Toot toot... That was our horn.
A few selected Case Studies that showcase our diverse body of work.
Sears
Overview
Sears came to us with an interesting challenge... to transform their time-consuming retail floor planning process, nationwide, with a web-based utility.
The old process included graph paper, pencils and fax machines and was simply taking far too long to accomplish the quarterly task for each store to plan the layouts. read more →
Our Solution
We worked with the incredible team at Sears to understand in great detail exactly how this tool would be used and by whom. We then went to work to outline the application, with the goal being to deliver a tool that would be both powerful and completely intuitive to use.
What we ended up with was an elegant, easy to use, portable and effective tool that in the words of Sears "transformed their floor planning process". The application allows the nationwide retail outlets to spend a day doing what used to take upwards of 3-4 weeks with traditional paper and pencil tools.
Some of the features include a beautiful full-screen interface for drawing store dimensions and zones as well as a comprehensive list of items and artwork for the departments. The tool allows for printing over multiple pages, has an object rule violation system that alerts users of object proximity issues or quantity issues and has an elegant approval process. The system offers multiple levels of administration and even allows for custom reports to be downloaded for Excel. This application was the epitome of a successfully executed web-application.
Services
Design, Development, Strategy, Programming, Implementation, Server Setup & Maintenance.
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, jQuery, JSON, XHTML/CSS
Ritani
Overview
Certainly one of the largest and most complex projects that we have had the challenge and pleasure of undertaking. Ritani is a premier diamond jewelry and engagement ring design company. They came to us to design and develop their website which was to target both their consumers as well as their distributors. Tools and features needed to be developed that would engage and retain new and existing customers as well as to provide a way for distributors and salespersons to track sales, order jewelry, manage their own customers’ orders, order custom products, deliver training... and the list goes on. On top of all that, everything needed to be built to be managed by Ritani staff in-house. read more →
Our Solution
Our solution to Ritani's enormous challenge was comprehensive, to say the least. We created tools that let salespeople enter, track and manage orders for clients, built interactive jewelry guides, programmed live pricing diamond search tools, implemented a live chat feature, and designed the entire online brand. We created a Concierge section for Ritani customers that lets them send ecards, create treasure chest polls for their friends, send drop-a-hint ecards and plenty more. We built a FaceBook application that lets users select jewelry from the site and poll their friends on which they like the best. We even built a Video Dance-o-Gram that lets you upload pictures of you and your new fiance into 3 live action videos and send them as an Ecard!
This entire solution is built on our turn-key content management system that lets Ritani manage and update the entire show directly in-house. No programmers needed on staff, no need to call us to make a change or process orders. That's business value, period.
Services
Design, Development, Programming, Strategy, Implementation, Maintenance, Server Administration
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, FaceBook, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, CakePHP
Meredith Corporation: Better Homes & Gardens, Parents
Website
Trim-a-Tree
Carve-a-Pumpkin
Create-a-Cookie
Decorate-a-Cake
Arrange-a-Room
Plan-a-Nursery
Plan-a-Garden
Bewitch Yourself
Create-a-SnowFlake
Create-a-Bouquet
Since 2005, when we partnered with Meredith Corporation and Better Homes & Gardens, we have designed, developed and launched many successful tools that are responsible for a significant portion of their website traffic. Meredith/BHG partnered with us initially to develop the very popular Arrange-a-Room application which lets users enter the dimensions of their rooms and plan furniture and decorations by adding to the virtual space from a huge library of custom illustrated items. Following the huge success of that first application we have gone on to develop many more successful utilities and tools for their users.
Notable are the popular Ecards such as Carve-a-Pumpkin, Decorate-a-Cake, and Create-a-Cookie. With these unique applications a user can carve a virtual halloween pumpkin, decorate a cake or a cookie and create customized Ecards to send to friends. read more →
Built into all of the applications is a tracking and metrics system which allows the Meredith/BHG team to monitor the usage of the tools and gauge their effectiveness.
The longevity and success of our relationship with Meredith is a testament to our commitment to quality and collaboration.
Services
Design, Development, Programming, Implementation, Maintenance, Server Administration
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, FaceBook, XHTML/CSS
Hallmark: Dance-O-Gram Video Ecards
Quite possibly one of the most fun projects that we've had the pleasure of working on. In collaboration with our dear friends and colleagues at Sisu Media who came to us with the project and provided the strategy and the incredibly brilliant design, we developed this personalized Video Ecard for Hallmark.
