for over 60 years - and do so now from four convenient locations.
Regardless of what the IRS might tell you, tax preparation is painful. So why not end the suffering by calling A & M Berk and speaking with their staff of trained tax professionals. You'll be glad you did -- and heck -- you might even find out you owe Uncle Sam less than you feared.
Services Provided:
- Project management
- Web design
- Information architecture
- Web development (XHTML & CSS)
- Web hosting
FreedomPay Website Launch
11.10.08
Mid-sized companies and larger corporations often find it necessary to revisit and tune their branding, identity, and messaging—not only to better appeal to customers and clients, but to increase their recognizability, fuel customer loyality, and inspire employee identification. This was no less the case for FreedomPay, the Newtown Square, PA based provider of cashless payment management systems and processing solutions.
To tackle this project, I teamed up once again with the very talented John and Amy Saal, the creative pair known as UNTUCK design. The result was a soup-to-nuts reworking of FreedomPay's corporate identity, marketing collateral and corporate website.
Services Provided:
- Project management
- Information architecture
- Web development (XHTML & CSS)
Nocella Roofing Website Launch
10.08.08
Have you seen the average small business website? If so, then you know the horrible state they are usually in—poor design, broken links, missing information, bad HTML, no search visibility and little traffic to speak of. Well, as a independent business person myself, I've made it a point to seek out projects that directly benefit other small business owners. Nocella Roofing is the latest example.
Nocella Roofing has been roofing homes and businesses in the Philadelphia area since, well, model T Fords lined Broad St. As you might imagine, their roofing expertise and understanding of Philadelphia'a unique construction requirements are second to none. Furthermore, owner Ray Nocella is true roofing innovator, holding patents for several winter roof ice abatement products and roof drainage systems. Recently, Nocella Roofing has even been developing environmentally beneficial and energy efficient green roof projects.
So when it was time to move the family business online, Ray and I first discussed the overall plan and strategy (like all good tradesmen), before getting down to work. The first fruits of our collective labor—a newly designed website—launched and immediately began to generate new business leads. Next, we'll execute the rest of the online marketing plan and build that site into a solid, long-term vehicle for business growth.
Services Provided:
- Strategic consulting
- Project management
- Information architecture
- Web design
- Web development (CSS, XHTML, sIFR)
- Web hosting
MakeRealChange.org Website Launch
10.17.08
Philadelphia's Center City District has been working to enhance the attractiveness, liveliness, safety and beauty of the downtown area for many years. If you are from the area, you probably have attended Restaurant Week, received the (IN) Center City eNewsletter, or met a uniformed CCD street community service representatives.
This fall the Center City District announced a new "Real Change" campaign designed to ensure that spare change will provide real change for people in Philadelphia who are homeless. On October 22nd, CCD, in partnership with the City of Philadelphia and major service providers, announced the campaign to encourage Philadelphians to give to eight area organizations that provide real help to those in need.
I encourage you to consider giving your spare change at any of the downtown Real Change displays, or consider donating directly to one of the affiliated non-profit organizations found on MakeRealChange.org.
So remember this holiday season: Real change starts with your efforts, so please make a contribution today.
Services Provided:
- Web design
- Web development (CSS & XHTML)
Totally Zen Online Store Launch
10.26.08
Many aspiring retailers are stunned by the cost of developing a new online store. Typically, building a quality, e-commerce website requires a small team a web designer, content provider and web developer—and their collective fees can be high. Confronted with this reality, many turn to supposedly inexpensive solutions—such as grafting unattractive PayPal payment buttons onto their current site, or hiring a developer to implement a random shopping cart. Unfortunately, neither of these methods make for a very enticing online store. So, while they may appear as inexpensive solutions, the long-term cost is loss of sales and a permanently damaged bottom line. Fortunately, the situation has changed over the last few years. Now you don't have to be a big budget, brick-and-mortar retailer to sell online successfully.
So when Stephanie Churchill of Totally Zen sought a sensible method to sell her products online, we met, discussed the project in detail and decided on the Shopify e-commerce platform. Shopify provides a hosted e-commerce storefront that is powerful, flexible and search engine friendly. Shopify's sophisticated administration tools let you organize your products, customize your storefront, accept credit card payments, track and respond to orders, and even more.
