2009
Shutter Soul: Chicago based culture and lifestyle website launched
Got plans for the weekend? Check out Shutter Soul to get the scoop on local art and cultural offerings from an insider's point-of-view. Photography and editorial articles shed light on Chicago's vibrant neighborhoods, spotlighting the community talents and places to a wider audience. The new website features an event calendar, blog, and image galleries of Chicago lifestyle photography. Users can purchase and license prints, send e-cards, or contribute to the forum by submitting ideas, sharing what's soulful in their neighborhood.
Merchandise Mart's Art Chicago and NEXT 2010 websites launched
Nothing says Spring in Chicago like the Merchandise Mart's Art Chicago and the NEXT Art Fair. The refreshed websites offer slide shows and media from the 2009 shows with a bright new look. As exhibitors and culture curators gear up over the next few months, stay tuned for more hot news on local and international talent and culture that will be showcased in 2010!
MOCP.org featured in Communication Arts: 50 Years of Photography issue
We are amped about our clients doing what they do best, and making more headlines! A big shout out goes to the Museum of Contemporary Photography for their "Web Watch" column feature in the September/October 2009 issue of Communication Arts: 50 Years of Photography. Search their entire permanent collection of visionary work since 1936 online through their easy-to-use, awesome database of great photography.
Big kudos to the LPCC for receiving two communication awards!
We're happy to announce the terrific news that the Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce (LPCC) has been selected as the top recipient in two categories of the Communication Awards program by the Illinois Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives. LPCC's website and quarterly newsletter, The Source, was honored top spots and given state-wide recognition for its excellence in marketing best practices.
LPCC's website is chock-full of valuable tools and content featuring a daily news blog, workshop and events calendar, and directory that serves to highlight business and cultural resources, build publicity for their members, and keep their neighborhood constituents up-to-date. We are proud to have provided an effective website for the LPCC, empowering them to generate more business value for the community... that gets noticed!
"With chambers across the state working diligently for their members, and producing high-quality materials to promote these efforts, we are humbled by this selection."
--Kim Schilf, LPCC President and CEO
An Event Apart 2009
I had the opportunity to attend the An Event Apart conference here in Chicago at the beginning of this week and I must say–this being my first time at their event–I was truly impressed. The presenters were greatly in tune with the advancements and shifts occuring in the industry and I found their insights and expertise really enlightening.
Another successful internship story
Last year's winter intern, Christine from DePaul, wrote this fall with some great news in these challenging economic times:
I am happy to let you know that I have been offered a full time position as Statistical Research Analyst at The Nielsen Company! Thank you very much for your help in providing me with a letter of recommendation. It was certainly a decisive document in the hiring process. The brief time I spent at Neoteric Design has certainly paved my career path.
I am happy to let you know that I have been offered a full time position as Statistical Research Analyst at The Nielsen Company! Thank you very much for your help in providing me with a letter of recommendation. It was certainly a decisive document in the hiring process. The brief time I spent at Neoteric Design has certainly paved my career path.
Congratulations, Christine! You deserve it!
We're hiring: junior web UI developer
Update: this position has been filled. Thanks.
You'll be working in a fast-moving, four-person design shop in the heart of Chicago's design district, River North. Expect to handle multiple projects throughout the day, and interact directly with designers, developers, and clients. We use an agile, iterative style of design and development; expect rapid revisions and implementation cycles using SCRUM methodologies.
Requirements.
Expert knowledge in xHTML/CSS, modern markup techniques, and the major Javascript libraries that make interactive web UI experiences possible. You'll be working with layered Photoshop mockups; all markup is hand-crafted. This position is not primarily a design position; however, you should be able to iterate over CSS design revisions easily.
We're primarily a Macintosh shop; Microsoft skills noted but not needed. PHP/Rails desirable. Experience with CMS systems--Movable Type, Expression Engine, WordPress a plus.
You must provide three examples of your own development work, two references, pay history, and a link to your portfolio site. Interested? Email your cover letter and a resume to jobs@neotericdesign.com. If interviewed, you'll be asked for an hour of your time to demonstrate your JS library chops to the team.
Note this position is on location only: contractors, recruiters, off-shore development firms, please hold your fire. Really! Don't ring us! It's going to waste your time and ours! Thanks.
The fun stuff.
