moving brands forward
Redmond Schwartz Mark Design (RSM) and LJG, have entered into a partnership to own and completely redesign ArchitypeReview. Architype’s current, primary goal is to “honor projects that are challenging the limits and redefining the norms of a certain building type.”
The development of the site is moving along and screen designs are nearing completion. Take a look at a preview of what the new site will look like.
Katana Software is the first fully integrated asset management, work order management, preventative maintenance management and budgetary/reporting software in the hospitality industry. Katana’s user-base is currently expanding beyond the timeshare market and the company is now reaching out to other major industries where facility management is key.
LJG has been asked to help on a variety of online communications, sales, and marketing tools to help the company expand it’s reach and sales.
We are currently working on refining the Katana Software logo to make it more remarkable and more “product-like”. Furthermore, LJG will design and develop the Katana website so the site will highlight the software attributes and convey the firms vision and provide insight into how Katana clients benefit from using the software. Lastly, we are going to create an email and e-newlsetter template to help with the electronic communications. A weekly email template will tie into the branding components of the website – creating a professional, established and progressive look that is consistent with a leading-edge software development, deployment and implementation company. In addition to a weekly email, Katana software will distribute a quarterly newsletter that brings the branding elements into a more in-depth communique that is fun, exciting, interesting and worthy of reading.
We’ll keep you informed on how LJG helps Katana Software introduce itself as the state-of-the-art, fully integrated, enterprise Facility Management solution for HOAs, Timeshares, Country Clubs, Sports and Entertainment Venues, Hotels, Resorts, Conference Facilities, Colleges and Universities, Retail Centers, and major Property Management companies across the United States.
When developing the website for new homebuilder, TRIPointe Homes, LJG created administration tools that would allow all dynamic content for the site to be easily managed by the site administrator. The tools used for text editing are similar to a word processor, a non-technical user can easily find and edit the page he or she wants to work with, and convenient features make content creation quick and easy. For TRIPointe we took this standard user-friend content management system to another level with increased functionality.
Often with administration tools, it is difficult to determine how different pieces of information behave. For instance, there may be a “title” and a “name” field and it isn’t clear what content each should contain. To remove this confusion, we added popup hints (see below) that describe what effect changing certain values will have on the display of the site. These hints are displayed by mousing over and/or selecting an input box.
For TRIPointe’s site, we also created a feature for realtime, drag-and-drop reordering of items using Javascript and AJAX. Additionally, some items are displayed in sublists. As a result, drag-and-drop reordering of “lists of lists” was added to facilitate intuitive handling of this information.
Waiting for full pages to load for each small action can drastically slow down productivity. To decrease this delay, we’ve used AJAX in various sections to quickly load input forms and update the list of information once submitted,
all without having to navigate between pages.
LJG also added a few methods to facilitate straight-forward maintenance of images related to various parts of the web site. One of these is the drag-and-drop reordering, as mentioned before, to ensure images are displayed in the proper order. Another is the use of lightboxes to view images in the admin console. This allows the site administrator to easily verify images without navigating away from the current page. Additionally, where
necessary, the admin console will resize images and generate thumbnails as images are added.
On some pages of the site, images are displayed with rounded corners or drop shadows. Instead of requiring each image to be modified, we used a sophisticated technique of image overlays. This means that when a rectangular image is uploaded to the admin console via the public portal, the image appears to have rounded corners and/or a drop shadow applied. The image has remained unaltered, so the image can be used for other purposes without the altered design if needed.
What’s the one thing we all want today? Value! Value in a home is all about finding something that you really love, at a price you can feel good about. Pardee Homes is putting those two parts of the puzzle together in two very surprising neighborhoods in two very cool communities that take Value to a whole new level. The new designs are called the LivingSmart(TM) Homes.
Learn more about the idea, the latest scoop on LivingSmart(TM), where the communities are located and how you can get more information on being part of them at the LivingSmart(TM) website.
The Sony Pictures Entertainment Museum website recently launched with great enthusiasm. But with all good things, there was a desire to consider possible refinements and upgrades to make the site even more engaging and effective. LJG reworked the homepage template in order to make the content more accessible and user friendly. This included a Flash messaging window to highlighted featured content and engage visitors with more calls to action. View the new and improved Sony Pictures Entertainment Museum today!
The Irvine Co. sold 70 homes in its new Woodbury and Woodbury East development before the project’s grand opening Saturday – indicating that the demand for new homes in Orange County exceeds expectations, said Dan Young, a company president. Before the first person walked through a new model home at 10a.m., the Irvine Co. and its six building partners had sold all but one of the 71 “phase one” units to prequalified buyers for a total of $45 million.
“The response has been tremendous,” Young said. Because of the success, an additional 56 homes were put on the market Saturday. Altogether, 685 units will go on sale in the new Woodbury and Woodbury East development.
More than 2,000 people visited within the first three hours, and some potential buyers met with Realtors and signed housing contracts. Shawn and Su Suh reserved a three-bedroom home in the Sonoma neighborhood. With their 7-month-old child in tow, the Suhs purchased a TRI Pointe-built home after the initial buyer backed out. “Everything just fell into place,” said Shawn Suh; the family lives in a condo in Irvine. “We needed more space; this isn’t too big or too small, and the price fits the market more than some of the other houses we’ve looked at.”
The 25 models and designs in the 2010 New Home Collection range from $300,000 townhomes to $900,000 single-family houses. “We’ve always been interested in consumer input, but for this project, we spent more on consumer research than ever before,” Young said. Research showed that people want more living and storage space. The builders responded, also adding windows and outside areas, including so-called California rooms – a roofed patio, to take advantage of natural light and warmth.
“It’s amazing to just sit in one of these homes for a couple hours and listen to the people as they walk through,” said Tom Mitchell, president of TRI Pointe, one of the Irvine Co.’s partner builders. “They point to parts of the house and (the) design, and the response is exactly what the research says.”
