Our Task

To design a site that is beautiful and represents their brand and their mission.  CARES  wanted to boost online donations, gain more advocates, encourage volunteerism, and have an online store all connected to a Content Management System (CMS).

Our Solution

We chose to build their new site on WordPress. This allowed a customizable CMS that moderately web savvy staff could use. It’s easy to use,  open-source, and has plenty of plug-ins for social media. We built their template from the ground up—taking our design, coding the front-end, and hooking it up with the back-end database.One part of our design was a nice, big, colorful “Donate” button to help generate online giving from the site’s visitors. The button links directly with CARES’ Paypal account.

However, getting funding and donations is one thing, but gaining voices to spread the message and getting folks to volunteer is another. To help CARES generate a grassroots effort  we connected the site to their Flickr account and Google calendar.  This allowed them to show off their new photos and keep their advocates in the loop with upcoming events.

Finally, CARES needed the ability to run an online store within their site.  So we beefed up the layout of their store using custom code snippets that have buttons linking directly to Paypal. We educated CARES staff through a series of online classes—led by Stalielife—so they could cut and paste the snippets and edit using WordPress’ basic functions.

The site has an overall robust feel from a simple easy-to-use blogging engine. The site helped sell out a benefit show of The Full Monty and has boosted volunteerism and involvement at all of their recent events.

View the site >

The Killjoy Team
World Bicycle Relief
The Dirt Derby
The Bonebell (new site design coming soon)

So when Kevin Heppner asked if we could help design new logos for our favorite team (Joe’s a member), we jumped. Kevin made the new logo a center piece and pulled a 180º from previous designs with a clean kit that’s sure to stand out at the front of the field filled with overdone design and high sponsor counts.

Front and back, yellow and black – and a Stalelife logo that adds a splash of color in a subtle place.

The horizontal logotype is highly visible on a racer's thighs - perfect for the Chicago Cross Cup courses this team will dominate.

Look around Chicago and Austin, you’re sure to see this kit on the dirt and on the streets this year.

In fact, when you design online your first goal is to consider how users might come through your site. What do we want them to do first? Is there something they need to know right away? After all, if consumers are only going to read around 20% of your content, you want to give them the most important information right away.

That’s exactly what we did with BizQuest.com. We simplified their busy page and developed appropriate action-driven content to make it easier for people to complete key tasks. Our design pushes the eye in the right spot (dark blue for the most popular action), and the new header is more pleasant to the eye with a more intuitive taxonomy. Speaking of smart, the buttons that require action are all the same color, we removed the over-use of blue and, lastly, we chose fonts and weights that allow for critical spatial relations.

Success on this project was measured on conversion, and we’re on the upside. While we can’t divulge exact figures, the owner has expressed his pleasure.

New design:

Old design:

If you’re looking to buy or sell a business, please consider our partners, BizQuest. Great people to do business with (and the extra sales will always help prove our viable design even more).

Around 240,000 people will benefit from the most recent Annual Appeal from World Bicycle Relief. If you don’t know them, WBR is a smart and well-run non-profit that provides sustainable transportation to help people go farther, carry more and cut their travel time considerably.

You can see our full case study here.

A lot of hard work and strategy went into this endeavor – a true team effort between Stalelife and the Communications and Development groups at WBR. Our approach was integrated with old and new tactics, and the results will make us stronger for years to come.

In the end, we surpassed initial goals by 25%, raised the total donation amount and nearly doubled the amount of advocates on the WBR lists. But most important, we helped the group that helps so many. And that feels good.

So why not make ‘em dig deep?

You give $10, they give $10. You send a whole bike ($134 – seriously, isn’t that insane?), the angel gives one, too. That can really add up with all our friends, and the donations will help healthcare workers travel farther, and allow families to carry food and water and more.

If you’re feeling giving this holiday season, go to this site and donate today . They make nice gifts, too.

P.S. – We designed this campaign. Show a little love for the crew.

Tired of the same old Holiday station that plays the same Kenny G, Celine Dion and those other songs that make you want to throw the radio out a window? You know, the ones with the same song rotation since Halloween. (I’m looking at you 93.9 The Lite!).

Well we have the cure for the holiday blues…the WOXY.com Holiday Mixer. WOXY is the official radio station of Stalelife, Inc. (we are big supporters of the Cincinnati station) and the holiday mixer puts us in a great mood. It’s the perfect blend of old classics like The Waitresses (Christmas Wrapping) and Run-DMC (Christmas in Hollis), cult gems like Bob & Doug McKenzie (12 Days of Christmas) and new independent artists like (Hey Guys! It’s Christmas Time!) and The Raveonettes (The Christmas Song).

And if you want to take some of this wonderful music home, WOXY has partnered with the music blog Hard To Find A Friend to bring you the holiday compilation Peace On Eatrth: Vol 2 that benefits the Children Of Uganda Fund.

So visit our friends at The Future of Rock n Roll, give them a listen and stop by their store to pick up some holiday gifts and help support the children and one kick-ass music station.

Happy listening!

^ Click image to enlarge ^

There were some subtle modifications to the original – for instance the zippo/camera was removed and the cascading line elements now resemble actual film, but overall the initial creative remains intact.

If you’re a fan of independent film, be sure to get your tickets right away – the BIG show is next Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008. All profits will help fund next year’s awards.

The results were great – 20 cyclists donated and a few spectators brought food just for the heck of it. We’re humbled by the generosity of the cyclists at the Dirt Derby – there’s enough there to fill a small shopping cart.

There’s still time to get on the pick-up list for Saturday’s donation run. We’re riding – with Adomatica and a few other cyclists – from North Austin to South and picking up scheduled food donations as we make our way to the HAMup TweetUP. All you need to do is email HAMup@stalelife.com and give us your address. We’ll show up and collect the food from your porch or your person.

The more food there is, the more people we can feed. And with news of Ike heading toward the Texas coast, the Capital Area Food Bank will use all the food it gets. They provide immediate disaster relief for gulf-coast hurricanes (amongst other things).

Please consider donating.

Yeah, neither did we. That is until some of our friends on Twitter started chatting about it. Next thing you know, the local community is rallying around this great cause and supporting the Capital Area Food Bank with the HAMup TweetUP. Immediately we thought, “how can we help this social event, but with our own spin?”

A coffee’s worth of brainstorming
with Robert Gilbreath of Adomatica and several ideas rose to the top. But none stuck out as much as picking up donations on September 13th and transporting them via bicycle straight to the CAFB. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to donate if you can’t make the event yourself.

There are plenty of ways you can help feed the hungry. Here are just a few:

• Collect donations in your office, church, school or social events
• Spread the word about Hunger Action Month – here are some examples of avatars people have created for their social networking sites
• Take a “Hunger is unacceptable” image and upload it here. Then share it with your friends.
• Volunteer your time at the HAMup TweetUP on 09.13
• Attend the HAMup GrillUP Happy Hour dinner at Whole Foods on 09.11
• Grab your bike and join us on 09.13 as we take a slow stroll from North Austin to South, picking up food goods along the way

If you can’t make the HAMup TweetUP – but you know that you’ll shop for groceries this week or next – let us bring some of these needed items on your behalf. We will even pick up checks made out to the CAFB.

To schedule a pickup, please email us at HAMup@stalelife.com.

Our convoy will leave from Burnet and Justin area and pick up any donation (and riders) between the highways all the way down to CAFB. If you live East of I35 or West of MOPAC and can collect in your area and join us, that would be great.

Let’s feed even more people this year while laying down less of a carbon footprint! You can make a difference in the lives of hungry Central Texans, so please consider helping out.