Posted on

Chicago Greeter Web App Matches Visitors with Volunteers for City Exploration

Mightybytes’ new web application for Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture streamlines process for matching visitors with local volunteers to encourage city exploration.

New process significantly reduces workflow and volunteer response times and offers improved convenience.

(CHICAGO) March 7, 2012 –  Mightybytes’ new web application streamlines the process for booking visits on Chicago Greeter, a free service provided by the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture (COTC). The site allows visitors to explore the city by matching them with friendly and insightful local volunteers who know the area. These visits can be customized to a specific neighborhood, language, or special interest and can vary from historic landmarks to unique shops and places to dine.
The existing website was friendly, but cumbersome because it used an outdated data tool in tandem with emails and faxes to match visitors and volunteers. After researching user demographics, Mightybytes streamlined and refocused the site around all three sets of users and developed an intuitive three-phased web application for COTC staff, volunteers, and Chicago visitors. 

The resulting site accomplishes several tasks:

  • Establishes Chicago Greeter as a helpful resource for visitors to connect with city volunteers who are knowledgeable and excited about their favorite local destinations.
  • Provides an easy tool for volunteers to manage bookings.
  • Helps Greeter staff service volunteers and visitors with a more fluid and professional flow of information.

In order to help the Chicago Greeter team make site updates and more efficiently manage data, Mightybytes focused on streamlining workflow steps across all parts of the booking and administration process and then created simple interfaces to support each step in that process.

”Usability was the most important factor in redesigning interfaces for Chicago Greeter,” Mightybytes Art Director Joy Burke said. “Our lightweight design paired well with a strong visual hierarchy and easy-to-understand workflows to achieve a very user-friendly system.”

Users of the site agree, noting that the site is not only intuitive but also saves time as well.

“Because of the improvements that Mightybytes implemented, our workflow time has been significantly reduced and our volunteers are responding to visitor requests far more quickly than ever before,” said Katie Law, Manager, Chicago Greeter. “It is so convenient to be able to access our database from any computer—even from a mobile phone.”

The site’s creators see where a solution like Chicago Greeter could be applied to many different scenarios both in and out of the travel and tourism industry.

“Chicago Greeter is great for those travelers who are looking for recommendations or historical background from people who know their neighborhood best,” said Mightybytes owner Tim Frick. “The product could also be easily extended to other cities or to organizations interested in matching up volunteers with those who need services.”

The Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture markets Chicago as a premier cultural destination to domestic and international leisure travelers; provides innovative visitor programs and services; and familiarizes visitors and residents with the city’s vibrant neighborhoods, cultural attractions and creative industries. The Chicago visitor industry serves 40 million visitors annually, generates $11 billion in direct spending and $616 million in taxes, and sustains 124,000 jobs. For more information, visit www.ExploreChicago.org.

Mightybytes is a triple bottom line-friendly creative firm that executes design-driven marketing communications and online interactive solutions. The company employs smart design and clever storytelling as the underlying forces that drive its process while its technical expertise cuts across media formats and platforms to set it apart. Mightybytes works primarily with cause-driven clients, helping them prosper, grow, and achieve measurable business results. For more information, visit www.mightybytes.com.

For more info, check out the Chicago Greeter entry in our portfolio:
View the Project

Posted on

Arts Engagement Exchange Release

“Arts Engagement Exchange” Provides Chicago Art Community New Online Audience Building Resources

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago Community Trust & Mightybytes, Inc. Create Web Destination for Sharing Sales & Marketing Best Practices

CHICAGO (NOVEMBER 10, 2009) - Chicago arts and cultural organizations now have an online resource to share and obtain sales and marketing tips, tricks, and strategies to help increase demand for the arts, deepen audience participation and reach diverse audiences.

This Web site - http://www.artsengagementexchange.org/ - is a new component of the Arts Engagement Exchange (AEE), formerly the Chicago Wallace Audience Engagement Network, which was established in 2006 with a grant from the Wallace Foundation to The Chicago Community Trust in partnership with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. 

“We were offering opportunities to share best practices through face-to-face events, but given the growth of social media applications, we recognized we could help more organizations in less time by engaging them through a targeted online resource,” said Eva Silverman, director of collaborative programs for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

The free AEE site allows members to interact and easily share best practices information for building audience engagement and participation. It alerts members to upcoming knowledge sharing events, offers perspectives written by marketing industry and arts organization professionals, provides discussion opportunities through blogs and forums and makes resources available from past presentations. Topics range from using new social media tools for building audiences to tracking audience involvement through contact databases to discounting ticket prices as a means to increase sales. Highlights of the site include:

· AEE Blog - Will Rogers, content developer and interim director of marketing at Victory Gardens Theater, provides weekly entries while guest bloggers from the arts and cultural community and sales and marketing experts offer perspectives on a broad array of topics surrounding audience engagement. 

