THE MACQUARIUM YEARS: 1999 to 2005
Moving to the Deep South was never in the plan. However looking back on things, deciding to uproot my life to Atlanta based on a couple of friendly, international phone calls & a quick meet-and-greet on a cold winter's night in Toronto has been one the best decision I've ever made.
Working at Macquarium was similar to attending college or at least the college us Canadians pictured American colleges to be like. We all started off young & bright-eyed – invincible to criticism, brazen with our ideas & even more impetuous in our actions. We worked hard & played harder as the internet bubble swelled but quickly woke up to the startling realization that we were not rock gods when the bubble suddenly exploded & layoffs became the norm. Through the highs & lows, we endured it all & graduated stronger, a lot wiser & left with memories that will last a lifetime.
Thank you Marc Adler wherever you are for founding this amazing company. I've never learned more, experienced more & developed more meaningful friendships than those 5 wonderful years.
2004 BRANDON HALL EXCELLENCE IN LEARNING AWARD WINNER (GOLD AWARD IN CUSTOM CONTENT, FULL COURSE CATEGORY) – BRANDON HALL GROUP
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Date: 02.2004 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Design Lead/Designer
Responsibilities: Lead & managed a group of 6 designers; defined project scope; established goals & strategy; helped set up overall work processes, practices & standards for the Visual Design group; tracked & organized tasks to ensure objects & deadlines were met by creating & managing a lesson tracker that tracked where in the development cycle each class/lesson was & with the creation of the whiteboard calendar; designed & produced creative assets; managed content pipeline.
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Home Depot's e-Learning Nursery Certification Program which included 16+ hours of interactive course work & exams, was designed to meet or exceed most state-level nursery certification programs. Each module focused on specific horticultural topics ranging from plant characteristics to plant diseases, fertilizer application to lawn care. The training curriculum has more than tripled the number of Certified Nursery Consultants in Home Depot stores nationwide.
"The experience delivered by the joint Macquarium & The Home Depot team is without question...EXTRAORDINARY."
– Kevin Foster, President, Macquarium
UPS Brand Unveiling
2003 BEST INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS WEB SITE – THE WEB MARKETING ASSOCIATION
Date: 03.2003 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Responsibilities: Designed website; presented designs & key milestone deliverables to client stakeholders; produced creative assets, templates & banners; partnered with PM to staff Creative needs; tracked & organized all design tasks across 7 international sites to ensure objectives & deadlines were met; directed team members & delegated work accordingly; managed content pipeline.
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Macquarium helped UPS launch an interactive branding campaign in 7 different languages that showcased the expanded capabilities of UPS as the world's largest package delivery company. This process involved unveiling the newly redesigned logo, introducing the new theme "Synchronizing the World of Commerce" & integrating the site with an offline campaign.
"One of the best positionings I've seen for a re-branding...very plausible...very strategic."
– Doug Holt, Harvard Business School
UPS Sustainability
Date: 06.2004 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Responsibilities: Designed website; presented designs & key milestone deliverables to client stakeholders; produced creative assets, templates & banners; managed content pipeline.
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At UPS, business success depends upon balancing economic, social & environmental objectives. The UPS Sustainability website highlights UPS' commitment to these goals but was in need to be on-brand.
UPS Careers
2003 AMERICA’S TOP 25 CORPORATE CAREER WEB SITE – CAREERSXROADS
Date: 01.2003 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Responsibilities: Designed website; presented designs & key milestone deliverables to client stakeholders; produced creative assets, templates & banners; managed content pipeline; collaborated with third party vendors to ensure design specifications were met.
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The challenge of re-designing the Careers site was to build a user-friendly experience while adhering to the new brand standards.
"These look so good that I actually clapped my hands like a 4 year old."
– Paula Smith, Public Relations Manager, UPS
UPS Community
Date: 03.2004 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Responsibilities: Designed website; presented designs & key milestone deliverables to client stakeholders; produced creative assets, templates & banners; managed content pipeline.
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UPS' contribution to social responsibility & the environment needed to be the highlight of its Community site. Macquarium answered the call with colorful banner ads & graphical header treatments that featured the right amount of information & fun.
"Wow. You were able to keep a lot of visual interest going to give flavor to the text. That's what I wanted & you certainly nailed it. Nice, nice job!"
