A Website, Just for You
Years ago I was asked, “How – after designing so many great camp websites – how can you do something new for us?”
I take great pride in the variety of our work. Every project is unique, because every camp is unique. Whether it’s your website, brochure, Facebook page, or something else, we want our work to represent you.
When we begin a new project, we spend time getting to know you, so your personality comes through in the design.
We Are Craftsmen
We will build your website with great care.
We believe in clean, accessible, valid code.
Very few of our clients “view source” to check under the hood of their websites, but those who do see the attention to detail that we’re known for.
You don’t need to understand the ins-and-outs HTML, CSS, or Javascript to appreciate the results. Just click and enjoy.
We’re Here to Help
A website redesign is a big project, and not all of our clients start there. It’s very common for the first phone call to start with, “I can’t get my webmaster to return my calls – can you help us?”
Yes, we can. We’re a small, dedicated team. We do our best to answer the phone on the first ring, respond to emails the same day, and turn around minor changes in 48 hours.
We’re here for you when you need us.
Making Camp Last All Year Long
A Tradition of Excellence
Camp Greystone, a girls camp in North Carolina has been blogging since 2002 and campers have been checking in, constantly, ever since. Owner and Director Jimboy Miller know’s a good thing when he sees it so he continuously improves the website, much to the delight of the camp community.
With this most recent redesign, Jimboy decided to post his daily news updates in the blog where parents could comment. They loved it! Take a look at this post, or this one (one of my recent favorites), or this post!
15% Mobile and Growing
Camp parents are early adopters of iPads and iPhones. We quickly realized the interactive map would need to be optimized for mobile users so their experience would be no less than amazing. Additionally, Greystone has a lot of video content – enough to fill an iPhone app, so we did that too.
Behind The Scenes
There’s a lot of custom programming under the hood. The blog, people profiles, devotions, dates & rates – everything they update regularly – is managed by a custom desktop application.
FLEX + CAKE PHP + MYSQL
The website is hosted on a dedicated server with photos and videos in the cloud, served by a content delivery network, for top-of-the-line performance.
Serving Users’ Needs
Greystone has had a waitlist for 10+ years; many website visitors check on a weekly basis to see if their daughter’s position has changed.
We streamlined the process of finding your child by adding a grade filter. This simple improvement had a dramatic effect. Suddenly the list doesn’t seem so long, and waiting isn’t quite so hard!
Beyond Blogging
Greystone has been building their online community for a decade. The camp had friends and followers before Facebook or Twitter existed.
It started with a bulletin board way back when. The community grew and technology improved. Now they’re posting videos, devotions, music – and it just keeps getting better.
Engaging People
First was the blog post listing the staff who were returning. That became one of the most popular posts of the year. Skip ahead a few years and you have the People page with complete profiles of everyone. Campers love it and so do their parents.
This is the kind of audience engagement that keeps people coming back for more!
Putting A Friendly Face On Technology
Do you remember when business was always done face to face? In the age of the Internet, Facebook is usually as personal as it gets.
When Dan Konigsberg (the founder of CampMinder) first came to us, he flew down from New York so we could meet, face to face. He presented us with the challenge of putting a friendly face on the company. From this meeting came the idea to illustrate the people behind the technology.
Just a few years down the road and CampMinder is known throughout the summer camp industry – not as a technology company, but as the people who get camp, and provide the behind-the-scenes infrastructure the modern camp needs to succeed.
Some of the best minds in camping…
Left to right: Will Rubenstein (Camp Wingate * Kirkland), Yates Pharr (Falling Creek Camp), Jay Petkov (Camp Saginaw), Marcy Isdaner (Camp Mataponi), Gabe Chirnov (Birch Trail Camp), Jeff Konigsberg (Camp Takajo), Steve Baskin (Camp Champions), Jennifer Manhart (Camp Kiowa), Mitch Reiter (Camp Towanda), & Jeremy Gillespie (Camp Arrowhead).
Making Your Data Personal
Not only does CampMinder strive to provide camps with the best technology – they make every effort to do so in a friendly manner. Shown above is a mockup of the bulletin board from the home screen of the CampMinder System.
A Good User Interface
How do you show someone that you care? Always put them first. Simple, clear, easy-to-use screens make CampMinder an approachable system. We work with camps every day so we know the people who end up using the screens we design.
More Than Marketing
If you want people to flock to you, follow CampMinder’s example: Live your values.
CampMinder isn’t an impersonal tech start-up; they’re real people, and yes, they get camp. That’s why they work with us.
Make the Message Clear
The Process
When we begin work on a bigger project, the first thing we do is spend time talking with you, reviewing your goals, discussing the details, and planning our strategy.
During conversations with Glenn and Carter of Alpine Camp for Boys we asked, “What distinguishes Alpine from other camps?”
It’s the Staff
We talked for hours, and this was the thing we kept coming back to.
Road Trip
We packed our bags and headed out to Mentone, Alabama. For five days we filmed Glenn and Carter talking about their staff. The message is everything.
The Result
We didn’t want anything too polished. We wanted the out-takes as much as we wanted the “perfect” shots. What we ended up with was simple, honest, and endearing.
Watch and see for yourself.
Flash + XHTML + CSS + Cloud CDN
A Real Page Turner
Standing Out From The Crowd
When Camp Manitou, a Maine boys camp, came to us, they had one goal: “We want to distinguish ourselves from our competition.” If you’re familiar with many of the summer camps in Maine, you’ll realize that was no small request. We knew we would have to do something that was over-the-top amazing.
Technically, A Marvel
With all of the gloss on top, there’s a lot of finely crafted code underneath. The website is all Flash but we needed to optimize for search engines. No problem. Search for Maine boys camp and see if you can find anyone that you recognize.
Thanks to some very smart Actionscript and Javascript, the Flash files are broken up in to pages that are easily accessible to Google.
Flash + Actionscript + XHTML + CSS + JS
What Else Do We Do?
Website Design + SEO
The phone rang and Yates Pharr of
Falling Creek Camp for Boys said, “I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but we’re on the cover of TIME Magazine.” “Wow – that’s great news! How did that happen?” we asked. “Well, the journalist was doing some research in a search engine and we came up,” Yates replied.
Mobile Optimization
Camp Skyline, a Christian girls camp, needed their website customized for mobile devices – specifically their summer photos, news and email. With only minor changes to their website, we had them up and running in no time. Photos, news & email to go!
Website Maintenance
Not everyone needs a redesign right away.
Camp Champions, a Texas boys camp came to us with a laundry list of changes. We upgraded their existing site to WordPress, updated their photos, added in some videos and built an interactive map. If your website is out of date, we’ll get you squared away.
