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Blog
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“The Black Church and HIV: A Social Justice Imperative” Video for NAACP
Gibraltar Associates, a leading public relations agency, partnered with Matrix Group to create a video for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as part of the NAACP’s initiative to combat HIV in the African-American community.
To kick off their campaign, the NAACP wanted to create a dynamic, powerful video that addresses faith leaders in African communities across the nation. The NAACP is working with the Black Church to encourage faith leaders to rally their parishioners to take a stand against the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Gibraltar Associates partnered with Matrix Group to create an inspirational video. Here’s what we did:
- Created a video that addresses this national epidemic, and also evokes a sense of urgency and encourages African Americans nationwide to combat HIV in their communities.
- Constructed a video that layered the animations, inspirational music and powerful voiceover talent
- Created and incorporated a series of animated infographics adapted from the still images and statistics provided by Gibraltar Associates.
- Integrated the online video into the national initiative’s multi-faceted campaign.
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Casualty Actuarial Society Website Redesign
Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) is a national organization that advances the body of knowledge of actuarial science, which analyzes property, casualty and similar risks. The Society aims to increase awareness of actuarial science, as well as establish and promote high standards of conduct, competence, and qualification for membership. The Society conducts and funds research in the field and actively provides continuing education for its members.
CAS wanted to make their website the go-to site for their members and anyone interested in the field. This required the website to be easy to navigate; make information like educational materials, exam and volunteer registration more accessible; and make the site viewable on mobile devices.
Here’s what we did:
- Created a beautiful design that showcases the prominence of the profession and association.
- Made it easier to find information about events and exams.
- Upgraded the custom ColdFusion content management system.
- Upgraded the website’s integration with the CAS’ association management system, netFORUM from Avectra.
- Created a mobile stylesheet to make it easier for members to access the website from their smartphones.
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Precision Machined Products Association Website Redesign
Precision Machined Products Association (PMPA) is an international trade association representing the interests of the precision machined products industry. Utilizing the latest technology, including CNC turning and milling centers, rotary transfer machines, CNC and automatic screw machines, these companies produce complex parts and complete assemblies for finished goods such as: automobiles, aircraft, heavy truck, medical devices, appliances, construction equipment and much more.
The PMPA website was last redesigned five years ago. PMPA sought to redesign the site to increase awareness of the organization’s work, increase visits to PMPA’s member directories, and foster more networking and information-sharing between members.
To help PMPA meet their goals, Matrix Group:
- Revamped the navigation to make it easier to find PMPA services (e.g., directories, meetings, news).
- Created a new Knowledge and Tools section that groups PMPA information, services and resources by the topics of greatest importance to PMPA members
- Created a modern design that represents the PMPA brand
- Implemented the new PMPA site in the Sitefinity content management system.
- Increased the integration with the website and MatrixMaxx, Matrix Group’s web-based association management software (AMS).
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International Facility Management Association Website Redesign
The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is the world’s largest international association for facility management professionals, representing more than 20,000 worldwide. IFMA’s mission is to “advance the facility management profession by providing exceptional services, products, resources and opportunities” for its members by conducting research, offering continuing education and certification opportunities and working to advance the facilities management profession.
IFMA sought to transform their fragmented online presence into a seamless website in order to meet the organization’s strategic goals and provide members a vastly improved user experience.
To reach their goals, IFMA teamed up with Matrix Group. We:
- Developed a new taxonomy designed to connect all the audiences with IFMA’s vast collection resources, products and services.
- Created a navigation strategy focused on simplifying the browsing experience for members and visitors.
- Designed pages that demonstrate IFMA’s position as the largest association for facility managers worldwide.
- Unified the login process and single sign-on with iMIS, allowing members accustomed to using several different IFMA-affiliated sites to sign in using a single accounts.
- Deployed responsive design templates to support a variety of devices in anticipation of members’ use of mobile phones and tablets to access the site.
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WEDI Website Redesign
The Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI) is the leading authority on the use of Health IT to improve healthcare information exchange in order to enhance the quality of care, improve efficiency and to reduce costs of the American healthcare system.
