Wild Cow Studios

Human Animal Solutions

luke — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:07:01 +0000

Human Animal Solutions (HAS) has been online for years but had become increasingly frustrated working with their hosting company to have accurate and timely updates to to the HAS web site.

Wild Cow Studios redeveloped the web site utilizing the existing color palette while adding a stronger visual identity using photos provided by HAS and creating more consistency across the web site.

The web site was built utilizing Perch, a lightweight content management system that allows HAS to make small updates easily and centralizes shared pieces such as the navigation menu and footer text.

Olympia Regional Learning Academy

luke — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:00:25 +0000

Wild Cow developed a simple visual identity package for the Olympia School District’s online school, the Olympia Regional Learning Academy (ORLA) and developed and adapted the identity to develop a theme for the District’s home-grown content management system which hosts the schools’ web site.

RadiantCare

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:19:01 +0000

RadiantCare has been a client for several years and Wild Cow Studios continues to provide technical support and content updates on a regular basis.

APA Washington

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:18:44 +0000

Wild Cow Studios did both the design and technical development for the Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) web site. Following strict national APA guidelines Wild Cow Studios developed several initial design prototypes and then refined the preferred selection based on client feedback.

Once the visual design process was completed Wild Cow Studios installed and configured a content management system. Content management systems can help to lower barriers to entry for non-technical staff to contribute content, provide opportunities for community engagement and interaction and generally provide a more participatory experience for visitors.

Wild Cow Studios selected Expression Engine (EE) as the best fit for Washington APA’s needs. Expression Engine provides a powerful framework upon which complex sites can be developed and easily maintained. Some of the short-term benefits of using EE were the ability to distribute web-authoring to non-technical staff, distribute authoring of specific sections of the web site to others (i.e., giving individuals access to editing pages for a specific region or topic), time-based publishing and expiration of content, a powerful templating system, integrated mailing list management, built-in search, member management and an integrated statistical tools. Additionally EE has a framework for adding functionality, much of which is freely available.

Wooden Concept

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:06:01 +0000

Wooden Concept, a custom wood-working and cabinetry company in the South Puget Sound, needed a site to share their portfolio and services with potential customers. Wild Cow Studios developed a graphic identity as well as a simple tool to allow the client to adjust text and add photos using only a web browser.

Washington State Special Education Coalition

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:05:37 +0000

Wild Cow Studios developed both the core WSSEC web site and the Washington State Disability History Month web site using WordPress. Appointed WSSEC members are able to add to and manage content on both web sites without an extensive background in web development.

The Fourth Element (Festivore)

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:05:22 +0000

The Festivore web site is powered by a Ruby on Rails application that allows Festivore editors to create and manage the site’s complex categorization system. This system includes cities, neighborhoods and regions, cuisines, restaurant attributes and Festivore’s unique awards-based ranking system.

Wild Cow Studios was responsible for application development and the user interface design of the administrative components of the Festivore web application.

South Sound Running

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:05:03 +0000

Wild Cow Studios developed and maintains the web site of local running-specialty store South Sound Running.

Generation YES

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:03:50 +0000

Due to the access-restricted nature of the software developed for Generation YES Wild Cow Studios is only able to provide in-person demonstrations of the functionality and features developed for Generation YES.

Event Dynamics

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:03:32 +0000

Wild Cow Studios has a long-standing relationship with Event Dynamics Inc. (EDI), providing technical support and advice for many of EDI's web-based projects and technical purchases.

5th Avenue Fitness

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:02:56 +0000

Wild Cow Studios developed a simple informational web site for 5th Avenue Fitness. The web site utilizes Google Calendar and Google Groups to keep club membership up-to-date on the latest programs and classes available at the gym.

Senate Democratic Caucus

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:02:33 +0000

Wild Cow Studios helped to develop an implementation strategy for the Democratic Caucus’ refreshed online presence by selecting key technologies and developing consistent design standards for the overall look and feel of the web site.

Wild Cow developed a set of standardized CSS-based layouts to support the Senate Democratic Caucus’ extensive web site. This included semi-custom layouts for featured topics, Senator focus pages and a Senate Democrat’s blog. Layouts were adapted to Dreamweaver templates for the general site content and applied to the GraffitiCMS-powered sections of the web site so that the transition between static and dynamic sections of the web site is nearly seamless.

South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:01:58 +0000

Wild Cow Studios worked with South Puget Sound Habitat for Humanity initially to refine and update their Dreamweaver templates and to improve the formatting of their email newsletter. After developing a working relationship Wild Cow Studios helped SPS Habitat move to using WordPress for site management and Google Apps for email and calendar services.

Wild Cow Studios developed a set of WordPress templates that allow Habitat staff to easily manage and contribute to the web site. The templates allow staff to more easily and centrally change the site’s look and feel as needed.

Washington Bed & Breakfast Guild

luke — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:00:53 +0000

Wild Cow Studios developed a web-based application that allows membership record creation and tracking for the registration of new and existing members. The application also allows for dues assignment and online payment, property description tools and and a structured note and document retention system.

The property description tool allows members to upload photos for display on the web and for use in the printed guide. Additionally, it allows for the creation of web content for member’s web listings. Members are also able to create packages and/or specials that are featured on the WBBG site.

WBBG members, staff and board members are able to upload and attach documents and/or notes to specific member’s property records. The tool also allows for the configuration of the region/city/property relationships allowing WBBG staff members to administer the system without any developer assistance.

Fixing some leaky pipes

luke — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:22:44 +0000

Ever since launching Wild Cow Studios as a full-time enterprise I’ve been telling folks that the company web site is a classic example of the plumber, so busy with client work, he hasn’t the time to fix the leaky pipes in his own home. While I haven’t found my plate any less full as of late I’ve been setting aside small bits of time over the last few months to design, build and write a functioning web site for Wild Cow Studios.

You can now find a portfolio of the projects that I’ve worked on – you can find descriptions of the work done on each of the projects along with screenshots and links to the work where available.

I have plans to continue to add to and revise the web site as time goes on. Additionally while the web site works properly in standards-compliant browsers (Firefox, Safari, Opera and others) it is unlikely that it currently looks correct in Internet Explorer – I have plans to correct this but no exact timeline on when that will happen – likely as time allows.

If you interested in learning more about how Wild Cow Studios can help you or your small business please feel free to contact me and if you’d like more details on the projects described in the porfolio or other Wild Cow Studios project just get in touch.