Silicon Laboratories Ad
A print ad featured in trade magazines for the microchip industry. Silicon Laboratories needed a message that communicated record-breaking speed on a new mixed-signal processor.
marketing communications
MARC DURBIN
BusinesSuites Website
BusinesSuites is a national company that provides turn-key, fully-serviced, fully-furnished office space with terms that just about any business can easily manage. BusinesSuites’ President John Jordan and I have worked together for a number of years and in 2004 he asked me to update their website from a static Web 1.0 structure to something more dynamic.
The first thing we* did was set up an open-source PHP code framework combined with a MySQL database and gave the client an admin-controlled custom-designed content management system (CMS). Second, we separated the front end into distinct XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript to give search robots an easier time of evaluating semantic content. Third, we designed a self-generating sitemap and breadcrumb navigator that would compose on the fly to reduce some of the long-term maintenance costs. And fourth, we emphasized object-oriented programming and server-side includes to make it easier for programmers to update the site.
The main site includes several subsites, one for each office center location (15 in all), each one able to stand on its own with a full array of features and functionality. The corporate headquarters’ site sits on top of the center subsites and holds the entire fleet of sites together. In 2009 we added an enterprise-level custom-designed blog with multiple contributor options similar to WordPress MU.
Over the years we’ve worked with SEO companies like Apogee Search to increase SERP performance. We’ve added a number of tracking devices — Google, HitsLink, Yahoo and others — and a CMS section with extensive keyword editing features that allows site administrators to adjust keywords based on data coming in from various analytics.
In September 2009, Dell and the National Federation of Independent Businesses recognized BusinesSuites for its innovative use of technology, their website being a key component. BusinesSuites was named #1 in the U.S. from more than 3,000 applicants.
*Key contributors: Brad Koester wrote the original front- and back-end code and set up the database, Dustin Ground wrote much of the CSS, Anthony Alvarado wrote some of the later back-end code, Michael Athens designed the maps, Mary Helen Pratt created the floor plans, Joslyn Baker assisted with the photography.
Barton Creek Mortgage Logo Design
Logo designed in 2009 for Barton Creek Mortgage, a broker of home mortgage services in the Westlake Hills area of southwest Austin.
Austin Country Club Newsletter Design
Austin Country Club asked me to design a newsletter for their members and this is one of three concepts submitted.
Delta Kappa Gamma Logo Design
The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International is an honorary, by-invitation-only, global organization of more than 100,000 women from all over the world. With a history going back 80 years and with millions of dollars in scholarships and support given to women educators, the society is today making notable strides in helping women assume leadership roles in not only the west but in some of the most remote corners of the world, including Afghanistan and Somalia, where educational opportunities for women and girls have been severely restricted. In February of 2009 the leadership of DKG asked me to come up with a rebranding program. We started with the logo design you see here, and worked our way through an entire identity system, including colors, fonts, writing styles, and a general overhaul of their brand, making everything more contemporary.
BusinesSuites “Office Anywhere” Direct Mail Campaign
This is one of three postcards in a direct mail campaign to promote BusinesSuites’ Virtual Office service.
Norwood Tower Photography Direction
This image of Norwood Tower in downtown Austin is one of my favorites. Taken by photographer Jim Innes for a website project we were working on, it turned out to be an unexpectedly dangerous assignment. On the night of the shoot, Jim donned a climbing harness to get to the top of the nearby Bank One building. And because it was so windy, we had to chain him to the roof to keep him from flying off. Norwood’s building manager Nancy Burns, on cue, switched the lights on in every office on all 15 floors, and Jim got our money shot.
Echelon Website
Homepage design for BusinesSuites’ original Echelon location. Started in the 90s and completed in 2000. Page design featured fixed headers with static left column and liquid content areas. Code was raw html with gif image mouseovers, inline css and no scripts. An example of Web 1.0 five years in.
Builders Update Website
Website page design for Builders Update. Site involved a team of programmers in the U.S. and a team in India and took more than three years to develop. Backend is ASP.NET with extensive client and server-side scripting.
Ashton Woods Billboard
Billboard design for Ashton Woods townhome community in Round Rock Texas. Sign is located on north MoPac Hwy 1 south of Wells Branch on the east side of the toll stations.
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