Compared with other e-commerce platforms, Shopify is easy to set up, skin with a highly compelling design, load with your products, and works with variety of credit card transaction processors.
So, come on in, browse the store, and find something great to buy today!
Services Provided:
- Strategic consulting
- Project management
- Information architecture
- Web design
- Shopify theme development
- Web development
- Banner ad design
AroundMainLine.com Website Launch
9.29.08
Launch day...it's a recurring theme around here. But today is rather special, it's the launch of AroundMainLine.com, the Philadelphia region's first online magazine covering the Main Line, western suburbs and surrounding region. AroundMainLine.com offers readers a great selection of features covering dining, going out, travel, fashion, shopping, people and local buzz. The e-magazine also offers regional businesses a great opportunity to tap into the elusive Main Line readership. While many there are a few traditional, limited reach, publications serving the western suburbs, this will be the first to effectively tap into a broader, and in many cases younger, audience. It will be exciting to participate in, and help drive, its growth.
Also, don't forget, Around Main Line is planning a great launch party at Blush Restaurant and Bar in Bryn Mawr on October 16th. Want to come? Visit AroundMainLine.com and sign up to receive your invitation. Around Main Line will be hosting more events moving forward, so keep an eye out.
Services Provided:
- Strategic consulting
- Project management
- Information architecture
- Web design
- Web development
- Web hosting
- Email marketing
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Banner ad design
Women Against Abuse - iPledge Website Launch
9.17.08
"I Pledge Not to Raise My Hand in Violence"
Women Against Abuse approached John and Amy Saal of UNTUCK Design to create a new domestic violence public awareness campaign. The wonderful result was iPledge—a campaign supporting a citywide anti-violence movement which calls on ordinary Philadelphians to help end violence at home and in the community. Recognizing that unhealthy relationships at home not only destroy families, but compromise the health of our entire city, the effort is committed to raising awareness of domestic violence and all its consequences while making our neighborhoods safer. John Saal was kind enough to ask me to assist in the development of the campaign's new website.
Your help is needed in many ways. Now is the time to act! You can contribute, volunteer, donate comfort items and amenities for victims and their children, attend workshops or even join the WAA staff and make a tangible difference in the lives of domestic violence victims and their children. You can also be a key voice in halting legislation that is currently threatening the lifeline of many local agencies.
So take action against violence at home and in the community. Join the effort to eliminate domestic abuse and violence in our community. Make your pledge today and be sure support Woman Against Abuse on Facebook, MySpace or Digg.
If you are in an abusive relationship, call the Philadelphia Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-866-SAFE-014 to speak to a crisis counselor.
Services Provided:
- Web development (XHTML and CSS)
- PHP development
AroundMainLine.com Prelaunch
8.16.08
Typically, I don't mention work-in-process on this site, but this one time I am making an exception. Recently, I've been asked by the publisher of aroundmainline.com, to spearhead design and production on their new site—an online magazine dedicated to the Philadelphia Main Line area and surrounding region. Aroundmainline.com will offer interesting feature articles, reporting and resources highlighting Main Line businesses, events and people in a fresh, fun, quirky and visually stimulating manner, while reaching an important niche audience that has long been ignored by other regional publications.
Look for upcoming aroundmainline.com launch information throughout September. Early visitors can sign up on the placeholder site below for an invitation to a special Fall Around Main Line launch party.
Services Provided:
- Strategic consulting
- Project management
- Information architecture
- Web design
- Web development
- Web hosting
- Email marketing
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Search engine marketing (SEM)
BONGO Agency Site Launch
7.15.08
There's a brand new beat in town and its name is BONGO.
BONGO is a hip, new agency founded by three experienced ad men—Frank Tolkacz, Michael D'Antonio and David Thompson. Moving away from the concept of a small agency as a glorified design house providing production services, BONGO's mission is to offer big agency expertise in brand development, advertising, public relations, interactive and marketing—while emphasizing agility, flexibility, and, above all, detailed attention to your brand. It's a savvy business model and one I think will catch on quickly. Afterall, why deal with an impersonal Big 10 agency when you can get the same strategic expertise, creative, and marketing vision from a company that actually cares for your business like it was their own? Yeah—I don't know why either.
