In this Issue |
Top Stories: Client Spotlight: Feature Story: |
Technology Trends/Industry News: Employee News: Upcoming & Of Interest |
M7 Wins IMA Web Design Award
Chocolate, anyone? Marker Seven started 2007 with a win, as the Interactive Media Awards™ recognized us with an award for Outstanding Achievement for our work on the Ghirardelli Chocolate Web site. Thank you, IMA, for your recognition! Keep an eye out for the companion site, Savor Chocolate.
Marker Seven founder John Clauss comments, “I am very happy that Marker Seven has been recognized by IMA. Our team has enjoyed its work on Ghirardelli, and is thrilled to be awarded by industry peers.” Marker Seven launched the new site for Ghirardelli, www.ghirardelli.com to rave reviews in 2006. More than just a site to buy product online, Marker Seven created a robust online presence that reflects Ghirardelli’s position in the marketplace as the chocolate expert that creates moments of timeless pleasure, and allows site visitors to do more than fantasize over chocolate covered possibilities.
The Interactive Media Awards™ recognize the highest standards of excellence in Web site design and development and honor individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement. The IMA’s are a method of providing accomplished and talented Web professionals with the endorsements and tools necessary to be recognized in the marketplace as leading providers of top-tier services. IMA gives the 2006 Outstanding Achievement award for the Food/Beverage Web site category to Marker Seven.
Marker Seven takes this win in stride as it prepares for the 2007 launch of a companion site, Ghirardelli’s Savor Chocolate. The new chocolate site will explore chocolate pairing possibilities, bringing chocolate to the Web in a whole new way. Whether baking or looking for another Ghirardelli espresso dark chocolate square, the Web sites Marker Seven has developed work to be attractive and easy for the Web surfer and highly functional for the businesses.
M7 in the News
You may have seen a photo of our Marker Seven founder and President John Clauss in the December first issue of the San Francisco Business Times. The How-To article, “Clear Business Goals Make Finding A Web Developer Easier” by Susan Smith Hendrickson, looked to Marker Seven, experts in the Web development field, as advisors for smaller businesses who have yet to make their mark on the Internet superhighway.
By starting with clear business goals, a question that begins the dialog with each of Marker Seven’s clients, what a company needs from a Web site is discovered, and the how-to easily follows. Marker Seven’s clients appreciate its business-goals oriented approach to service; this approach is part of the reason that clients find so much success in the designs and development of M7 sites: they are attractive, functional, and quickly become integral to company success and growth.
The new Maisin Scholars site for San Francisco School Alliance (SFSA) is a great example of this, as the database and content management aspects have dramatically streamlined the SFSA’s ability to connect with its award applicants and winners. This business oriented approach to the Web site gives SFSA the tools to quickly manage their database, allowing them to easily communicate with all applicants. This sort of Web based streamlining of contacts makes a huge difference for companies and nonprofits like the SFSA, because ease in sorting contacts saves time, and time is money. Maisin Scholars is a nice example of how a new and/or updated Web site can bring more than an online presence, but also a streamlined ease of use for internal functions like contact management, sales, and marketing.
WR Hambrecht + Co
Financial Services Site Reflects What We Are All about: Business
Marker Seven finished up 2006 with the launch of a truly dynamic site for financial services company WR Hambrecht + Co (WRH+Co).
Marker Seven was tapped to create the robust new Web site, www.wrhambrecht.com, that reflects the continuing growth of the financial firm while utilizing the available advances in technology. WRH +Co, a San Francisco financial services firm, had launched its first Web site in the late 1990s. We created a new site that expanded the use of technology, played into the new sense of reliance of Web-based work, communicating openness with its three kinds of online users: individual investors, institutional investors, and issuers/companies.
The Marker Seven team designed the three-fold site to be able to direct these different types of investors, give ample information and service. With hundreds of pages of information, keeping the site visually appealing and easy to access is an important design aspect, and hallmark, of Marker Seven’s work.
The WRH+Co site has more than 300 pages; creating a solid information architecture to handle the breadth of information was critical. WRH+Co made it clear that it is important that a visitor to the site know exactly where they are at all times and that it is easy to get from page to page.
At Marker Seven, we are known for designing sites to meet such needs, sites that are cutting edge and yet have a sense of simple sophistication; the bells and whistles on the sites we build are the exact tailoring of technology to meet the needs and desired outcomes of sites. In the case of the WRH+Co site, we created a design and navigation system that allows WRH+Co to present information for multiple audiences in a very accessible way.
In addition to creating a new look for its Web site, WRH+Co needed an overhaul of its information architecture and design. The new site navigates easily and projects their professional banking image.
www.WRHambrecht.com Highlights
- Information Architecture (IA), how content is organized and linked, smoothly facilitates the needs of three different target audiences: individuals, institutions and issuers.
