nate jones interactive » portfolio

WordPress Digital Signage

@natejones — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:35:28 +0000

When the president of the Chicago campus of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology asked for flatscreen televisions to be hung by each of the elevators and in gathering spaces, most people thought the difficult part would be getting a good price on the TVs.

You won’t be able to afford digital signage technology.

The school is also host to an international institute that focuses on marketing messages; specifically digital signage. They were thrilled that the school was going to jump onto the technology, but were stuck on the cost of existing platforms.

The real challenge was dropped on my plate at the end of a status meeting.

“The flatscreens are happening. Can you design a layout? And make it sustainable to manage?”

The digital signs are displayed on at least 15 52″ televisions in two buildings that run Chrome in full-screen. Each post is displayed for 18 seconds, and a dock at the bottom of the screen displays the time, weather, local events, academic events & campus events.

I wrote an entirely too long blog post that spells out each step and aspect of the entire operation.

eGo, an iModules Community

@natejones — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:57:26 +0000

The Chicago School uses software created by iModules for its student and alumni online community. In addition to redesigning the site to coordinate with the school’s redesigned public-facing website, I am also the community manager. I manage permissions and conduct all of the training sessions, which are bolstered by a collection of brief task-based instructional screencasts that I created for the community.

AAM Hartford 2010

@natejones — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 16:21:15 +0000

The Association of Anglican Musicians was bringing their 2010 conference to Hartford, Connecticut. The conference committee wanted to step up and use the web for more than posting PDFs. This site allows for online registration, superfast updates and it’s just plain prettier + cheekier. It’s also dovetailed with an active presence on Twitter and Facebook.

Latino Mental Health Providers Network

@natejones — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:27:56 +0000

The Latino Mental Health Providers Network at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (LMHPN) had a lofty goal of unifying and creating a community of mental health practitioners who serve Latino/a populations in Chicago.

Armed with a grant from The Chicago Community Trust, they planned various forms of outreach, including budgeting $130,000 for a website and online directory.

After having an initial interactive branding meeting with them, I asked for a few days to see what I could whip up.

Combining the open source WordPress with its outstanding BuddyPress plugin gave me much of the functionality that was needed. After a few tweaks to emphasize the member searching and downplay the blogging, I presented the concept to the LMHPN leadership, and they were thrilled.

I put in some more time in customizing the theme and training content owners, and the site was ready to launch—ahead of schedule. Oh yeah, and for free.

They put that $130,000 into other means of community service & outreach.

The site features statics content pages, an expanded registration page and a search that queries the members’ specializations, locations, populations served & interests.

Santa Barbara Graduate Institute

@natejones — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:37:16 +0000

The Santa Barbara Graduate Institute had a severely outdated site built on static HTML pages. After it joined up with The Chicago School, I designed their new site and built it on WordPress.

p.s. the rotating ads and amazing new logo are the work of kelli langdon

Ashland Montessori School

@natejones — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 01:13:12 +0000

The Ashland Montessori School needed a completely new presence and strategy for the web. I created a new logo, redesigned & reorganized the web site and rewrote all the copy. Facebook, Flickr & Twitter accounts were created, and a message board & emergency text message system were implemented.

I trained the teachers on both the technical and strategic aspects of creating new content for the site & their social media accounts.

http://ashlandmontessori.org/

Garfield Park Preparatory Academy

@natejones — Mon, 25 May 2009 04:24:13 +0000

Click here to visit the Garfield Park Preparatory Academy website

The Chicago School teamed up with Chicago Public Schools on an ambitious and high-profile project to improve educational opportunities for children on the city’s west side and offer TCS students unique practicum and internship experiences.

Garfield Park Preparatory Academy, a contract school opened in September 2009, under CPS’ Renaissance 2010 initiative. The school will improve elementary education in unique and powerful ways and also leverage the talents of Chicago School faculty and graduate students.

The Chicago School Counseling Centers

@natejones — Mon, 25 May 2009 04:21:13 +0000

When The Chicago School acquired The California Graduate Institute, CGI’s Counseling Centers needed some web help. By redesigning the site reorganizing and freshening up the content, the Counseling Centers looked like they’re part of the family.

JoshGrimm.com

@natejones — Mon, 25 May 2009 04:19:25 +0000

Josh was finishing up his Ph.D. at Iowa and putting himself on the job market. He needed somewhere to show his credentials and personality.

SIOP Institute

@natejones — Mon, 25 May 2009 04:09:19 +0000

Pearson’s SIOP institute was in dire need of a facelift. after aggregating similar content areas to condence navigation, I designed a friendlier and more engaging site.