Services Provided:
- Strategic consulting
- Project management
- Information architecture
- Web design
- Web development (standards-based XHTML and CSS)
Totally Zen Blog Relaunch
6.6.08
Totally Zen is a blog dedicated to yoga, healing, relaxation, and natural living—maintained by Philadelphia yoga instructor and massage therapist, Stephanie Churchill.
After a couple initial attempts collaborating with other designers and developers, Stephanie was referred to me by another client. We started the project by discussing the pros and cons of her previous blog theme and software. Much was good; some was bad; and a number of key features were missing.
We rebuilt everything from the bottom up: giving the blog a new theme, developing a new architecture for the site and its content, installing a new blogging platform, adding a list of new features, and quite a list of other things.
Have a look at my blog post for all the juicy details.
Services Provided:
- Strategic consulting
- Project management
- Web design
- Web development
- Information architecture
- WordPress installation
- WordPress database and content migration
- Blog theme design modification
- Copyediting
- Training
Center City District Sips Happy Hour Banner Ads
5.25.08
It's almost Summer again! The Center City District is organizing a series of Sips Happy Hours June through August for thirsty downtown Philadelphians—great happy hour deals at participating bars and restaurants throughout Center City.
Center City District markets these events through regional publications and websites, such as Philly.com, Philly2Nite, Philadelphia Weekly and WISQ. This set of banner ads will support the Sips Happy Hour and get the word out to Philadelphians. Each graphic was designed in the visual style of the events' print advertisements and other collateral to form the final piece of unified campaign across all media.
A cold drink with friends on a hot Summer's day is a nice thing! Maybe I will see you there!
Services Provided:
- Banner Ad Design
- Image Optimization
Download the full campaign sample sheet (PDF, 525 KB) and take a look up close.
Hudson International Group Website Redesign
4.25.08
Hudson International Group is a national consulting and engineering firm headquartered in the Philadelphia suburbs. Their specialty is litigation support and insurance investigation with deep expertise in engineering, environmental studies, architecture, construction, science and business.
Hudson International Group needed to update and expand their online presence while maintaining their established branding and its relationship to their printed collateral. For this project I teamed up once again with Donnelly Creative Services who provided key web design and creative services. The new website was rebuilt from the foundation up and will provide Hudson International with a strong basis for future search engine optimization and direct email marketing efforts.
Best wishes to everyone at Hudson International Group who worked hard to make this project a success!
Services Provided:
- Project Management
- Information Architecture
- Web Development (Valid XHTML and CSS)
Prime Image Website Redesign
4.15.08
For over 20 years Prime Image has engineered and manufactured professional electronics for the broadcast industry. Their gear is used by the majors, including ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and NBC. Prime Image has a superior product line, but wanted our assistance to position it clearly in a unified voice.
We started with their most public marketing effort—their Web presence—reworking it strongly to reflect their proper market position. Marketing messages, product descriptions, were strategized and developed or rewritten on deadline.
The site launched on time and ready for a major tradeshow!
Services Provided:
- Marketing Strategy
- Information Architecture
- Copywriting
- Copyediting
Center City District Gallery Night Banner Ads
An Evening of Art for all Philadelphia
3.24.08
Center City District organizes great events in Center City, Philadelphia. This time it's the April Gallery Night. Spend the evening of Friday, April 18th exploring Center City District's galleries with special exhibitions and complimentary cocktail receptions from 5-8:30 pm. It's a wonderful opportunity to see Philadelphia culture in action.
Once again I was pleased to be able to support Center City District's online marketing of this event by designing a set of banner ads for use on regional event and media websites. Each banner ad or header graphic was designed in the visual style of the event's print advertisements and other collateral to create a unified campaign across all media.
Hope to see you there!
Services Provided:
- Banner Ad Design
- Image Optimization
Download the full campaign sample sheet (PDF, 460 KB) and take a look up close.
Dambuster Deicers
Innovative Roof Deicer Products
2.22.08
Dambuster Deicers are the brainchild of regional businessman and roofing professional, Ray Nocella. These patented deicer products were created with one purpose in mind: to stop winter ice from forming on roofs and causing expensive water damage to homes and commercial buildings. Their innate simplicity, easy of installation and effectiveness was a great foundation upon which to build a wide variety of online and offline marketing vehicles geared to drive direct sales and generate high levels of supplier/distributor interest.
