I recently took on a job to refresh my previous design of the River Park Apartments website, and I realized that things have gotten less rushed at the bank, and I have time to work on client sites again. So, here we are.  A fresh new Lion’s Web website to start off a fresh new season of web jockeying.

And they’re off…!

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the updated version of the site. We retained Prizm’s color scheme and basic layout, designing a new logo. There were a number of content changes — they wanted to trim the fat, get straight to business, and have nothing on the site that wasn’t on message. CPMG is solid, experienced, and results-driven. They know their stuff. And again — great to work with.

The old River Park Apartments website (you can view it here) was designed and maintained by the complex owner, using Microsoft FrontPage.

The owner knew that the site wasn’t really selling the property. It was bringing in some business, but it wasn’t getting as many contacts as the number of visitors should warrant. It needed more detail, more information, and a better visual appeal. Since we’ve worked with the owner before on another project, we were his natural choice for this one.

The design requirements were very open. River Park Apartments doesn’t have a set-in-stone logo and their existing promotional material is very limited: a couple of bus-benches and some yard signage, and a photocopied brochure. We opted to go with warm, welcoming tones. We also utilized a touch of brick to better simulate the feel of the apartments, with one of the lovely lamp posts in the complex serving as a nice accent.

Our sincerest thanks to River Park Apartments, for allowing us the opportunity to bring a fresh face to this historic community.

The old Cleland Homes website (you can view it here) was designed and maintained by company VP Larry Cleland, using Microsoft FrontPage.

The Clelands knew that the site needed work. They wanted to give it a more modern look-and-feel, and they needed a better way to help them sell their homes online. But their business is building quality homes at a good price, not programming or web design. After a few meetings, they chose us to perform the update.

Design requirements included utilizing their logo and a basic color scheme. Cleland is a locally owned, family owned and operated company, 3 generations old, so it was important to include information about their history. And they’re a growing company, with frequent updates to the homes for sale, models, and subdivisions they build in.

Because of this, much of the site is database driven and can be updated by any receptionist or secretary with a minimum of computer skills if necessary. But it’s a labor of love for Larry Cleland, so we expect he’ll be in charge for a long time to come.

Our sincerest thanks to Cleland Homes, for allowing us the opportunity to build THEIR new home.

The old UWSJC website was designed and maintained by internal UWSJC staff, using Microsoft Publisher.

The UWSJC staff knew that the site needed work. It needs to be constantly updated, but as a non-profit organisation, their resources are limited. They also needed to comply with a United Way of America mandated color scheme

With this in mind, we decided to implement and customize an open source portal system to provide advanced content management capabilities, and features such as archiving, polls, and limited multilingual navigation. With this, their key content editor can receive news items and content from other members of the organisation, and add them in with only a brief review, allowing one person to essentially do the work of a dedicated web management team.

Our sincerest thanks to the United Way of St. Joseph County, for allowing us to help, and for everything they do for our community.

Note: we were unavailable when UWSJC needed to redesign their site again to meet new standards, so we’re linking to an archive of the last design we were responsible for. I believe they had an intern from ND do the new one — and it looks great! Nice job, guys!

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the website of Prizm Solutions, LLC, an “experienced  consulting firm staffed by seasoned, Gray Hair/No Hair executives who understand the business of doing business.”

Bruce H. Marshall, the senior managing associate of Prizm, was amazing to work with. If anyone out there needs some serious talent, Prizm’s got it.

The color scheme came from their logo, and we worked with Eyewire to license images to provide the desired impact.

Note: Prizm Solutions merged with their Russian partner, Technoconsult, in Autumn of 2003, and was renamed the Chicago Process Management Group.