The concept was simple and powerfully viral. Upload a few images of yourself and your friends and the pictures are plugged into your selection of videos to create a one-of-a-kind dance video which you can (and will) then send as an Ecard to anyone who needs a good laugh.
All total we developed 5 Ecards for different holidays and occasions such as Valentines, St. Patty's day and Mother's Day.
Services
Development, Programming, Implementation
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, Flash Video, XHTML/CSS
Partner Agency
Wasserman Media Group CMS
Wasserman Media Group is a global Athlete Management Agency that handles many of the top names in sports. Managing all of those websites is a serious chore. That is where we came in.
Our Solution
A fantastic example of the powerful business solutions that we provide, the Wasserman Media Group CMS is a system that epitomizes the mission of our business.read more →
Partnering again with our dear friends and colleagues at Sisu Media who brought us the project and provided strategy and design, we developed a website that builds websites. This revolutionary system lets the Wasserman Media Group create, edit and manage the websites of their numerous athletes quickly and effectively all without the need for programmers and designers. The system lets them choose from multiple design styles and templates, manage image galleries, video galleries, news stories, a blog and even ask questions directly to the athletes. All of this content can be managed directly by the athlete and the management team from a web browser anywhere in the world.
To add some sizzle to the sites we developed design and animation templates that allow non-programmers to update the eye-catching Flash Intro Animations, navigation animation and overall look and feel on all of the sites as well. To give advanced administrators more granular control of the look of things we developed a style override system where one can change default style settings and always roll back to the original if needed. This kind of functionality is quite simply unheard of in an off-the-shelf system and a project like this truly at the heart of what we aim to do.
This system adds huge value to an already strong powerful business by streamlining a task that otherwise would require significant and costly resources.
Services
Development, Programming, Implementation
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, Flash Video, XHTML/CSS
Partner Agency
Paramount: CSI Personalized Ecard
For the super-popular Crime Scene Investigators TV series, Paramount wanted an engaging Ecard that would announce the release of the series on DVD. Our venerable friends and colleagues at Sisu Media brought us this project and partnered with us for development and implementation. Sisu came to us with the eye-popping design, strategy and a tight deadline.
The concept was this, upload an image of yourself or your friend to build a scene from the show using location photography and cast members. You can customize the scene as you like and send an "Encrypted" message along with the Ecard to your friends.
In legendary Lithyem style, we developed and delivered the project right on schedule. A hugely successful Ecard for Paramount, Sisu and Lithyem.
Services
Development, Programming
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, XHTML/CSS
Partner Agency
Julius Klein
On the heels of the Successful Ritani website launch, a sister company, Julius Klein, heard of our legendary service and saw our exceptional web tools first hand, they were sold immediately. Julius Klein is a preeminent diamantaire in the global diamond industry and were badly in need of an updated website and diamond search system for their retailers. read more →
Our Solution
Not only did we deliver a stunning design that elevates the brand's web presence but we built a backend system that updates their diamond inventory automatically. No longer are they tied to excel sheets, manual entries and typos. We then built an interface that lets retailers perform a very complex diamond inventory search on upwards of 20 criteria in an intuitive and easy to use manner. Additionally, we developed and implemented systems that allow Julius Klein to manage the news, press releases and the retailers that have access to the diamond search.
We believe in adding business value by building systems that streamline and increase efficiency and our partners at Julius Klein will agree we did just that.
Services
Design, Development, Strategy, Programming, Implementation, Maintenance, Server Administration
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, CakePHP
New York University: Skirball Center for the Performing Arts
The folks at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts were in need of an effective system to manage their busy calendar of events. Our long time friends and colleagues at Ideas On Purpose, providing strategy and design, came to us in partnership to develop a powerful solution. read more →
Our Solution
Collaborating with Ideas on Purpose, and using their incredible design, we developed an intuitive system that lets administrators at Skirball manage the performance events and in fact all of the content on the website. Our solution allows for multiple levels of administration whereby editors can add to and edit content on the site which must then be approved by more senior publishers before appearing to the public. We built a system that lets administrators manage and edit content without the need for technical or programming skills yet still giving them the flexibility and power to upload and insert images, text, media and links.
The NYU Skirball Center CMS is a great example of the streamlined solutions that we can provide and the success that comes from collaboration with partners as brilliant as Ideas on Purpose.
Services
Development, Programming, Strategy, Implementation, Maintenance
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, CakePHP
Partner Agency
Veneto Hotel & Casino
The stunning 5-star resort and casino in Panama had a complex requirement for their site. It must be 100% editable by a non-programmer, the navigation must be editable and it must be available in any number of languages. That's a tall order for sure, we'll take one of those any day of the week. The brilliant minds at Sisu Media knew that and came to us to be their technology partners in crime bringing award-winning design and strategy to the table.
