We're proud to provide Redesign services.

Over the years, RA has cultivated a repository of structured content to support their mission. While the content is primarily displayed as long form text, there is a wide variety of metadata and assets associated with each piece of content. One of the primary goals of the new site was to enable discovery of new content on the site through automatic selection of related content driven by the metadata of the content the user was viewing. Additionally, RA had a future requirement for advanced permissioning and publishing workflows to enable stakeholders outside of the web team to play a role in the content lifecycle.

Drupal 8 was selected for this project based on several factors. First, its focus on structured data fit well with Rainforest Alliance’s need for portable and searchable content. Second, the deep integrations with Apache Solr allowed for a nuanced content relation engine. Solr was also used to power the various search interfaces. Third, Drupal has historically had powerful workflow tools for managing content. While these tools weren’t quite ready for Drupal 8 when we built it, we knew they would be simple to integrate when they were ready. In short, Drupal was a perfect fit for the immediate needs, and Drupal 8 met the organization’s longer term goals.
 

Getting alignment

For the discovery phase, we had some in-depth conversations with the team at Baltimore Drupal Camp about design trends on the web, and which ones we wanted to explore for this project. We decided that the designs should express both the historic and the punk sensibilities of Fells Point, the neighborhood the event was to take place in, while also paying homage to Frederick Douglass, as the venue was the great Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Park.

Drupal Boh logo

Baltimore Drupal Camp had in previous years done a few mash-ups of the Drupal and National Bohemian logos in previous years (the National Bohemian logo being the unofficial logo of Baltimore), and we were excited to try our hand at it. We produced a clean, durable logo that was used in all our subsequent material and that the Baltimore Drupal Camp also adopted for use across their social media platforms. Baltimore’s own Not Mr. Boh even gave it a shout-out on Twitter.

Illustrations

In order to capture the historic and punk aspects of Fells Point that we discussed during discovery, we produced a series of gritty, vibrantly colored illustrations for use as visual assets on the site.

Site Design

Taking both the direction we established in discovery and the assets we generated, we produced a design deliverable for the Baltimore Drupal Camp website. Because the site would change so much as the event got closer (and “Submit Your Session” became “Schedule”, among other changes) we needed to deliver a wide-ranging design that would account for multiple versions of the site.

We worked with the team at Baltimore Drupal Camp while we created the designs and formatted them for handoff, enjoying a productive information exchange about tools and process while we were at it.

There aren’t enough words of thanks for Colin and Last Call Media. Amazing site design, fabulous t-shirts, awesome stickers! You are Drupal!

Liz Lipinski, Baltimore Drupal Camp

Event Material

We were thrilled to see the aesthetic and assets we generated for this project in use on event collateral on the day of the camp itself. Congrats to the Baltimore Drupal Camp on a successful 2016!

Working with PVPC 

We took the project from initial discovery and strategy through information architecture, design, and development. We were able to deliver a compelling, modern, and effective design, with PVPC’s target users in mind. Our discovery and strategy informed a new design for improved site navigation and menu structure, re-working the existing navigation system to create a more fluid experience visiting the site.

We were able to deliver modern visual stylings and multimedia capabilities that loaded quickly and performed optimally, while incorporating best practices for analytics, social media integration, and search engine optimization.

In addition to informing prospective students and their families about the school, the site met the needs of other important stakeholders such as current parents, current students, alumni, faculty, and staff— each of whom had their own needs from the site. The site also housed faculty and staff human resource forms and information, serving as an intranet behind the scenes.

We worked with Competitive Advantage to update the design of their website, port it to the most current version of Drupal, and migrate away from their former eCommerce system to Commerce. Improvements to the checkout workflow were implemented, product images were updated, and full content control was given to Competitive Advantage to maintain product copy.

We were hired to build a new corporate identity package including logos, branding, a slogan, and a website.

Launching later that fall, we successfully captured the spirit of the restructured department and brought forward their mission to help inventors, artists, and forward-thinkers to access patents, copyrights, protections, and most importantly, attention to their creations.

We brainstormed several ideas but landed on a theme around cooking and food. This theme is rich with metaphors about working together, each ingredient adding to the final result, and a robust menu of content for attendees. From there we started sketching layouts. It turned out that Lil NERDy looked really cute in a chef’s hat!