– Paula Smith, Public Relations Manager, UPS
KIMBERLY-CLARK E-LEARNING CENTER
Meet Stan Hand, a Hardworking Citizen of Bigville
Date: 02.2001 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Designer
Responsibilities: Conceptualized & designed all characters & sets; worked directly with the Instructional Designer to create scenarios, storyboards & interactive experiences; designed Flash animations to make the characters come to life; established goals & strategy; helped set up overall work processes, practices & standards for the Visual Design group; tracked & organized tasks to ensure objects & deadlines were met; managed content pipeline.
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To extend its leadership in a variety of consumer packaged good categories including facial tissues, paper towels, wipers & skincare products, Kimberly-Clark Professional trains its salespeople throughout North America to convey product differentiators to purchasing decision makers. The group worked closely with Macquarium to develop an internal e-learning program. Through the original art of Stand Hand, Lynn Skinn & the rest of the Bigville cast, users were presented with nearly 90+ minutes of fun & interactive training modules which included multiple choice tests, drag & drop puzzle, matching games and more.
MINUTE MAID
The Power of a Glass of OJ
"Thanks so much for the tremendous effort on the site. It looks great!"
– Shane Steele, Senior Brand Manager, Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company
Date: 12.2004 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Responsibilities: Developed & framed the creative concept of the "Today I will..." campaign; pitched the idea to executive-level client stakeholders; sketched out the UX experience; designed the website & email campaign; produced creative assets, templates & banners; collaborated across disciplines to ensure design specifications were met.
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Today, I will...win the Minute Maid account. Macquarium's strategy to focus on empowering women to make good decisions about their own healthy lifestyle through the Minute Maid brand paid off – Macquarium won the opportunity to re-design Minutemaid.com.
Minute Maid’s goals were to invest in their online presence, to increase traffic & brand awareness & to drive product sampling & in-store sales.
EQUIFAX
Designing With Big Brother In Mind
Date: 07.2001 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Responsibilities: Developed & framed the creative concept for the main Equifax.com Home page & Personal web site; presented designs & key milestone deliverables to client stakeholders; managed all design details from creative brief to client feedback; worked on-site at client location for 2 weeks; designed & produced creative assets, templates & banners; collaborated across disciplines to ensure design specifications were met.
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Equifax enables & secures global commerce through its information management, marketing services, direct to consumer, commercial & authentication businesses.
The goal of this project was to accelerate the revenue growth of Equifax products & services by "enlightening, enabling & empowering" the consumer. The scope of work included design & content enhancements to the Home page, the Personal Solutions section & the Business Solutions section.
ADDITIONAL WORK
AGL RESOURCES
2005 BEST ENERGY WEBSITE – THE WEB MARKETING ASSOCIATION
SEE WEBAWARD
Date: 01.2005 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
To reposition AGL Resources as an umbrella company for all of its subsidiaries, Macquarium re-designed their corporate site.
COCA-COLA
"Kathryn and Marcus (from Coke) said we did an incredible job and that we have opened many doors at Coke."
– Shane Steele, Client Partner, Macquarium
The Coke Machine Intranet
Date: 11.2003 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Coca-Cola's Company Image Communications group identified a need to improve the current Coke Machine site to achieve its long-term strategy of leveraging the company intranet for clear & consistent global messaging.
Unexpected Summer Campaign
Date: 01.2004 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
The objective of this assignment was to create awareness & excitement about Coke's Unexpected Summer promotion & take users on a unique experience as winners were found using GPS technology.
Coke MX + CX
Date: 08.2005 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
The goal of the Marketing Xchange (MX) site was to develop a best-in-class, "one-stop-shop" intranet portal for Marketing Associates worldwide, focused around an online collaborative environment for knowledge sharing & open communication. The Creative Xchange (CX) was a sibling site for creative assets.
IOC EXTRANET
Date: 04.2002 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the international, non-governmental, non-profit creator of the Olympic Movement.
Macquarium worked closely with the IOC to develop a secure suite of knowledge management tools that allowed sponsors to submit online applications for approval to use official Olympic logos & images in advertising & on premium items; Meridian Management to review those applications efficiently, keep track of their authorization & manage the royalties the IOC receives from premium sales for the duration of official contracts.