We're centrally located in River North; Ed and Nick bike to work daily, and the CTA is right outside. Within blocks we have dozens of lunch options, and kick out together on the occasion to discuss work, music, the art scene, technology, what have you. Our office is on the small side, open planned, Ikea throughout. We are essentially collaborative: tossing ideas back and forth, brainstorming together, solving problems cooperatively. We iTunes DJ most of the day, or someone will lead tunes for a few hours across the shared sound system; it's a benevolent democracy until Nick plays ragas or something too minimalist or house or Holiday tunes and gets voted off the speakers. We care intensely about what we do; you'll have the opportunity to work with design and usability experts, and grow your skills through seminars, conferences, and the like.
Windy City Rails
Nick and I had the opportunity to go to Windy City Rails, a one-day conference for Rails developers, over the weekend. It was a really great day, jam-packed with useful talks. We also learned a ton in the rSpec/Cucumber afternoon session (thanks to David Chelimsky and Corey Haines). And, perhaps surprisingly, the catered food was actually good!
If you’re familiar with github, I’ve posted some notes that I took during the morning sessions over at http://github.com/jgdavey/wcr-notes.
I’ll likely be writing a follow-up post about some of my conclusions, especially after some lively discussions.
Thanks to the whole Windy City Rails team for a great day. I can’t wait until next year.
New website helps users find mobile apps they'll use and love
We helped to launch a new website that helps consumers easily browse and discover applications for the iPhone™ and iPod® touch. The first comprehensive website to combine social networking, editorial articles and reviews, and advanced discovery tools, this website helps users to explore and contribute to the growing landscape of mobile apps. Users can create a profile, build a library, chat with other users, and get consumer advice on the hottest apps available.
Continue reading "New website helps users find mobile apps they'll use and love"
Exciting Transformation for Urban Initiatives
One of the first things I did upon moving to Chicago in the fall of 2005 was to start coaching/mentoring for a non-profit kids outreach program called Urban Initiatives. Since that time (hard to believe it's been almost four years) the program has grown in leaps and bounds and supports over 330 young kids in the Chicago Public Schools. The program has gathered support from all kinds of circles including Arne Duncan (President Obama's Secretary of Education), Nike, and Illinois State Senator John J. Cullerton.
Continue reading "Exciting Transformation for Urban Initiatives"
The Obama Cabinet iPhone app release
Neoteric Design is proud to announce the release of The Obama Cabinet, our first iPhone app! Did you know that Arne Duncan played professional basketball before beginning his political career? Or that four of the sixteen cabinet officials are held by women? Find out who's who and what they do as Presidential advisors. This app contains biographies and job descriptions for each U.S. Cabinet member.
Learn more about the Obama Cabinet, iPhone Application.
Chicago's Urban Initiatives launches redesigned website
The dedicated crew at Urban Initiatives works with local educators and parents to enrich and support the academic, physical, and character development of children from Chicago’s under-served communities. The redesigned website reflects the organization's new growth and accomplishments as a vital health and education program, helping kids reach their potential. New features include a bold and energetic style, larger photography of kids engaged in the core programs, a blog of current events containing photo galleries, a more comprehensive partnership area that recognizes their numerous advocates and relationships throughout the region, and calls-to-action for newsletter subscription, social networking, and ways support the organization.
Network Solutions 'redesigns,' crafts obscure brand labels for previously understood products, services
Photos from Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference
Back in June, I attended the Apple World Wide Developer Conference 2009 in San Francisco. It was my first WWDC; I was pretty excited. And San Francisco is pretty lovable.
Continue reading "Photos from Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference"
Full service accounting firm relaunches website
We’re pleased to announce the launch of the redesigned website for Blackman Kallick. The feature-packed site offers a broad variety of resources for customers and current clients. We’ve refined the company brand and designed clear channels to publications, articles, white papers, and company news. The site was built on Movable Type, enabling the client to fluidly update and manage the content on this robust site. Congratulations to the teams at Larger Pond Marketing and Blackman Kallick!
Advertisements disguised as editorial content: who wins?
I was reading one of my local newspapers online this morning, and was a bit surprised on the copywriting in the sidebar for an article. A "Shocking" online report regarding colon cleansers? Why would the Chicago Tribune be writing online reports about that?
Clicking through the article only continued the confusion: three products, each evaluated against each other, each with testimonials, reviews, stars, and even a convenient "buy" button... TVWeek website redesign launched
We’re happy to announce the launch of the redesigned website for TVWeek.com, longtime publisher of the popular suite of blogs TVBizwire, In Depth, and TVMoJoe for the television industry professional. Readers can follow their favorite blogs to stay abreast of the current industry conversations and interact with the community about the latest in broadcast media. The fresh, newly streamlined site now features Open Mic[link] where users can register to create their own profiles, comment, vote, or contribute as a participant in the community blog.