Bringing a new product to market can be a serious challenge. All successful product launches are a sustained, collective effort. An enthusiastic entrepreneur must allow his or her vision to be shaped into a sellable product and/or brand by dedicated professionals working in several areas: marketing, design, development, copywriting, business and public relations. This product launch was fueled by four agency-level, independent professionals. Joanne Hoffman of Hoffman Studio provided creative direction, marketing strategy, brand identity and collateral design. Michael D'Antonio of Michael D Marketing & Communications provided account management and marketing research. I provided strategic planning, Web design and development, pre- and post-launch search engine optimization, direct email marketing services and Web hosting. Copywriting was executed as a collaborative process with important final polishing offered by veteran Philadelphia wordsmith Mark Ellis.
Download the Dambuster Deicer Product Sheet (PDF, 252 K) for information on their current product offering.
Services Provided:
- Strategic Consulting
- Website Design
- Web Development (valid XHTML/CSS and PHP)
- Direct Email Marketing
- Search Engine Optimization
- Copywriting for Search Engine Optimization
- Copyediting
- Web Hosting
Center City District
Center City District Restaurant Week 2008 Banner Ads
1.27.08
For many years Center City District has organized the Center City District Restaurant Week event where participating Center City restaurants offer a "price fixed" multiple course meals to their patrons. It is a great chance to try out those new restaurants you've been thinking about. I usually get to a couple every Restaurant Week.
I've worked projects with the communications team at Center City District over the last five years (including leading them through three complete redesigns of their Web site). Recently, while working with SoftOrigins I completed a series of banner ads to support the 2008 Restaurant Week event. Although banner advertising has undergone evolution over the years, it is still an effective way to promote an event, Web site, or special offer. All banner ads where designed to work with the event's print advertisements and other collateral.
Services Provided:
- Banner Ad Design
- Image Optimization
Download the full campaign sample sheet (PDF, 1.19 MB) and take a look at a few banners as they appeared on regional Web sites.
Happy Holidays
and Season's Greetings
12.24.07
Over the Holiday break I had some free time and decided to create a Holiday e-card to send to friends, clients and colleagues.
Sending out the email allowed me an opportunity to test Campaign Monitor's HTML email validation tools. Later on I'll be bloging my in depth review comparing the email testing and validation tools offered by Campaign Monitor and MailChimp.
View final eCard (Front)
View final eCard (Back)
Season's Greetings everyone! And Happy New Year!
Fertility and Gynecology Associates
Success in a Nurturing Environment
12.12.07
Recently Fertility and Gynecology Associates approached me to redesign and rebuild their Web site. Located at the Pennsylvania Hospital (with a satellite office in Willow Grove, PA), physicians Leonore Huppert, M.D. and Maria Pia Platia, M.D. provide advanced reproductive and fertility care.
In completing this project, I provided project management, Web design, front-end Web development, copy writing and editing, and finally, hosting services.
Online marketing support was provided through a third-party service and resulted in dramatically increased Web site traffic and new patient phone inquires and appointments.
A series of header graphics were created to enliven the presentation of the site and convey special marketing messages.
Donnelly Creative Services
A Business Built from the Client Up
11.15.07
This Fall Michael and Tom Donnelly, co-founders of Donnelly Creative Services, asked me to help them redevelop and expand their online presence. They could have managed it themselves, but since we've been collaborating on Web design and development projects for the better part of a year now, it seemed the natural thing to do. Michael Donnelly took creative lead, while I was happy to execute the front-end development, hosting set-up, and share copywriting and information architecture responsibilities with Tom.
These two gentlemen are trustworthy, talented and committed to their clients. I can't think of better attributes for a service business—marketing or otherwise.
Innovation Philadelphia
Cultivating Philadelphia's Creative Economy
10.02.07
Last Summer SoftOrigins was selected to complete a redevelopment of the Innovation Philadelphia Web site. Founded in 2001, Innovation Philadelphia collaborates with Philadelphia region economic organizations to generate new ideas and programs to highlight and grow the knowledge and technology sectors of Philadelphia's economy.
Innovation Philadelphia selected the regional design firm Untuck to execute a new logo and general site design theme. SoftOrigins provided project management, technical strategy, information architecture, front- and back-end Web development, host provider vetting and training services culminating in the successful launch of the new site. In addition, a fully custom, integrated Web application allows Innovation Philadelphia staff to maintain their site in a flexible and efficient manner.