· AEE Forum - Offers opportunities to continue conversations after AEE events, such as Learning Circles and Open Forums, as colleagues can ask and answer specific questions about best practices and their experiences in the field.

· AEE Resources - Feature specific articles, links and videos to deepen users’ knowledge of specific areas of interest that will also closely relate to topics covered throughout the four years of the project.

“An important aspect of our work, supported by the Wallace Foundation, was to create a learning network and opportunities for knowledge sharing. We also needed to respond to the overwhelming feedback from our event participants for opportunities to continue conversations and dig deeper with colleagues on topics and chances for peer-to-peer problem solving. A Web site seemed like the perfect solution,” says Anita Alexander, program officer for The Chicago Community Trust.

Mightybytes, Inc., a Chicago-based digital design firm and social media engagement expert, was commissioned to develop the AEE site. Mightybytes previously redesigned the Web site for the Department of Cultural Affairs Theater, creating a fresh look and adding new functionality. Mightybytes also collaborated with the Chicago Office of Tourism to create an interactive kids tour of the city called “Chicago For Kids” and “The Neighborhood Express”, an online game for Explore Chicago, the city’s official tourism site.

“Arts and cultural organizations are trying to engage their audiences through several marketing disciplines, including experimenting with the myriad of social media tools currently available,” said Tim Frick, Mightybytes’ founder. “The Arts Engagement Exchange encourages them to work collectively to figure out what strategically works best and to share it for the benefit of Chicago’s arts community.”

Frick added, “The Arts Engagement Exchange epitomizes our philosophy of helping arts and cultural organizations adopt and use new digital technologies as communication tools.” 

About the Chicago Community Trust

For 94 years, The Chicago Community Trust, our region’s community foundation, has connected the generosity of donors with community needs by making grants to organizations working to improve metropolitan Chicago. In 2008, the Trust, together with its donors, granted more than $100 million to nonprofit organizations.  From strengthening schools to assisting local art programs, from building health centers to helping lives affected by violence, the Trust continues to enhance our region. To learn more, please visit the Trust online at http://www.cct.org.

About the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) is dedicated to promoting on ongoing celebration of the arts, serving the individuals and institutions who create and sustain them, and marketing the city’s cultural resources to a worldwide audience. Under the leadership of Commissioner Lois Weisberg since 1989, DCA offers more than 2,000 high-quality free exhibitions, performances and programs each year at the Chicago Cultural Center, Millennium Park and other venues throughout the city, and is widely regarded as national model for effective municipal support of the arts.

About Mightybytes, Inc.

Mightybytes, Inc. offers high-quality creative media and digital marketing services in a unique environment that blends artistic talent and technical expertise with a client-focused work ethic. The company creates design-driven media solutions for a wide variety of corporate, educational and not-for-profit clients including the Chicago History Museum, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Rand McNally, CareerBuilder and Project WET. Visit www.mightybytes.com for more information.

 

Posted on

Mightybytes Helps Bring Shedd Aquarium’s Oceanarium to Life: Press Release

September 24, 2009

When a museum like the Shedd Aquarium undertakes a $50 million renovation to one of its most popular exhibits—the Oceanarium—there is no such thing as a small detail. And no one knows that better than one of the many partners that helped renovate the space, Chicago’s Mightybytes media design firm.

Mightybytes was selected by the aquarium to develop an animated video of a South African penguin habitat that would serve as the background to a new children’s playscape area featuring faux glacier ice slides, tunnels and more.

Seen on a 25x15-foot screen, the Mightybytes-designed video features orcas, seagulls, two different kinds of penguins and a storm—all in 12 minutes. The project presented a number of interesting challenges: first, masking a rectangular video to fit within a custom rockscape; and second, ensuring the animation aligned perfectly with the actual, on-site rocks and glaciers.

“When you’re working on a project-within-a-project such as this, there are so many variables to work with—it can get really complicated. But that’s also what makes it so fun,” says Mightybytes founder Tim Frick. “We’re proud to have had a part, even a small part, in this exciting renovation.”

In addition to the video, Mightybytes designed and developed two interactive kiosks to further engage children in the Oceanarium experience. One kiosk involves a maneuverable claw children can use to pick up items such as shells and stones. When an item is picked up, the claw reads an RFID tag embedded in the object, which triggers animation on the kiosk screen providing further information. The second kiosk, housed within a small submarine, allows children to push a button for different ocean animals, activating a sonar screen that detects the animal and produces a video. Additionally, Mightybytes developed both kiosks within a one-week turnaround deadline.

