Whether trimming the tree, baking cookies or planning out homemade gifts, the holidays provide us with countless opportunities for creativity.
But for some members of Colorado’s tech community, creativity is a year-round pursuit. From app development to web and graphic design, check out these Colorado agencies that put out some pretty impressive work this year.
Brew Guru App, American Homebrewer's Association
Responses via Kai Rader, associate creative director
What did you do for the client?
We built a premium content discovery application for beer brewers – with membership perks! The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) is a community of more than 46,000 beer lovers nationwide. Perks of membership include access to articles, tutorials, trusted recipes and deals on beer and equipment. There was one problem: these benefits were scattered across the AHA's website and print magazine, and nothing was curated.
We came up with Brew Guru to consolidate, organize and present them in one handy sidekick. The app features curated resources from across the AHA universe. Add in a personalized, geo-powered deal locator, and Brew Guru is the ultimate member benefit.
Why is this your favorite project?
At Mondo Robot, we don’t just casually like beer, we love it. We are connoisseurs. We also drink digital, like parched camels in the desert. This particular partnership gave us a chance to combine those passions. It's gratifying to build a useful tool, and the design process was a blast. As an homage to the AHA's roots, we took inspiration from vintage 1970s design. Finally, we love working with fellow Boulder companies.
Are there any fun stories tied to the work you did?
There are many aspiring homebrewers at Mondo Robot; the AHA was kind enough to guide us through a hands-on brewing workshop. Over several weeks, they helped us brew a grapefruit IPA. Now we're equipped to make our own beer at any time. Who better to learn from than the country's leading authority on homebrewing?
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Website redesign, the18.com
Responses provided by Pete Burridge, CEO
What did you do for the client?
The18.com was launched on a shoestring budget on April 18, 2014, and today — just two and a half years later — serves more than 2 million visitors each month in countries around the globe. Rather than just reporting scores and traditional sports news, The18 focuses on creating the most entertaining and viral soccer content in the world.
We were given the opportunity to redesign their website experience from the ground up. The redesigned The18.com delivers unique, engaging content in a clean, modern environment with an emphasis on bold visual and video content. Even its architecture sets it apart; while other soccer news outlets categorize their content according to league and location, The18.com categorizes much of its content according to popular topics connected to the culture of soccer. And it’s working. In a crowded market, The18 continues to gain traction, seeing more than 25 million monthly content engagements, a number that is consistently growing.
Why is this your favorite project?
It's not often a client comes to you and says, "We want to be the best. Whatever that takes, we're in." With the flexibility The18 gave us, we had a lot of room to play with interface and experience design, which ultimately allowed us to design a website that we'd all spend hours on ourselves. We all learned a lot throughout the process, too, figuring out new ways of accomplishing things we'd never seen done online and pushing the limits of our own capabilities. It was a really exciting project, and we and our client are thrilled with the result.
Tabletop game design, Elephant Labs
Responses provided by Ryan Linstrom, founder and director
What did you do for the client?
Sol has been stewing as my client's idea for a number of years and, after a successfully funded Kickstarter, Ryan Spangler and Jodi Sweetman at Elephant Labs were looking for help finishing some of the remaining design work and getting their existing assets ready for print.
Why was this your favorite project?
This was my first tabletop game design project, and it was fun to play with all the variable elements: game mechanics, story, aesthetic and the print optimization process.
Are there any fun stories tied to the work you did?
Elephant Labs is based in Portland, Oregon and I'm based in Denver. In order to get a feel for the game, Ryan and I played a game together over the phone. If you haven't played a board game over the phone, give it a try so you'll understand how familiar Ryan had to be with his product, a testament to his dedication and love for this game. Make sure you get yourself a copy when it launches!
Photos via featured companies.
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