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We recently had the pleasure of working with HookUP Media to help produce the Web site for “March for California’s Future,” an online companion to an event going on right now in the Golden State. Organizers say that the 250 mile march, sponsored by the California Federation of Teachers and its diverse allies from labor, the faith community, and other civic supporters, is designed to draw attention to the underlying causes of the state’s woes as well as gather signatures for a majority budget initiative.

We recently launched the Web site for Office Furniture & Related Services (OFRS). As a merchant of new, used and refurbished office furnishings, we built the site so that it would allow visitors to drill down to exactly the product that fits their needs. For OFRS, the site serves as a 24-hour, 7-days a week salesperson. As part of our line of Management services, we will also be working with OFRS to create a powerful SEM campaign to drive highly-targeted leads to their Web site.

Never talk smack about Twitter at @centresource. Ever.


When I first joined @centresource, I made the mistake of referring to Twitter as “the annoying gnat of the Internet world.” Within three hours, my comments sparked a company-wide “dialogue” — first across three tables at a local Nashville restaurant, next spreading to an email debate with the strategy department, and finally culminating with an in-depth discussion on the merits of Twitter with our CEO. Great first week of work.

The Interactive Mixer hosted by CentreSource is back! Escape the cold weather for a little get-together — come by our North Fourth offices, and mix with others in the Nashville community. This will be a bi-monthly event the last Thursday of every other month. Hope to see you here!

Host: CentreSource Interactive Agency (Hey! That’s us!)
What: February 2010 Interactive Mixer
When: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Where:
CentreSource’s North Fourth Office
1313 4th Ave N
Nashville,TN 37208

To RSVP, visit mixer.centresource.com.

Backup solutions and disaster recovery are a mainstay of technology, and they have been well-analyzed in the past — typically from an IT angle. But choosing a solid backup for a website is just as important, and it’s an oft-overlooked final step in the successful deployment of any web site or application. Backup technology has changed a lot over the years, and it can be a daunting task to figure out which solution works for you. This is not a technical guide — there are countless technical solutions to any given backup need. The intent of this guide is to help you understand the nature of your own website and data, and to narrow down the solution that is ideal for your needs. Without a proper understanding of what data your website has and where it’s stored, any backup solution has the potential to languish or be unrestoreable when the worst happens. Read on:

Devastation. Tragedy. Hopeless. Those were the words used to describe the recent earthquakes that struck the island of Haiti on January 12 near Port-au-Prince. To a nation that that was already struggling with poverty and trying to meet the basic needs of its people, the earthquake magnified the crisis for the world to see. Like many companies in Nashville, CentreSource matched its employees’ donations to give $500 to the UNICEF organization to help with relief efforts.

When we were approached by Bounty Bev to design their logo and initial web presence, I was beyond excited. Distributor of Fort Collins Brewery and Caldera Brewing Company, Bounty Bev is small, willing to take chances, passionate about what they do, and ready to receive creative and branding direction. My favorite type of client to work with.

Having just wrapped up the logo design, I thought it would be fun to share with you an overview of the process.

As an Operations Manager at CS, I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to make our internal processes smoother, so we can spend more time creating amazing applications. All that to say I don’t get to explore the web too often. However, sometimes our developers will tell me about cool new technology or web ‘initiatives’ that I have to check out. Such was the case with the Pepsi Refresh Project.

When was the last time you had a really enjoyable experience with a product or service? Do you remember how it made you feel? Do you remember what about it made you feel that way? What about your experience stuck out most in your mind? If you are like me, some of these questions can be fairly difficult to answer, while others may be incredibly obvious. On top of this, the answers may seem clearer in one case than they do in another. Welcome to the world of experience design. This post is primarily taken from the first part of a presentation I made a BarCamp Nashville in 2009, entitled “Whoa! Creating Engaging User Experiences“.

Slide from Whoa! Creating Engaging User Experiences

We recently launched a new site for Nashville Center for Laser and Facial Surgery. The practice is lead by Dr. Brian S. Biesman, a world-renowned authority on cosmetic, reconstructive, and laser surgery. For the site, the goal was not only to tell about Dr. Biesman’s practice, but to serve as a repository for helpful resources on a wide range of industry topics, including his own “Face Facts” resources. It was a lot of content — nearly 150 articles on research, services and treatments — and our goal was to make it user-friendly and easy to navigate. Think Wikipedia.