As their last website redesign was over seven years ago, WEDI decided it was time to revamp the website and make it a major resource for members and the industry. WEDI needed a new website that would: respresent who WEDI is today, make it easier to find information, optimize integration with MatrixMaxx to promote WEDI events, and showcase a new Knowledge Center and Career Center.
To make their vision a reality, we:
- Completed the site map and design begun by a WEDI staff and another partner.
- Implemented WEDI’s new design into the Sitefinity Content Management System.
- Integrated Sitefinity permissions with MatrixMaxx and implemented a common taxonomy across Sitefinity and MatrixMaxx so that website topic pages show WEDI events, products, conference calls and white papers.
- Integrated the new look and feel across WEDI’s family of websites
Visit the redesigned website at www.wedi.org.
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NORAD Santa Tracker
Track Santa Claus as he makes his way around the globe on Christmas Eve. Really!
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Just Like a House, Your Website Needs Cleaning and Organizing Every Week
My husband and I bought a new house last summer. It’s taken us over a year to get every single box unpacked, find a home for everything we own, decorate, and put in the finishing touches that make a house a home. We’re not done but I’m definitely losing steam. Maki is sick of hanging pictures, the boys’ rooms look nice but they’re missing wall shelves and curtains, and and the garage is in much better shape but we still can’t park both cars inside.
Here’s the rub: the house looks good, it’s functional, and we don’t *really* have to do much more. So it’s tempting to just live with what we have even though we could make the house so much better.
So it goes with a website redesign. I’ve blogged in the past about how a website redesign is a lot like moving to a new house. After a move, you have endless tweaks, you can’t decorate all at once, and you get a whole lot done when you throw a party. Somewhere along the way, you lose steam.
And when you lose steam, you start throwing content on the home page to make everyone happy, you start adding endless items to the navigation, you start tossing content into the generic Resources bucket, you stop updating the branding area, and you stop making the effort to make every page look interesting with images and formatting. After a year or two of this, you get sick of how badly organized the site is, you think the content sucks and you decide to embark on a full redesign.
Here are my top tips for preventing your website from becoming cluttered and disorganized.
Resolve to do some dusting and cleaning every week. Set aside time every week to review content, refresh content, delete old content, and archive things you no longer need on the site.
If necessary, hire a cleaning service. Sometimes, we need professional help to keep our homes habitable. And think of how much cleaning you do before the cleaning lady comes! Hiring an outside consultant does much the same thing. You end up thinking about your website and you work with the vendor to keep it tidy and organized.
Purge on a regular basis. Remember the closet rule? If you haven’t worn it in a year, toss. Same with your content. If specific content is no longer current, if nobody is accessing it or your organization can’t commit to keeping it updated, best to just remove it from the site.
Find a proper home for all new content and services. It’s inevitable that after launching your website, your organization will launch new services. Don’t just put it on the home page or stick in Resources. Find a proper home for it so that it’s findable now and in the future.
Finish the decorating. When I bought a condo after grad school, I painted every wall and door except the door to the master bathroom. I didn’t get to it within the first few months when I was doing my heavy decorating. Well guess what? That door stayed unpainted for 5 years. If your website has unfinished elements, resolve to finish them in the new year. Perhaps you have a newsletter that needs to be redesigned, maybe you want to have a unique image in every header, or you want video bios for all the leadership. Don’t wait and don’t lose steam. Create a schedule and get it done.
Update your decor and organizing system regularly. Instead of waiting 3 or 4 years to re-organize your site or update the design, resolve to do a review every six months. Analyze your analytics and make pages more findable. Optimize your site search. Create the new dropdown menus that include all of your new content.
I have a friend who moves every 10 years. I am now coming to the conclusion that her house gets more cluttered every year until she *has* to move and when she does move, she declutters, re-organizes and purges. Don’t be like my friend. Do your cleaning, decluttering and redecorating a little at a time, every week, and keep your site fresh and organized. It will be less work, cost less money and your visitors will appreciate the time you’re taking to give them a clean and streamlined experience.
