A LOOk Back at 2006
Happy holidays, everyone! Elexicon turned 7 (that's seven) years old in November 2006 and we're grateful to all the clients, friends and family who have believed in us and trusted us with your support. 2006 was by any measure our most succesful year ever -- new clients, new partners, and new projects, plus continuations of longtime relationships with leading companies. Here's a quick look back:
First annual webmasters roundtable
One of Elexicon's highlights in 2006 was hosting our first "Webmaster's Roundtable:" part networking, part educational, part support group.
We welcomed webmasters and web managers from a few leading companies in West Michigan, including Spectrum Health, Gordon Food Service, Cascade Engineering and Stiles Machinery. Elexicon president Brion Eriksen and Lead Software Engineer Jeff Tucker led a casual discussion of a number of topics, including:
- The state of the web and how technologies like blogging impact corporate communication and accountability
- The importance of information architecture to not only web site navigation but also branding, marketing communications and product marketing and development strategy in general
- A rare opportunity for web professionals to chat and "compare notes" with their peers
We plan to schedule at least two Webmaster Roundtables in 2007, if not more. If you are a webmaster, a web department manager or are involved in your web site via marketing communications or IT and would like to participate, please e-mail Brion Eriksen at brion@elexicon.com.
Interactive Communications for Gordon Food Service
We were absolutely delighted to begin working with our "neighbors" on the south side of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Gordon Food Service this year. One of the most highly regarded and successful private companies in the world, GFS turned to Elexicon to help them develop some interactive communications for their GFS Experience extranet. Here are a few screen shots below of Flash-based microsites that help communicate newly released products and services to their customers while they use the extranet system.
Great Lakes Scrip Center site and identity redesign
Elexicon helped Great Lakes Scrip Center redesign their identity and web site in 2006. GLSC is the nation's leading provider of innovative scrip fundraising programs for non-profit organizations. Their new identity and site launched in March 2006. http://www.glscrip.com
New Team members
Part of our growth in 2006 included the talented Zach Kinstner and Chris Nowak who both went well beyond the call of intership duty to make real contributions to our team and to our clients. Zach worked on much of the GFS work you see above. Zach has also been a frequent contributor of cool posts to our blog, including some Flash magic. Chris helped Jeff and Amy stay on top of numerous development tasks.
Award winning For X-Rite
Another key member of our team, independent contractor John Auchter, created an award-winning "Easy Reference Guide" for X-Rite's ColorDesigner software. The award came from the Society for Technical Communication. We've been keeping John busy with several projects, as well, including some recently awarded new work for X-Rite.
More Projects
As always, Elexicon has been helping our customers with a broad range of projects to help them communicate better and enhance their brands, messaging, and content, from web application development to trade show graphics design and just about everything in between: web and UI design, logo design, brochure development, Flash animation).
Here are some highlights:
- Harris Corporation is a Fortune 1000 provider of mission-critical communications systems for government and commercial markets. Elexicon has been working with Harris' Broadcast Communications Division in Mason, Ohio and a variety of marketing communications and user interface design projects. A key driver of our work in '06 for Harris was helping them integrate branding and content from significant corporate acquisitions into their web site, information architecture, marketing communications and exhibit signage.
- Stiles Machinery is the leading supplier of woodworking machinery, software and services in North America. Elexicon built an application for easily posting and receiving Frequently Asked Questions to their technical support department.
- Spectrum Health is West Michigan's leading health system and largest emloyer. Elexicon continued to play an important role on Spectrum Health's award-winning web team for a variety of Flash, design, and development initiatives in 2006.
- Other projects include: New literature designs for Bradford Company of Holland, Michigan; and ongoing interactive design initiatives with Spartan Stores and Steelcase.