Our Solution
Our solution was simply to deliver exactly what Veneto was asking for. We built a monster system for them that was extraordinarily easy to use. Rather than complex interfaces and confusing workflows we decided to look at the various tasks as part of a larger workflow. Treating each available language as a new site was the starting point. This allowed the content for each language to have a different structure and navigation as needed. read more →
The real power in the site is the templating system for the pages. The administrator can select from 6 page templates such as a Room Layout for displaying rooms and accommodations, a Gallery layout for displaying image galleries of amenities and even an Open layout where an HTML editor will allow for a non-programmer to manage, style and design the content of the page. Our system even integrates with the Flash animations throughout the site allowing the content and imagery in those to be updated just as easily as any other element.
The entire system is built on our famous WebTurbine CMS that features drag and drop functionality, AJAX updates, spelling/error checking and a stunning, easy to use interface.
The Veneto Hotel and Casino was a challenge that was met head on with the insightful collaboration of the team at Sisu Media. The project was a fantastic learning experience and a great success.
Services
Development, Programming, Implementation
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, CakePHP
Partner Agency
Eugene Lang College: The New School for Liberal Arts
The Eugene Lang College at The New School for Liberal Arts needed a new website that would engage new students as well as interest existing students. Our esteemed partners at Ideas on Purpose came to us with the project, the design and the information strategy and tasked us to give it wings.
The first requirement of the project was that we utilize and implement the Microsoft ASP-based Ektron 400 CMS rather than our proprietary solution. This in itself presented a challenge in that we had never worked with that particular system before and needed to modify it to perform as we'd like. read more →
Our Solution
What we did was solve the problem effectively and under a tight deadline. We wrangled the Ektron 400 system into shape and built a beautiful, clean, well organized, and usable site on top of it. The backend system allows administrators to manage every image, every color and every last line of text on the site. Administrators can now manage the curriculum, faculty, news and events from the web-based cms. We built engaging tools such as Flash Virtual Tours, Student & Faculty Profiles, Event Calendars and City Guides to inform and interest new and potential students.
Our solution, in collaboration with Ideas on Purpose, gave Lang the tools and efficiency they needed to provide their students the most up-to-date and useful information possible.
Services
Development, Programming, Implementation, Maintenance, Server Administration
Technologies
ASP, SQL Server, Ektron 400 CMS, Javascript, XHTML/CSS, Flash
Partner Agency
The ShowStore
It's rare that a project comes along with a genuinely unique idea behind it. The ShowStore had that. What they had was a business that provided a one stop shop for sourcing entertainment. What they needed was an online tool that enhanced and extended the reach of that business.
Our Solution
What we designed, architected and developed is an online department store for the arts & entertainment community. It allows entertainment directors to find entertainers quickly and easily with a huge array of tools and features. The artists and entertainers can create profile pages, have access to marketing tools and can leverage the powerful ShowStore MediaPlayer which they can even embed on their own sites. The ShowStore MediaPlayer is a unique tool that allows artists to host and play their music, videos and images in a customizable, resizable Flash player. read more →
On the entertainment director side, we built tools that lets them book, organize and schedule shows and events. They can bid and make an offer on shows as well as preview the artists' media portfolio.
The backend system allows a ShowStore administrator to moderate shows, bookings, media and pretty much everything else on the site from an intuitive web-based interface.
The ShowStore website is an effective tool for bringing entertainers and directors together. It simplifies the complex process of sourcing entertainment talent and provides powerful marketing and promotion tools to the artists.
Services
Design, Development, Strategy, Programming, Implementation, Maintenance, Server Administration
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, CakePHP
Memorial Sloan Kettering: Annual Reports
Since 2004, our acclaimed colleagues at Ideas on Purpose have been partnering with us to develop engaging experiences for the Memorial Sloan Kettering Online Annual reports. For years they have trusted us to bring their beautiful designs and forward visions alive, and we have consistently delivered successful results.
Over the years we have worked with Ideas on Purpose to showcase the growth and expansion of the preeminent cancer hospital and research facility. We've worked to translate the sensitive and emotional nature of the content into thoughtful and powerful experiences highlighting a collection of those involved including patients, surgeons, scientists and other caregivers.
