Everyone knows the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for free TV, especially their top-notch kids programming. Many of us grew up watching Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. What you may not know (if you aren't a teacher) is that every single PBS show is a potential goldmine for education resources and many series have accompanying lesson plans and interactives. Aside from being a great national media organization, PBS has a long-standing reputation in the education community as a provider of high-quality teaching resources and services.
In addition to program-related content, PBS Education offers professional development courses and communities along with independent national services like PBS Kids Island. The PBS Teachers web site faces the challenge of helping PreK-12 educators navigate these rich resources - across all PBS program and station sites - to find just what they need for their current lessons or professional development needs.
While a primary goal of the redesign was to establish a consistent browsing experience that could scale as new
resources and services were added, PBS Teachers also needed a fresh look to fit in
with the new PBS brand strategy. Viget had the great privilege of
working with the good folks over at
PBS Education to tackle this redesign, and we're pleased to announce
the launch of the new PBS Teachers site!
You might know that KaBOOM! is a non-profit organization dedicated to building playgrounds. You might not realize, however, how much emphasis KaBOOM! puts on the process by which the playground is built. KaBOOM! believes that bringing diverse community members into a collaborative team is as important as the resulting playground itself.
With that in mind, when we were hired to create their new Project Planner tool, we felt Viget had the chance to contribute to the core of KaBOOM's mission of empowering communities. The tool promotes collaboration and communication among everyone involved in a playground project.
The Project Planner allows KaBOOM! members to start or join a project, view recent project activity, keep a team journal, post photos and files, and have discussions with other team members. Team leaders also have "mile markers" that outline incremental project goals to keep the build process on track. KaBOOM! also wanted the application to help motivate its members to participate through the "builder central" section, which highlights content across all projects. Users can post questions and answers, as well as browse and reply to feedback requests and progress reports. There is even a widget available for each project which participants can grab and display on Facebook, MySpace, or their own web site or blog, hopefully drumming up financial support as well as community interest.
The main challenges for us were integration (KaBOOM! has an
existing web presence and social network, an established design and brand, and multiple external
applications) and a tight 8-week schedule! We are pleased to say that we met our goals (our application launched last Friday), and we feel the end product hits the mark.
Is it cheesy to say that we enjoyed the process of working with KaBOOM! as much as we enjoy seeing the Project Planner in its final state? It might be; but it's true! They are really onto something with their emphasis on collaboration and team building. We're hoping our first "achieveable win" (to borrow from their mission statement) will lead to more opportunities to work together.
Check out the Build a Playspace tool Viget created and KaBOOM!'s mission. And why not join a project or encourage someone on an existing project while you're at it?
When we first heard the news that Ficlets was closing shop, we were as disappointed as the tens of thousands of flash fiction writers who frequented the site. After all, a site where passionate writers can add new beginnings, endings, and alternative takes to stories started by others is a great example of what makes the web so powerful. So when Jason Garber and Kevin Lawver came to us with the idea of breathing life into a similar idea, of course we were interested in helping out.
Being that Jason and Kevin are both talented developers, they didn’t need help in that regard. More, they were looking for a design for their new endeavor -- dubbed “Ficly.” Our talented designers quickly drew up mood boards and branding concepts to brainstorm some different ideas stylistically. Shortly thereafter, we jumped right into producing detailed compositions to bring the ideas to life.
We’re thrilled to have been a part of this, and it was especially fun to work with people who we’ve met in the web development community over the years. Take a look at the final results, and while you’re at it, join the Ficly community and start a story of your own.
Over the weekend, Ficly launched.
Healthy Child Healthy World is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps parents understand environmental factors that pose health risks to their children. Their work covers such hot topics as Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical hormone disruptor that leaches from certain plastics (including baby bottles - frequently in the news of late), and focuses on the positive connection between green practices and children's health.
We first launched healthychild.org two years ago, when the Children's Health Environmental Coalition rebranded and became Healthy Child Healthy World. We've been fortunate enough to continue our relationship with the organization and work with them as they've launched new programs, attracted a growing audience, reformatted their newsletter and generally done a lot of good, bringing both awareness and recommended solutions to new parents.
Continue reading "A Fancy New Design for Healthy Child Healthy World"
Glimpse's mission is to share stories from abroad that encourage readers to understand and care about other cultures, changing the way young Americans think about the overseas experience, and challenging them to explore real life abroad. Supported in part by National Geographic Society, Glimpse looks beneath the surface of everyday life abroad by providing a forum where internationally minded youth can share their experiences and connect. When they came to us asking for new interactive features and a dynamic design for their target audience, we were excited to help.
We're proud to announce the launch of their new site, Glimpse.org, which debuted after several months of collaborative efforts.
Continue reading "Glimpse.org Launches New Site"
The making of VigeTurf brought together folks from all our labs. In this series, we're pulling back the curtain to give a detailed explanation of how it was created. Here's a bit of insight on the physical production and project management that brought this seed to fruition.
Hilary
Being that this was the second consecutive year I've been in charge of getting the annual Christmas gift out the door, I prompted Brian in October to name a team for the job. We'd already decided to do a mini-garden of sorts based on Clinton's idea from last year. I spent time in the late summer sending test pots in the mail -- and finding out that even slightly moist soil would make the seeds start growing if packaged together -- to come up with the prototype.
Continue reading "The Making of VigeTurf"
We helped RollStream -- a Fairfax-based start-up that provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) collaboration tools for managing client and vendor communication -- relaunch its website this week after undergoing a full redesign and rebuild.
The site, which we built using the ExpressionEngine content management system, showcases the RollStream product interface -- which we redesigned for them in August -- through various screenshots and feature descriptions. Users also can sign up quickly and easily to receive a free trial of RollStream, or, if an existing client, submit support requests.
Spoonflower, a NC-based start-up that prints custom designs on fabric, announced this week that it was leaving private beta and introducing itself to the world. And because we -- under Clinton's lead -- helped to bring their idea to life online, we couldn't be prouder.
We built their application in Ruby on Rails; since its private beta in May, the site has attracted more then 10,000 users.
"After five months of testing, on Monday we finally opened up Spoonflower so that anyone who wants to can register, upload a design, and order custom-printed fabric," said Spoonflower's Stephen Fraser in an email announcing their official launch.
Sodexo came to us a couple months ago wanting an updated look and structure for esteempass.com, which promotes their Esteem Pass gift card. With participating brands like Macy's and Pottery Barn, the customizable Esteem Pass card is carving its niche in the industry as a leading rewards solution for companies interested in giving card recipients "the gift of choice."
We were able to jump on their quick time line and deliver their ExpressionEngine-based site, which unveiled last week -- just in time for the holidays.
"It's always fun to work with responsive people who know what they want," Steph said. "The Esteem Pass team knew how to turn around consolidated feedback and concrete approvals so we could keep the project moving full-steam ahead to actually beat our original deadline. They set feasible priorities and made compromises when necessary along the way -- when the site launched, it was truly rewarding. Pun intended."
We provided everything from mood boards through design comps, content management implementation, copywriting services, and ongoing marketing work to track and cultivate conversions.
Since October 2007, we’ve been working with Voyport to plan, design, and build their new International Mobile Service platform. The hard work culminated in August, when we launched their platform, which was built on Ruby on Rails, that interfaces with Voyport’s own in-house data system.
The custom application allows users to browse and purchase services, then manage their accounts by viewing current and past invoices and service plans, plus their usage data histories.
We also helped to create a contemporary design for their public-facing site, which is aimed at helping customers learn about their services and, ultimately, become clients.
