When I have on my Project Management and Client Services hat, I must know where and when a particular technical tool should be used. I also need to know the limitations of these tools, and when one is preferable over another. As a result, I am in a constant questioning, reading and learning mode.
I am not a designer. I do not know how to use Flash, and I can’t design in CSS. I do not work on the technical side of how to set up a CMS tool. However, I have been hiring programmers, designers, copy writers, and other vendors to do these things for years. I am the project lead and the primary link between the customer and the creative / programming team. I have been working with teams of people, interviewing the customer, and communicating needs and goals to the team for many years.
Below are several examples of projects where I was providing these kinds of client services:
Flash Websites
RMFSTeel.com
RMF Steel is an industry-leading steel fabricating company focused on food handling machines and systems design. Brain Bucket was brought in to re-imagine their identity to communicate their innovative approach to machine fabrication and systems design. This was done by creating this website to become the focal point of their sales and marketing efforts.
Brain Bucket has been asked to design two additional websites for RMF Steel subsidiaries. Because of budget concerns, those projects have not progressed past the proposal stage.
Hosfield Benefit Services is a very private company operating in a very competitve industry. Their website was created to be a low-key sales tool for their sales team, and to be able to grow into a nice way to connect with their existing customers, as well as to communicate with their system of brokers.
Brain Bucket was brought in to design a website that clearly communicates Hosfield Benefit Services commitment to service. We have been asked to update this site, and to migrate from a flash site to a CMS tool, as the company is looking to provide more information and be able to communicate eletronically with their customers. This project is still in the discovery stage.
CSS Websites
Friends Of Sacred Structures
Project Work Included: logo design, collateral design, website design, website writing, web consulting / planning. Interviewing small non-profit to determine approach, create project & customer profile, website design, design implimentation in CSS, website copy writing, Training on the Terapad CMS tool.
Tools Used: Terapad CMS tool which included design and implimentation in CSS in order to establish a first-ever basic web presence for this small non-profit.
As a result of this project, Brain Bucket has become the primary referral partner for Support KC (an organization that provides support services for non-profits) when they have marketing, design or online presence requirements.
Project Included: Interviewing small company to determine approach, create project & customer profile, website design, design implimentation in CSS, website copy writing, Training on the Terapad CMS tool.
Blue Pot has been able to expand their online marketing efforts as a result of setting up this website to not only communicate their services and allow them to change their menus easily, but to become more prominent in search results.
Content Management Systems
The content management system is a really powerful tool for the small companies and non-profits which I have served over the last 3+ years. I primarily use Wordpress and Terapad when I set up a website for a customer that would benefit from a CMS tool. I came to this decision after researching some of the more robust / more adaptable tools like Joomla and others.
I routinely consult with customers about the use and set up of these tools. I hold training sessions to show customers how to use the CMS tools. And, I am currently setting up a workshop to show people how to use these powerful tools, and how to use them to market their companies / organizations.