Services
Development, Programming, Strategy, Implementation, Maintenance
Technologies
PHP, Flash, jQuery, XHTML/CSS
Partner Agency
Quechan Resort & Casino
The brand new state-of-the-art Quechan Hotel & Casino in Yuma, Arizona needed a website that would reflect the modern atmosphere and ambiance of their grounds and amenities. Our genius partners over at Sisu tapped us to collaborate on this great project. They brought the brilliant design, strategy and concept and asked us to provide the technology and provide one of our famous backend solutions.
Our Solution
The Quechan website is a thing of beauty thanks to the design from Sisu Media. All that polish is sitting on an exquisitely architected content managed application and system. Not only can the administrators manage every last word and image on the website without the need for any programming knowhow, they can also add, remove and edit pages to their hearts delight! read more →
The CMS system that we developed lets them add any number of pages to the site by selecting from a collection of templates designed to cover any content needs that they might have. They can create image galleries, forms, events and style it all with built-in rich text editors. There is a document management system for site downloads and even a system that lets them manage "badges", image and text-based touts that can be added to any page as a way to cross promote content.
Some other notable features are it's ability to handle multiple languages, reorder navigation items, activate/deactivate pages instantly, and manage the Flash content throughout the site.
The real power and success of the site comes from its ease of use. Quechan can manage and administrate the website efficiently directly in-house and without specialized resources and technical knowledge.
Services
Development, Programming, Implementation
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, CakePHP
Partner Agency
Riders Voice Snowboard Reviews
A pet project of Lithyem Industries, inspired creative director Michael Levitz brilliant art director Dan Marcello. Stemming from our passion for snowboarding and our constant quest for new boards we quickly realized that there were no good resources to find snowboard reviews online.
We took the incredibly daunting task of remedying this situation ourselves. We had NO idea how much work it would be. read more →
Bringing this project to light was both an experiment and a learning experience. We began aggregating images, specs and content for 45 brands of snowboards. Who knew there even WERE that many? That came to about 1500 snowboards and it seemed reasonable until we realized that each board came in different sizes, which meant different graphics and specs for each size. We were now scared. But we pressed on. Thanks to the incredible efforts, and I mean incredible, of Levitz and Marcello, all that data and all those images were sliced up and added to the site.
The site itself runs on a tight content management system that allows us to add brands, boards, sizes, images and manage users of the site. The site features a truly beautiful design on top of some very cool features such as an integrated ebay search for similar models when browsing a board, a craigslist style board sales section where a user can advertise and sell a board to other users and a My Boards section where you can select the boards that you yourself own for display in your profile.
A daunting task by any measure... a fantastic site that we built and launched for the fun of it all. We sure hope you folks find it to be the only definitive online snowboard guide and review site out there.
Services
Design, Development, Programming, Strategy, Implementation, Maintenance, Server Administration
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, CakePHP
Luprocks: Media + Designer Connection
One of our longest standing clients and a true testament to our approach to client relationships, Luprocks is a sourcebook for hundreds of the hottest designers out there where they can connect with the most influential media representatives in the world. Luprocks connects jewelry, fashion and other designers with stylists, property masters, set designers and anyone else who is need of artistic design talent. read more →
Since 2002 we have built a number of iterations of the luprocks.com website as the needs of the company have grown and changed. It's current iteration is the most extensive and comprehensive to date. There are tools for Designers to showcase their work, tools such as image galleries and premium bio pages. The Media can browse the designers by category and post in the Desperately Seeking section that acts like a digital want ad where media can advertise industry opportunities. Designers an respond to Desperately Seeking posts all through the website account system rather than email inboxes.
The also site features multiple account types with different sets of features and PayPal integration to pay for the website subscription service. We are extraordinarily proud to call Luprocks our longest standing client and honored to be able to develop for them the tools that their business needs.
Services
Design, Development, Programming, Strategy, Implementation, Maintenance, Server Administration
Technologies
PHP, MySQL, Flash, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, CakePHP
Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Website
Pfizer 2010 Annual Review
Pfizer 2009 Annual Review
Pfizer 2009 Corporate Responsibility Report
Pfizer 2008 Annual Review
This project for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals is yet another great example of collaboration between us and our long-time partners Ideas on Purpose. Pfizer needed to bring to life its annual and corporate responsibility reports with style. Ideas on Purpose asked us to develop their vision, quickly and with no surprises.
We took the designs from Ideas on Purpose and built two simple and clean websites showcasing what quality interaction design can accomplish. Peppered with smooth Flash animations and slick javascript interaction effects we built engaging sites featuring video interviews and interactive charts and graphs.
These sites are an example how quality interaction design and flawless execution can deliver business value and results.
Services
Development, Programming, Implementation
Technologies
PHP, jQuery, XHTML/CSS, Flash