“A year ago I never would have predicted we’d be studying how a penguin moves or the finer points of nesting behavior,” says Frick. “But that’s exactly what we love about what we do: there’s always something new.”

After nine months of renovation, Shedd Aquarium’s Oceanarium is now open to the public.

 

 

Posted on

Mightybytes Makes a Splash with Project WET on Earth Day: Press Release

April 22, 2009

With more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface covered with water, it’s difficult to celebrate Earth Day without celebrating water. Mightybytes, a Chicago-based creative media firm, launched its latest web site for Project WET, a global non-profit organization dedicated to worldwide water education. 

“Now more than ever, our future - and that of our planet - is bound to water,” said Project WET’s Director of Development, Stephanie Kaleva. “We thought it appropriate to launch our new site on a day that honors our world.” 

With one in eight people worldwide without access to clean and abundant water, Project WET empowers individuals to develop sustainable solutions to local water resource issues by bringing training and educational materials to millions of people in 42 countries on five continents. 

“Project WET’s web site is absolutely critical to its mission of providing water education to a global community,” said Mightybytes founder Tim Frick. 

After understanding the needs of such a content-rich organization, Mightybytes expanded its reach with a new content-managed site that includes extensive education information, social media integration, a blog and interactive features such as animated U.S. and World maps communicating project WET’s global impact. Mightybytes employed standards-based development techniques to optimize the site for search engines and utilized best practices to enhance the site’s navigation structure. 

“It was a privilege to apply our knowledge and expertise to such an important cause,” said Frick. 

Mightybytes offers high-quality creative media services in a unique environment that blends artistic talent and technical expertise with a client-focused work ethic. The company creates design-driven media solutions for a wide variety of corporate, educational and not-for-profit clients including the Chicago History Museum, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Rand McNally, CareerBuilder and Project WET.

 

Posted on

Chicago’s Best Kept (Design) Secret: Press Release

Mightybytes Creative Media Firm Announces Winning Year

CHICAGO, April 14, 2009

What separates a good website from a great website?  Ask Mightybytes.

Today Chicago-based creative media firm Mightybytes announced it has earned eight national and international 2008 design awards - more than double the number from previous years. “We always strive for fun in our work while maintaining a high level of quality,” said Mightybytes founder Tim Frick. “We’re proud our commitment to that approach has resulted in work both our clients and the design industry appreciate.”

The awards include:

  • Three Communicator Awards from The International Academy of Visual Arts

Out of 8,500 entries, Mightybytes received three Awards of Distinction for its work on their own site (http://www.mightybytes.com) as well as for BLKipper Photography (http://www.blkipper.com) and The Neo-Futurists (http://www.neofuturists.org). The Communicator Awards are the leading international creative awards program honoring creative excellence for communication professionals.

  • Three PCom Creative Shake Awards

Mightybytes received three PCom Creative Shake Awards in the Web Design category for its own site as well as BLKipper Photography and The Neo-Futurists.  The PCom Creative Awards is an international competition recognizing outstanding work in the communications field. 

  • Two 2008 American Graphic Design Awards

Out of 10,000 entries, Mightybytes received recognition for its work on BLKipper Photography as well as the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) Theater (http://www.dcatheater.org).  For over four decades, The American Graphic Design Awards from Graphic Design USA magazine has been recognizing outstanding work across all media: print and collateral, advertising and sales promotion, corporate identity and logos, internet and interactive design, packaging and POP, broadcast and motion graphics.  This is the second year in a row Mightybytes has been recognized with this award, earning four in 2007.

The awards - and the work that garnered them - have not gone unnoticed.  In an economy that has seen many companies floundering and failing, Mightybytes has experienced unparalleled growth.  With over a dozen new clients in the past year and several additional staff members, Mightybytes will move to larger offices in its Chicago Andersonville neighborhood.

“Whether building a new website or updating an existing one, design plays a vital role in any communication endeavor,” said Frick.  “We are truly passionate about the work we do and are proud that seems to resonate with others.” 

Founded by Frick in 1998, Mightybytes is a full service creative firm specializing in design-driven media solutions, primarily web, video and Flash. In addition to web design content, digital marketing and strategy, the Mightybytes team provides services in animation and motion graphics, design and brand identity, audio and video production and photography/images.

Mightybytes offers high-quality creative media services in a unique environment that blends artistic talent and technical expertise with aclient-focused work ethic.  The company creates design-driven media solutions for a wide variety of corporate, educational and not-for-profit clients including the Chicago History Museum, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Rand McNally, CareerBuilder and Project WET.  Visit http://www.mightybytes.com for more information.