&Kind Company is represented by Greg D’Onofrio and Patricia Belen.

AIGANY is represented by Thomas Hines.

How did you get started in the web design/development business?

Kind Company: We’ve been designing and developing websites since we started Kind Company in 2004. We had both previously worked for larger web companies and decided to branch out on our own and do things a little differently: fewer employees (currently, kind company is 2 people), smaller space, like-minded clients and of course more satisfying projects.

What’s AIGA, specifically AIGANY, about?

Kind Company: is the Professional Organization for Design and AIGA/NY (New York Metropolitan Area) is it’s largest chapter. With more than 3,500 members, aigany.org is a primary destination for many design professionals and students looking to attend design-related events/workshops in NYC through-out the year. We felt the importance of this project from the very beginning. It’s our very small but meaningful contribution.

AIGANY: Fortunately for all of us who live in New York, design and designers are virtually omnipresent. AIGA is an organization that represents designers, both professional and student, providing resources and opportunities to get a leg up in this industry. The New York chapter is an extension of the AIGA, focusing its energies on those who love design from all over the region.

Talk a bit about the process and inspiration that went into the design.

Kind Company: When we first saw AIGA/NY’s new brand identity (wonderfully developed by Mike Essl, Emma Presler, Alan Dye and Carin Goldberg), we knew immediately that we could provide a smart, usable solution which would smoothly integrate with the work the branding committee had already completed. We’re not saying it was easy, but it was easier to work with a group of well thought-out ideas and elements. In a sense, our choices to use Akzidenz Grotesk, a simplified color palette, all caps, large headlines and a straight-forward, “no frills” design style was largely a by-product of a well executed print identity that already existed. This sort of project excites us!

Our process was fairly simple, honest and straightforward. First, we presented some comps to the group and like most projects we went back and forth a few times until we got it right and everyone was content. At that point, we started developing the HTML code for the pages and worked closely with AIGA/NY’s in-house developer, Thomas Hines, whose expertise and familiarity with some legacy code made for a very smooth transition and integration. Overall, working with AIGA/NY’s advisory committee (Mike Essl, Thomas
Hines, Robyn Jordan, Khoi Vinh) was a great experience and a lot less painful than committees we’ve worked with in the past!

. Why did you choose ExpressionEngine as the CMS? Does it power the whole site or integrated into a specific area?

Kind Company: ExpressionEngine was strongly recommended by Mike Essl (AIGA/NY, Vice President) and after some initial research and testing of the product, we appreciated it’s flexibility and ease of use.

ExpressionEngine is only used to power the AIGA/NY blog, DESIGNY, which focuses on design-related NYC events/news and is maintained by a smart group made up of: Liz Danzico, Rob Giampietro, Michael Brenner, Randy Hunt and Louise Ma.

AIGA/NY already had a custom built content management tool to handle their events and registration. However, were it not for the custom-built CMS, we would have also chosen ExpressionEngine to power the other sections of the site as well.

AIGANY: We had a CMS built in-house a couple years ago—and which grows a little bit every day—that handles our events and event registration. With a little bit of optimization and modification, that system came over pretty much intact into the new site. Its job is fairly limited in scope, so when we started talking about including content that was updated much more frequently, as in our new blog, it was decided that we should use a new system to take on that role. We needed a system that could easily be integrated into our current site, and it couldn’t be a burden for our bloggers to use. A couple of our board members endorsed EE, and with its power, ease of use, and support of PHP, it was hard to say no.

What part of the site are you most proud of?

Kind Company: We’re most happy with the site’s improved, simplified navigation system. It’s clear, practical and scalable, so pages and sections are easy to get to within 1 or 2 clicks. For example: navigating to/from and within the Events and Workshops (AIGA/NY’s most popular) sections is painless. This was a top priority given AIGA/NY’s wide variety of activities throughout the year. And of course, we’re proud of the new visual design and simplified color palette. As with any site, it’s a work in progress. We’re happy to have delivered a solid, professional and usable foundation that could easily be fine-tuned and built upon as the organization’s needs grow.

What was your biggest challenge and how did you solve it?

Kind Company: The home-page was a challenge - it required a variety of elements (i.e. events, workshops, visuals, blog posts, sponsor logos, etc.) and we wanted to maintain a clean, simple and inviting design. Our instincts are always to take away, rather than add, so this sort of obstacle always presents a challenge for us.

Our solution was to limit the number of Events, Workshops and Blog Posts, always emphasizing the most current. In addition, we felt it was important to create a visual space, either related to the Events or Workshops or something entirely different. Our solution was a tasteful Flash/XM module flexible enough to incorporate different messages and easy for AIGA/NY’s internal team to update rather effortlessly. We had hoped that the images displayed would be a true representation to AIGA/NY’s new brand and/or current happenings, while adding some excitement to the design - after all, it is a design organization.

Are you using any ExpressionEngine add-ons? Is the EE installation customized in some fashion?

Kind Company: No, there are no add-ons or customization with the exception of a plug-in to truncate text. However, there are a variety of opportunities to improve upon what is already built and add features as the website grows.

AIGANY: We are using a stock EE install, with only the ‘HTML Strip’ plug-in added on. Other than that, it could do more than we could ever want straight out of the box.

Anything else you want to tell us about?

Kind Company: Because of our experience with AIGA/NY, we’ve decided to use ExpressionEngine with several of our other clients who request blogs and/or content management systems as well as our own internal projects and websites. For example: we’re currently in the process of launching a new website www.thisisdisplay.org, built entirely with ExpressionEngine - stay tuned!