We tried to produce images that spoke to the metaphorical meanings of the theme. NERDys sharing food, cooking together, or adding lots of ingredients. We also created some custom images, such as the call for volunteers, and hackathon email images.

 

Remixing an existing character was a challenge, because it had to remain true to the feeling of the mascot, but also be refreshed enough that it was clear 2020 had a unique look and theme. We had to establish rules, such as the eyes always being darker than the body color, to make sure they looked cheerful and lighthearted, and hands and feet being simple shapes.
 

Another element we brought to this theme was patterned backgrounds. We illustrated foods and cooking tools, and added them behind event collateral, to add another dimension to the illustrations when used in emails and on social media. This added depth to the imagery, and consistency to event collateral.

We were able to create a library of Lil NERDys, supplemented by two patterns, that tied into the theme and were informative in the event marketing materials and collateral. NERD Summit had to make a quick pivot due to Covid-19, and was a remote event. We were still able to utilize Lil NERDy across many digital assets and bring some warmth to a then-unfamiliar new event type.

After the completion of a series of creative exercises, the LCM team delivered a modern, dynamic, global rebrand of AppNexus.com in fewer than 5 weeks. The platform tested well with key audiences and led to tangible positive business outcomes for AppNexus, including helping facilitate their multibillion-dollar acquisition by AT&T. 

Theming swiftly and efficiently with components 

One of the major outcomes of this project was a dynamic yet simple to use site building experience for content authors and theming experience for front-end developers. A component-based approach allows AppNexus to browse a library of reusable content patterns to build pages that are on-brand throughout the site while also making it easier for front-end developers to implement creative feedback. 

Using Mannequin, our component library tool, the front end team was able to focus on standard front end technology without worrying about CMS implementation details to quickly theme the front end using paragraphs. This was useful as many of the front end developers on the team were not familiar with Drupal but were able to theme parts of the site easily using Mannequin. 

The homepage animations, a critical piece to the visual experience, were delivered by the front end team who used particles.js. 

Managing first impressions and talent recruitment in one spot

To support their rapid growth strategy, AppNexus needed a robust careers section, “Life at AppNexus”. The careers section highlights the authentic employee experience at AppNexus, the various teams, the application process, and clear calls to action to their Applicant Tracking System (ATS), COMPAS, which is embedded in the Drupal CMS. Job applications are pulled in from COMPAS. With this new talent acquisition initiative in place, AppNexus is able to efficiently promote itself as a desirable place to work and creating a positive first impression for prospective candidates, leading to increased direct hires. 

Increasing analytical visibility using Marketo

By implementing a Marketo integration that sends form responses directly into predefined workflows in AppNexus’ CRM, we were able to give more visibility into valuable business analytics that were not previously captured. AppNexus was also able to utilize their content more effectively for lead generation, by introducing gated content such as whitepapers.

Building a relationship at the start

It was crucial we let ILC know that this is a journey we’ll both overcome together and they have our full support, as well as expertise with regards to questions or insight. They had many different goals for the project, but with the specifics undefined, we worked with them to help figure out the details and create a fully-realized vision.

The project’s dynamic was healthy constant dialogue between our creative team and everyone on the ILC team. We listened to their insights, we heard the things we needed to consider and the parameters we should work within. As things progressed, we started checking off the points on everyone’s checklists in order to be confident about the direction we were going.

First problem: Tools for finding relevant content

As mentioned before, ILC has many internal organizational projects. We needed an experience that helped users easily find content relevant to them. We mocked up a few ideas for a filter mechanism then iterated, each time pointing out the pros and cons then making changes specific to the drawbacks. This was our solution:

The thought process behind it was pretty straight forward. Present a lot of options and information without overwhelming the user, make it accessible while browsing and allow some filter terms to tell their own story on hover. It took a few tries to get here, but we believe it accomplishes those goals.

Second problem: The Map

I mentioned context earlier, during the project we decided a map did a great job of showing the global reach of ILC.  We utilized the core framework of an existing map on their website but completely redesigned the visuals and added a little more functionality. On first load, we show users the globe with a few markers showing the number of their members. Users from there have the ability to zero into an area or region of interest, finding which member(s) are doing work and what the projects going on in those areas are. Here’s the break down: