To commemorate the launch of our most recent website—Engineered Restorations, Inc. (ERI), we’d like to devote some time to singing the praises of Drupal, a free, open-source content management system platform.

First, a little about ERI: ERI is a specialty contracting company that provides restoration, repair and protection services for all types of structures. Examples of their clientele range from the manager of a multi-family development to the senior-level engineer managing a nuclear power plant.

ERI’s site redesign needed to appeal to a wide audience, enabling clients to self-educate and easily navigate throughout the site. ERI offers a multitude of services that apply to dozens of industry segments, so this presented a bit of a challenge. Enter Drupal.

Drupal allows any piece of data to have attributes and tagging mechanisms. This intelligently connects information, keeping the user moving throughout the site and educating with each click. Generally speaking, Drupal is a great fit for sites with increased complexity. The platform boasts a large community of supporters and developers—both professional and independent—so the resources available are considerable.

Proprietary CMS platforms (Sitefinity, for instance) are Microsoft-based, expensive to invest in and maintain, and developer talent is limited to folks with .NET experience and Microsoft server knowledge.

For these reasons, we’re leveraging Drupal quite a bit for complex web application development—in fact, we’re currently developing 4 additional sites with the platform. It’s become our go-to CMS for complex and/or large sites and web apps due to its extensibility, scalability and ready access to thousands of modules supported by the greater Drupal community. Another prime example of the type of site well suited for Drupal (Drupal customization, in this case) is the site we built for CNNGO.

We’re not the only Drupal enthusiasts. Many major brands and organizations use Drupal, including whitehouse.gov, The Economist, and Fast Company.

Now over to you: have you had any experiences with Drupal? If not, do you have questions about it? Let us know in the comments.

Every year, SolDesign chooses a non-profit partner for a pro bono project. Ritzy Rags was our choice in 2010 because of their local efforts and inspiring cause. (ending poverty + helping Mother Earth + producing beautiful handmade products = what could be better?)

While Ritzy Rags had begun product development and a website, we started the branding process from the beginning to create a comprehensive, cohesive identity that will spark sustainable change.

Discovery

We conducted several in-person meetings, complete with a tour of the weave house, to learn more about Ritzy Rags.

After hearing about their origins and vision, we delved into discussions about product development, launch dates, logistics and target audience. With rugs as the primary product, Lisa hoped to attract a 50+ crowd with disposable income interested in home decor.

Below are images of “practice” products:

Next, we needed to conduct some research of our own.

Brand Audit, Target Analysis and Strategic Recommendations

To gain an understanding of Ritzy Rags’ category, we researched non-profits, professional weavers, and upcycled products. In our search, we found two organizations to serve as case studies: TOMS and Women’s Bean Project.

If you share my save-the-world sentiments, you may have heard of TOMS’ mantra: “One for One.” For every pair of shoes TOMS sells, they donate a pair to a child in need. While TOMS is a for-profit company rather than a non-profit, they are an excellent example of a Movement, or a sustainable effort toward creating lasting change.

Women’s Bean Project has a similar goal as Ritzy Rags: To teach women job readiness and life skills through crafting a sellable product. Their items, including gourmet food and handmade jewelry, are byproducts of the cause; their marketing emphasizes the importance of the women before the beans.

Ritzy Rags is definitely sparking a Movement, and based on the success of the case studies above, we decided we need to market them as such. We will use social media to spread their story in the first phases, so we want to reach an audience who engages social media channels.

Redefining the target audience was one of the most exciting steps because there’s so much opportunity with Ritzy Rags’ products and purpose. We believe their cause will reach several groups of people, so we divided the new target audience into three tiers:

Tier 1: Educated, socially-minded people in their mid-20s to mid-40s with disposable income. This group is drawn to products with a story, the environmental movement, home and fashion items, and authentic marketing. They are also our brand ambassadors, or the group who will tell others about Ritzy Rags via word of mouth and social media channels.

Tier II: Here’s where Ritzy Rags’ initial target audience stands. This group is 50+, educated, and comfortable with online shopping. They have a stable income and are interested in home products, unique gifts, sentimental custom items, and meaningful causes.

Tier III: This fun group includes our teens and young adults, from ages 12 to early 20s. They are interested in bags and other wearable items, as well as trendy products that may also be meaningful.

We hope that Ritzy Rags’ awesome work will attract more people than those in the groups above, but we plan to reach out to those targets first.

Based on our discussions and research, we also crafted a positioning statement:

Ritzy Rags creates one of a kind handwoven
products from upcycled materials for the end
consumer. The products are designed by low-income
or homeless women who gain job and life skills while
learning a marketable trade. Through the purchase
of Ritzy Rags’ products, consumers ensure the
future of our community by supporting environmental
sustainability and the demand for skilled labor.

We concluded the document with strategic recommendations, including setting up an Etsy shop, and reaching out to local stores and galleries.

Now that we had a solid direction and definition of Ritzy Rags, we were ready to begin next steps: Naming and Logo Design.

Look out for an update on these steps next week!

On Monday and Tuesday of this past week, I had the pleasure of teaching Introduction to Web Design and Development at Emory. I’ve been teaching the class for over a year, and I’m always impressed by the caliber of students. This class was no exception—as it turned out, I had a local celebrity of sorts in attendance.

Ted Freeman, a student, designed and created an incredible art installation for the Modern Atlanta Week festival in his “spare time”, and called it the Melting Fan. After the installation was built it was placed prominently in the Five Points Marta Station. The placement of the sculpture was celebrated with an unveiling ceremony at MARTA.

Ted was thrilled to have his work displayed at the station, and thought that this would be the extent of it. Imagine his surprise when one of the project coordinators called him to inform him that a photo of his sculpture was featured in the NYTimes, and on their website. Incredibly, the popularity of the photo continued to explode as it surfaced in the websites of the Times, the Wall Street Journal, and YahooNews. It was one of the 14 “pictures of the day” on the CBS Nightline site, appeared on the Daily Mail site, the NPR Radiolab site, and was Tumblr’d over 22,000 times.

Ted emailed me before class on Tuesday and posed the question: how could he leverage the overwhelming press he received for his work? In the social media portion of my class, I opened discussion into how he could best utilize tools such as Wordpress, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter to continue the viral journey of his installation.

Ted didn’t have a website, so he needed to act quickly. Our solution - create a 4-page site via Wordpress, including basic pages such as About, Portfolio, Press, and Modern Atlanta. Wordpress is a free open source blogging platform and it gives users without HTML experience the ability to create and launch a site quickly. Utilizing a blog will allow for comments so the discussion around his art can continue and grow. We also recommended incorporating creative, interactive elements such as a video project in which we go to the station and video the sculpture and record how people react to it. Additionally, he would need to link all of the press pieces to the new website, and contact the various sources to supply them the web address and contact information. To continue riding the social media wave, he’ll need to create a Facebook page to capture fans, a YouTube channel to stream his video, and a Flickr account to house his imagery - all of these outlets will help him gain even more exposure. We didn’t feel like Twitter was necessary at this point because he has to create a following, definitely a consideration for the future. And of course, a PR initiative will be crucial in order to tap into offline buzz as well. Since our classes end on Tuesday, Ted has made some great progress with the creation of his website/blog Creatometry.com.

As you can imagine, it was quite exciting to have a living, breathing, and tangible project to discuss and brainstorm about with the students during class. The students applauded him for his success—with a little help and an aggressive social media and PR strategy, he’ll continue to be applauded and recognized for his brilliant work.

Be sure to stay tuned to our blog as we chronicle the developments of the media project for Ted’s Melting Fan sculpture.

Lil Jon’s “Celebrity Apprentice” stint not only boosted his fan base—it spiked an interest in his charity-of-choice: The United Methodist Children’s Home in Decatur, GA. UMCH called upon us to help them capitalize on the popularity of the show, draw national media attention and increase an interest in the organization through social media and their website.

UMCH was founded 140 years ago, and originally served as an orphanage for post-Civil War orphans. Today, it’s a haven that fosters young children, teenagers and families who need help getting back on their feet.

We began by revamping UMCH’s website just in time for the “Celebrity Apprentice” premiere. Website traffic spiked more than 200% throughout the duration of the show, and UMCH’s Facebook fan base increased 200% as well.

While Lil Jon went to work for Trump in the Big Apple, we hit the media circuit in Atlanta. With the assistance of Lil Jon’s publicist and management team, we secured coverage of Lil Jon’s UMCH connection through various publications and television stations, including the AJC, Decatur-Avondale Estates Patch, AP Wire, News One, 11 Alive News and CBS Atlanta, to name a few.

Lil Jon managed to be one of the last final four contestants standing before Donald finally let him go. Amazingly, during his time on the show, he raised a staggering $80,000 for UMCH. Upon his return, we coordinated a star-studded and heart-warming reception honoring the rapper. The event was held on May 24 on the UMCH campus. We pulled out all the stops, inviting prominent community leaders such as Dekalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, who deemed that day, “Lil Jon Day.” During an initial press conference, Lil Jon was presented with an award for his fundraising efforts by his mom. In a hilarious turn, Jon’s brother, Chris, showed up in a huge Lil Jon mask, complete with gold teeth and dreadlocks.

After the press conference, the good times continued as Lil Jon met with children under the care of UMCH, enjoyed a private lunch and was treated to a talent show. There were plenty of photo ops, and I was able to get in the fun and pose with Lil Jon for a picture.

But by far, the most rewarding experience was to see the impact of our PR and media relations strategy—it was instrumental in increasing interest in the United Methodist Children’s Home and its noble mission.

It’s a great honor. We placed in the top 10% out of nearly 10,000 entries. Pretty soon, we’ll have a shiny, new award to hang on our wall.

If you follow our blog, you’ll notice that we’ve been talking a lot about Visible Vote lately. We were part of a panel for AMA Atlanta featuring Viral Marketing and Visible Vote. We’ve also been highlighting the new features we’ve developed for Visible Vote—video, forum, mobile and more. We are so proud to share the Addy with Visible Vote’s founder, Paul Everton, and his team. It’s been an amazing project to be a part of.

Last but definitely not least, I’d like to thank Kirsten Nantz and Erich Luedtke of Sol who worked tirelessly on the design and development of Visible Vote.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to download Visible Vote and start exploring the application today.

This holiday season we took our creativity to the kitchen with the making of SolFood - an eclectic cookbook that takes readers through our love affair with food and the recipes that inspire us. We had a blast compiling and sharing our favorite drinks and dishes - we hope they excite your palate and spark your culinary imagination! We’d love to hear your response to the book and cherished recipes. Happy Holidays from all of us at SolDesign.

Download your copy now!

You can view the video here:

Today, we’re honored to announce that the Soleil Laurel Canyon website won the 2010 Gold Marketing OBIE award for “best website”. The OBIE awards have been taking place every year for thirty years now, and have grown to feature over 100 building, remodeling, marketing and personal achievement categories. They are the premier awards in the new home construction industry.

In 2009, Southeast Capital Partners approached us and asked us to design and develop the Soleil at Laurel Canyon website. The active adult community needed a fresh look and feel to accompany the development’s new messaging. We built the site on a WordPress blog platform, allowing non-HTML users to update the content quickly and easily without having to deploy an expensive, confusing content management system. The blog platform is searchable and quickly indexed by the major search engines. We utilized video, a custom home search module and additional features to help online home buyers find their dream community.

Soleil Laurel Canyon boasts resort style living, yet our client also wanted to evoke a lighthearted, fun feeling to show that life doesn’t stop at retirement. We used Soleil’s existing logo and print collateral for design inspiration, and to give the site a touch of playfulness, we created a flash piece that mixes phrases like “They always told you… act your age”, with images of older adults living the life they’ve always wanted.

The colors of the site are vibrant to give it an energetic feeling, while the large photos showcase the gorgeous amenities. Features like the virtual tour and “Send an Ecard” give users an interactive glimpse into the life in the community.

We’re thrilled that our partnership with Evolv and Southeast Capital Partners led to this prestigious award—this was a project that we were passionate about and that we had a lot of fun with as well.

This season, we’re thrilled to be participating in a local push to support Atlanta Toys for Tots. SolDesign is working alongside Peachstate Insurance in an effort to pair at least 900,000 toys with children this year.

It’s sad, but true: last year, 250,000 Atlanta and surrounding area underprivileged children didn’t receive Christmas gifts. However, in 2008, Atlanta Toys for Tots broke a national record—over 710,000 gifts were distributed to kids.

Our efforts to boost Atlanta Toys for Tots numbers this year include the production of a video that will be displayed on the Peachstate Insurance and Toys for Tots website. From a creative standpoint, we’ve had so much fun supporting this amazing cause, and we urge everyone to contribute to Toys for Tots by finding a local drop-off station near you and donating a few toys.

You can learn more about Atlanta’s Toys for Tots campaign in this recent Access Atlanta article. Stay tuned for our Toys for Tots video, which we’ll be posting on our blog.