Hello, Urban Initiatives
We are happy to announce that we are working with the dedicated crew at Urban Initiatives to redesign their website. This non-profit health and education program works with educators and parents to enrich and support the academic, physical, and character development of children from Chicago's under-served communities. Soccer programs, cultural outings, and extracurricular activities safely engage and encourage the kids to reach their potential.
Chazen Museum of Art in Madison
While back home in Madison visiting my Mom over Mother's Day weekend, I ventured to the Chazen Museum of Art on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. On display along with the permanent collection were two impressive exhibitions. The first titled Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics into Comix was a massive collection of "underground" comics from the 60's, 70's, and 80's by the likes of R. Crumb, Denis Kitchen, Jay Lynch, Art Spiegelman and more.
SEO, usability challenges with mobile optimized websites
I had the good chance of meeting up with friends in New York City last weekend; it's been a long time since I've had the chance to explore the town. I used to live in Long Island, but that was more than 10 years ago.
Needless to say, I was making extensive use of my iPhone to get around, find restaurant recommendations, figure out where I was and where I was going, and generally make my life easier. I haven't traveled extensively with the iPhone yet, but it is really a transformative experience.
What's a mobile optimized website?
Apple has positioned the iPhone and Safari web browser as "fully web accessible": no separate iPhone website is necessary to view and surf content. And, indeed, it's likely the best browser of its type on such a small screen. Content in various blocks can be zoomed-in and zoomed-out with a simple double click, and it's fairly easy to get around.
Continue reading "SEO, usability challenges with mobile optimized websites"
Blueprint CSS - Easier Cross-browser Web Design
At Neoteric, we love designing for the web. From researching the competitive landscape, to envisioning new possibilities for brand and web presence, to seeing our ideas and our clients' goals come together.
Continue reading "Blueprint CSS - Easier Cross-browser Web Design"
Snapshots from Art Chicago and NEXT
Kate Clark, Untitled, 2009 The Neoteric team ventured across the street from our offices to check out the Opening Preview for Art Chicago and NEXT on Thursday night. Art enthusiasts were out en masse to browse the hundreds of exhibits from galleries all around the world. Art Chicago featured a number of contemporary art masters and historic work while NEXT highlighted a slew of cutting-edge artists just making their presence felt in the art world. To purchase tickets to this weekend-long event visit artchicago.com or nextartfair.com
TV MoJoe Blog Helps Make Sense of Video World, from TVWeek.com
We've just launched Joself Adalian's new blog, TV MoJoe, at tvweek.com. Joe is working to make sense of the vast video universe of the 21st century, with a particular focus on the people and programming that populate the five much-maligned broadcast networks. Check it out: it features a fresh look and feel, engaging photography, and watch-this-recommendations.
Event Planners Find Plans, Toolkits at Event Space Website
We are proud to present the new EVENTS+SPACES website. Managed by the Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., EVENTS+SPACES is a suite of three major location venues available for exhibitions and special events: L.A. Mart, 7 W New York, and Chicago’s own Merchandise Mart Properties. Tailored to the needs of event planners, the sites help them envision the possibilities of these unique new spaces. The site provides a tour of the unique and versatile spaces from each venue through interactive floor plans, photo galleries, and downloadable fact sheets.
Art Chicago is coming! Behind the scenes at the South Lobby
Spring, especially in River North, means Artropolis is in the air. It's the best sign of spring, seeing Art Chicago, Next Art Fair, and Antiques Art Fair banners up and about. Across from my favorite coffee wine and sandwich shop, the south lobby of the Mart is now host to a 24' original fiberglass sculpture, Buckminister Fuller's Fly's - Eye Dome. It was originally conceived as a living quarters which could harness wind and solar energy. Created in 1977, this is the only 24' dome Fuller produced. Final touches are being applied today.
More photos after the jump...
Continue reading "Art Chicago is coming! Behind the scenes at the South Lobby"
Neoteric Design Named Movable Type Creative Partner
We couldn't be more pleased that Six Apart, the makers of Movable Type, announced us as professional Design Partners. We've been working with MT as an easy-to-use web publishing tool since 2003.
For our clients--ranging from businesses to nonprofit organizations--its broad flexibility allows us to customize create websites with a wide range of features, from calendars to article libraries, blogs to image galleries, program announcements to event archives.
Six Apart ran a case study on our design and development processes as well. The case study highlighted our work with Crain Communications' TVWeek, the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and Blåkläder Workwear.