ORKIN COMMERCIAL SERVICES
Date: 05.2004 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Orkin, Inc. provides essential pest control services to approximately 1.6 million customers.
Orkin enlisted Macquarium to re-design their Commercial Services' site in order to further position themselves as the thought leader in the commercial pest management arena.
"MQ is a winner...it is refreshing to work with such a reliable web team. They have demonstrated strong project management, creative expertise & understanding of web/digital technology."
– Vince Ford, Webmaster, Orkin Commercial Services
CAPSTONE
Date: 08.2004 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Project Manager + Art Director/Designer
Taken on as a freelancing project, Capstone Partners needed a site that effectively communicated its brand ideals: quality craftsmanship & exceptional design.
"Thank you so much for the awesome comp. Curtis & Jonathan were blown away (I'm not exaggerating) & you did an amazing job of making me look good. I really think this site is going to bring our business to a whole new level."
– Todd Gregory, Business Development
Manager, Capstone Partners
Puppetry of Arts
2004 STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE – THE WEB MARKETING ASSOCIATION
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Date: 08.2003 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
In 2003, Macquarium helped the first puppetry center in the United States transform an outdated site into a magical & user-friendly experience. Enhancements included an improved navigational system, creation of colorful banner ads & awe inspiring collages.
"We have always had a vision of what the web can do after launching our first site on December 1996. Now, with Macquarium's help, that vision has become a reality in a beautiful, comprehensive, easily navigable site."
– Debbie S. George, Marketing Director, Puppetry of Arts
Home Depot NASCAR Racing
Date: 11.2002 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Macquarium was tasked to create an entertaining & fun racing site to attract Home Depot's NASCAR fans & associates. The finished deliverable featured streaming video, stats on races, information about the racing team, photo albums & the ability for customers to purchase merchandise & receive emails.
Yahoo Portals
Date: 10.2002 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Developer
Through a partnership with Yahoo! Enterprise Solutions, Macquarium worked to develop portals for three jointly-owned entertainment retailers: Sam Goody, Sun Coast Video, & Media Play. The companies' executives wanted a web presence for the organization’s niche properties that would provide both identifiable branding for each company but also an overall user experience that will make consumers want to come back for ongoing visits & purchases.
"In just over 100 days this dedicated group has successfully built & launched three successful sites."
– Brian Goldman, Engagement Manager, Yahoo!
Earthlink Email
Date: 12.2001 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Customers received an email with a specific offer that was segmented by both audience & device.
In the one month from full-scale rollout until the end of the year, campaign sales for the T900 accounted for 10.5% of the total T900 annual sales & the campaign sales for the Blackberry accounted for 3.4% of the total Blackberry annual sales. Also, email click through rates reached 4.35%.
Veralo
Date: 03.2002 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Valero Energy Corporation is a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio with approximately 20,000 employees and revenues of nearly $30 billion.
The main objective of the site re-design was to express the value of the Valero brand online.
Merial
Date: 07.2000 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Designer
Merial is the world's leading animal health company.
Macquarium developed a global site for Merial to serve as a marketing tool for its major product brands, create an interactive channel of communication with its consumers & support e-commerce applications.
The web initiative was targeted to several audiences such as pet owners, veterinarians, distributors, producers & research institutions & included a set of 30 country-specific sites.
Worldspan
Date: 07.2003 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Worldspan provides worldwide electronic distribution of travel information, internet products & connectivity & e-commerce capabilities for travel agencies, travel service providers & corporations.
Worldspan’s long-term vision for leveraging portal technology across the enterprise was to migrate existing sites & applications to the IBM WebSphere Portal platform both internally for employees & externally for customers & partners. The development of the Employee Portal was the first phase of this implementation.
MisterArt
Date: 08.2001 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
MisterArt.com is the world's largest online discount art supply store, offering tens of thousands of fine art & craft products at wholesale prices.
MisterArt.com approached Macquarium in 2001 to help them re-design their site & identify appropriate marketing strategies & advertising opportunities that would create brand recognition, drive traffic & convert customers.
Fayez Sarofim
Date: 08.2002 | Agency: Macquarium | Role: Art Director/Designer
Fayez Sarofim & Company manages investment portfolios for a wide range of clients – pension plans, foundations, endowments & individuals. They challenged Macquarium to update their existing site with a more modern look.