- Home Page design is flexible enough to feature between 0 and 3 OpenIPOs (initial public offerings) at a time. The design is flexible enough to feature a marketing message when there are no active public offerings, or between one and three simultaneous IPOs.
- Implemented with Jakarta Velocity templates.
- Research section interfaces with WRH’s robust database of resources - approximately 2,500 documents on over a hundred international companies.
Online Giving
It often seems as though the spirit of giving comes and goes with the holidays, and that it is too easy to forget about the power of donations (time, money, work) until the holidays or tax time remind the general public of the importance of philanthropy. We here find the importance of working with nonprofits a moral imperative. While not everyone is able to follow the $1.5 billion lead of certain politicians, each of us is able to do a little something.
In our last newsletter, our work with the San Francisco Education Fund and our party for Sports4Kids were both highlighted. We are happy to announce that our work with the Ed Fund has continued, and the new Maisin Scholars site has launched, giving San Francisco Public School children, especially those with less than 4.0s, a chance to continue their education.
Our team at Marker Seven is happy to be able to support these nonprofits through charitable giving, and is thrilled that it can help them harness the power of the Internet, and make those technological advances work for them. With hikers and adventurers among our team members, supporting protection of the environment by working with the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, California Envinromental Dialogue, and Green Coast Foundation is rewarding.
Bay Area Homes for Kids is another group for whom we see great potential, and hope that their Web site continues to bring donations and continuing visibility; as with the San Francisco Education Fund, after the site launch, online donations vastly increased.
Online giving to nonprofits like these has just gotten easier with the new site created for New Progressive Coalition. This site allows investors to choose nonprofits to give to, and then go through the process in a one-stop shop.
Our support of women in technology has continued as well, and our hosting of the SFWoW workshop on AJAX was a great success. We look forward to our continuing relationship with SFWoW.
All of us at Marker Seven hope that you will continue to support your local and national nonprofits and that online giving will continue to advance in popularity and will become a moral imperative to the online community.
Marked Expansion
Marker Seven Announces Their Newest San Francisco Team Member
We are happy to announce that Kendra Jacobson has joined the Marker Seven team as Project Manager.
At the top of her field and with impeccable references, Ms. Jacobson’s professional integrity, expertise, and positive attitude complement her experience managing large-scale and small scale projects in Web design and implementation.
As project manager, she will be responsible for keeping projects on time and under budget, managing accounts and client contact, ensuring that all work adheres to Marker Seven's high level of standards, and seeing all Web development projects through from beginning to end. Ms. Jacobson holds a BA from UC Berkeley. In her free time, she enjoys international travel, volunteering and seeing live music. Ms. Jacobson is a great addition to the Marker Seven team. We look forward to the ideas and support she brings to the company and our clients.
Windows Vista: Are You Ready To Upgrade?
Microsoft has finally launched its new operating system, Vista. There are a lot of upsides to this new software, and the usual glitches as well. Vista is said to be safer. With an upgrade to the Office suite it is easier to use, to find files, and to monitor overall use of the computer (this is great for home offices and the online adventures of young teenagers). Gaming is upgraded to be more comparable to a game console, and organization is easier for media-photos, audio, and video.The end question is when to upgrade. Upgrading operating systems can be less than fun; there are often programs that don’t make the change well, and it is time consuming. There are enough changes to Office that you may need a training to fully understand how to use the new system. The consensus is that upgrading is upgrading, which is always a bit tricky. The easiest way to make the switch will be when you buy that new computer. If that is a way off, then upgrade when you will have time to get to know your new operating system.
What's New?
- Marker Seven celebrates all year round, and this year our big bash will be on Thursday, March 29. Keep an eye out for your invitation, coming soon!
- SFWoW is holding a great networking event for recruiters in the tech field and SFWoW members on March 7, 2007. www.sfwow.org/canwow Marker Seven will be there!
- Mmm, chocolate! Yum, wine! Remember that great wine and chocolate tasting party we had last year? Well, we have more reason to celebrate. Bruce Cass Wine Lab site has been upgraded with ecommerce functionality, and we’ll be launching a new entertaining site for Ghirardelli in March. www.BruceCassWineLab.com and www.SavorChocolate.com will be live and ready to assist you in creating the perfect evening of paired wine and chocolates.
- Wondering where to go for your next vacation? Ever considered Croatia? Now a destination for fabulous get-a-ways, the new site will highlight the amenities and vacation areas of Croatia. Keep an eye out for the site this March at www.absolutecroatia.com. The photos and amenities will get you checking your passport and racking up your airline miles in preparation.