Thanks Six Apart!
Specialty food market website for unique Chicago dry rub seasonings
We've launched the redesigned Char Crust website, which features this local company's entrepreneurial history, recipes, newsletters, and highlighted retailers-of-the-month.
Hungry? Foodies and barbecue aficionados are firing up the grill year-round armed with a greater variety of tools and seasonings. Char Crust enhances the cooking experience with their dry rub seasonings for all meat and fish that sear and form a beautiful crust that "seals in the juices." The family business has its origins at the legendary Al Farber’s Chicago Steakhouse in 1957. Since then, award-winning signature flavors have been added and carried by merchandisers in their meat and seafood departments, barbecue, marinade, and spice aisles. Check it out!
Ed visits the Country Music Hall of Fame
Being the music buff that I am, I naturally jumped at the opportunity to check out the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum while visiting Nashville this March. The hall was completely revamped in 2001 and along with exhibits it houses an extensive library of audio recordings from the past century. The architecture of the $37 million dollar building - with its clever structural motifs such as the piano key facade, the diamond-shaped radio mast, and the layout in the shape of a bass clef - was one of just a few highlights of the tour.
Another design element of the museum that caught my eye while strolling around was the great use of typography. Museum exhibits often use ubiquitous type and muted accent colors so as to allow the material on display to be the eye-catching element. The designers of the CMF chose a different approach, combining exhibit elements such as instruments and outfits with lively typography and eye-popping color.
The entryway to the museum - notice the piano key motif across the top.
Event Talk: Social networking and digital marketing for small business.
The Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce is developing a monthly program, the Small Business Forum, to track trends and business challenges for small businesses in Chicago. I'll be a panelist for Social Networking and Digital Marketing, a conversation about social networking tools and their impact on businesses. It's April 16th, so come on by and join the conversation!
Nick.
Welcome aboard, National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
We're excited to be working with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy® (NABP). The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy is the independent, international, and impartial association that assists its member boards of Pharmacy in developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform standards for the purpose of protecting the public health.
For the redesign project, we'll be conducting extensive design research with group and individual interviews. We'll be testing design concepts and new navigation strategies, working with IT to implement a content management strategy for marketing and communications, and integrating goal-based analytic tracking throughout the site. We welcome the NABP aboard!
Welcome aboard University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art
We are pleased to work with the talented staff to redesign the website for the University of Chicago's David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art. The museum presents original works of art through their extensive permanent collection, publications, special exhibitions and programs. A part of the University of Chicago campus, the museum is a unique educational resource for the academic and larger community.
Welcome the Merchandise Mart's EVENTS+SPACES
We are proud to be creating the new EVENTS+SPACES website for the MMPI. Managed by the Merchandise Mart Properties Inc, Events + Spaces is a suite of three major venue locations available for exhibitions and special events: L.A. Mart, 7 W New York, and Chicago's own Merchandise Mart Properties. The new website will present the unique character and capabilities of each venue and will feature floor plan previews of the versatile spaces. Welcome aboard!
New year, new websites
2008 has come to a close—but we were busy launching a number of new websites for our clients. Congratulations to each of these fine organizations!
Lincoln Park Chamber of Commerce
lincolnparkchamber.com
The LPCC serves as a catalyst for business success and economic development in Lincoln Park. The redesigned website features an easy-to-use content management system, extensive news, blogs, and media feeds, and integration with the Chamber’s membership management system, ChamberMaster.
Coleman Entrepreneurship Center: DePaul University
cec.depaul.edu
The Coleman Entrepreneurship Center is an entrepreneurship support organization at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. We developed the Center’s custom content managed website using Movable Type. It features articles on entrepreneurship, an events calendar, email newsletters, a blog, and a new visual design.
Luna Negra Dance Theater
lunanegra.org
Luna Negra Dance Theater creates, performs, and teaches contemporary dance by Latino choreographers. The new website features performing artists, event calendars, community outreach and a behind-the-scenes blog.
MPAACT: Afrikan Centered Theatre
mpaact.org
MPAACT nutures, develops, and sustains Afrikan Centered Theatre grounded in the many cultures and traditions of the Afrikan continent and its Diaspora. Our redesigned website features current and past productions, a store, newsletters, and a behind-the-scenes blog.
Coolketubah.com
Coolketubah.com
Cool Ketubah offers a fresh, modern take on the traditional Ketubah, each individually designed from the creative mind of Chicago-based graphic designer, Jason Pickleman.