The site and its supporting applications were built utilizing current techniques and technologies including tableless CSS/XTHML, .NET 2.0 and MS SQL 2005. A new blog was provided via an implementation of Community Server 2007 with custom theming.
Everyone at SoftOrigins appreciates the care and effort the dedicated staff of Innovation Philadelphia gave to this important project.
S. T. Hudson Engineers
A family-owned business with 100 years of history
08.30.07
When I was asked by Mike and Tom from Donnelly Creative Services to help rebuild a site for S. T. Hudson Engineers I knew I had to do it. Hudson has a great reputation in the Delaware Valley and beyond for marine engineering projects such as the new USS New Jersey pier in Camden. In fact they've been building on the regional waterfront since the days when one drove to work in a Model T Ford.
After siting down with the Hudson team for a few strategy and planning sessions, we tore into the project and produced a new 65 page site highlighting Hudson's emerging brand and key service areas. The site includes greatly expanded content, a new portfolio section, a slideshow of key projects, and a local search engine.
For the search functionality, I deployed an old favorite: XAV's Fluid Dynamics Search Engine (FDSE). This Perl-based engine runs well on almost any Linux server, can be easily customized, and is a great value for medium-sized sites that want to control their own search application.
Everyone at Hudson is very pleased with the results. I wish them all the very best.
I'll Buy No Wine, Unless Online
eCommerce solutions for wineries and more
06.15.07
Recently our team at SoftOrigins launched the US Wine Traders site. US Wine Traders (a SoftOrigins service brand) specializes in online marketing, interactive design and eCommerce solutions for wineries. As you may have heard, over the last several years state regulations on the sale of wine to consumers have been greatly relaxed. Today, wine aficionados can order that special bottle or case online—winery direct—instead of wading through the poor selection at many a local liquor store.
Among US Wine Traders' offerings is an attractive, simple and feature-rich shopping cart, order tracking and inventory management system. We've even included support for split destination shipping, gift wrapping, flexible case discounting, age verification and more.
Aesthetic Violence
The Image of the 20th C. and Beyond
05.25.07
Our electronic scholarly journal, Other Voices, is currently developing a special issue on the concept of aesthetic violence of the past century. The issue will be published in Spring/Summer 2008. In response to our call for papers, we've received a large number of strong submissions. Some questions we will attempt to address include: Which is the relationship between aesthetic violence and ethics? How is aesthetic violence experienced? At what point does violence inhibit any aesthetic experience? How might aesthetic violence relate to a confrontation with political violence? How does aesthetic violence operate as a critique of violence?
Check out our original call for papers for a full description.
Other Voices is an independent, award-winning, electronic journal of cultural criticism published at the University of Pennsylvania. Founded in March 1997, Other Voices regularly publishes provocative essays, interviews, roundtable discussions, lecture transcriptions, audio lectures, multimedia projects, translations and reviews in the arts and humanities.
Still going strong, the journal receives over 100,000 unique visitors a year.
Cultural Recycling
Culture Redux
05.10.07
In May 2007, Other Voices published its long awaited special issue on "Recycling Culture" guest edited with the help of Tina Kendall and Kristin Koster.
The issue features essays by Walter Moser, Marilyn Randall and David Scott Diffrient; interviews with David Wilson of the Museum of Jurassic Technology and artist Robin Hill; reviews and more!
This issue also represents the launch of our recently redesigned site as well as the Other Voices announcement blog.
Approaching "The End"
The Photography of Paul Romano
03.07.07
For several years friend and colleague Joshua Schuster and I have contemplated writing a quirky little book. Based on the photographic series "The End" by Philadelphia artist and graphic designer Paul Romano, the volume is an aphoristic rumination on the concepts of temporality, irreversibility, delay, kairos, and now-time (Jeitzeit). This Spring we finally started writing.
Paul Romano is a Philadelphia-based artist and graphic designer. He received his BFA from the University of the Arts and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Over the last fifteen years he has completed award-winning designs for children's software and toys, greeting cards, and more recently, the music industry. His design practice is often closely related to his work in painting, photography and printmaking. He can often be found at www.workhardened.com.
If you are interesting in hearing about our progress on this book project, drop me a note.
