St. Andrew Legal Clinic

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

St. Andrew Legal Clinic is a public interest law firm providing legal services to low-income families; the clinic works hard to help protect families from domestic violence by providing legal advocacy and assistance with family law matters.

The Challenge: St. Andrew Legal Clinic (SALC) was in need of a new website to keep up with the forward momentum and ceaseless activity of the clinic itself. The group's current website had not been updated in nearly ten years, and the out-of-date site was making it difficult for users to find information and resources quickly.

A major website remodel was needed if SALC was going to be able to provide the information and resources their clients needed in an easy-to-use format. As a non-profit organization, the challenge was magnified by budgetary concerns.

A Real Team Effort: Outlier Solutions was happy to help out with web design, but the project itself was nowhere near a solo enterprise. Rather, it was conceived of and followed out as a group effort with longtime Outlier client Cascade TEK. Cascade TEK is a proud member of the northwest community, and supports many local groups including the St. Andrew Legal Clinic. The company and its founder, Doug Barrett, had generously volunteered to help fund the project. As a collaborative effort between St. Andrew Legal Clinic, Cascade TEK, and Outlier, we designed a new website using the Drupal CMS platform that showcased SALC's resources, events, and group news.

What was the result? A dynamic, easily updated website that functions as an important resource for low income families, SALC supporters and staff alike, with a back end developed using the Drupal CMS platform and designed specifically to enable SALC staff to update frequently without having to “call in the big guns” (That's us!). This new site creates an engaging visual design supported by a framework that supports all who use it.

Feedback—from staff, St. Andrew Board, and site visitors—has been overwhelmingly positive. The group has a website that is functional, with well organized information and a structure that allows staff to update regularly as new events and information becomes available:

“We love that the new site not just pretty to look at, but also that it is so well organized. It’s easy for clients and donors to navigate, and it also allows us to update when events, staffing changes, or programs make it necessary for us to keep the world apprised of our activities.” --Vice President of Development Cynthia Gregory

On the Move in 2011!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

It seems like only yesterday we were packing up boxes, moving into the new Outlier headquarters and bidding farewell to our old office space. But here it is—the end of 2011!

From new digs and new team members to exciting client work, it's been a whirlwind of a year. In the process we’ve sharpened our skills and polished our craft—from websites and traditional marketing projects to large scale systems designed to help clients handle complex business processes, our work over the past year inspires us and pushes us to do even more in the new year.

Here is a brief sample of some of the highlights for the Outlier team in 2011!

  • E-Commerce site Labnetinternational.com includes a product catalog designed to be accessible and intuitive for Labnet customers and international distributors. Outlier also creates a backend designed for simple content management for Labnet staff to use.
  • It's true what they say, variety truly is the spice of life! The team is thrilled to dig into new projects for longterm client Sheldon Manufacturing: first, a new energy widget that calculates money savings from the purchase of new low-energy products. The widget operates based on user's location and is coded for easy embedding of the sales tool. We get another fun project with the creation an interactive educational tool designed for both students and professionals. The new tool features dozens of interactive slides and a quiz at the end to test users' newfound knowledge.
  • Outlier has a record year with our own projects, too! In spring of 2011 Outlier launches the SproutNOVA ad network; the new affiliate network targets the scientific community, providing writers and product suppliers a place to connect and share knowledge.
  • Speaking of science, Outlier website LabGrab.com has more than 600 articles posted in 2011, making the site one of most popular online resources for finding science and industry-related news. New features are also added, like the new Grab More Science app, allowing users to personalize news choices based on their interests. Fun!
  • Last but not least, Outlier continues to expand our professional skills and services in 2011: from deepening our knowledge of content management system Drupal to new marketing materials (like the new Outlier website!) and even adding a new Outlier team member to round out the group. Marketing & Communications specialist Kathleen Martin jumps in to assist the team with writing and marketing duties in summer of 2011 after completing an MBA degree from Portland State University.

As we reflect on the past we also look forward to the challenges and excitement we’ll surely find in the coming year. Thank you to all our clients who helped make 2011 a success, we look forward to growing with you in 2012!

Happy New Year from all of us at Outlier Solutions!

Outlier Marketing Solutions: Web Design & Ecommerce

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

This is the second of our seven-part series focusing on Outlier's marketing solutions.

Web design is a fun process and it's always interesting to see the creative collaboration take hold. Our philosophy is that a visually stunning presentation must be well balanced with utility and usability. Websites have become a "must have" and so has web marketing. That's why using an advertising agency like Outlier ensures that your site will be built, designed, and optimized to rank well with search engines and provide customers with valuable information.

Today, most people expect to see an about page, a contact page, and a products page on a web site. The key is to present the information that customers expect to find in a memorable fashion. By incorporating effective graphic design and quality content into the site, Outlier Solutions has helped businesses do just this.

Where do we begin? With your expertise. It is very important to us to understand your expectations and goals for the site, how you are positioned, and how you want to be positioned. From here we will explain all of your available options and give you a thorough proposal with a fixed price.

The web design process unfolds. As a Portland web design firm, Outlier Solutions will create multiple web design proofs to give you various options to choose from. Once we settle on the desired look and feel we begin coding and providing you with updates along the way. We will take the creative lead and allow you to revise the web design along the way. After thorough testing we send your site live.

Dynamic Web Design

In our proposal we will include administrative features that allow you to maintain your site without maintenance fees. This applies primarily to database driven sites with product catalogs. So updating images, specifications, and adding new products is a snap.

We explain how to use your ftp features and monitor your web traffic to judge the effectiveness of your web marketing campaign. And of course, if you prefer, we can handle all of this for you.

Ecommerce Web Design

For many industries a website with Ecommerce capabilities is expected. However, Ecommerce can also raise issues such as web design cost, security and questions about integration into your current business processes. As a Portland Web Design firm, we understand these concerns and work with clients to inform them of their options. Don't be the last site in your industry to offer Ecommerce options.