New web site design launched for NJ Hometown Heroes.

NJ Hometown Heroes supports local communities when unexpected needs arise during a crisis. When Hurricane Sandy devastated the New Jersey shore, they turned their focus to helping people in need that were affected by Hurricane Sandy.

NJ Hometown Heroes’ existing outdated web site was no longer being maintained, and they needed a re-design quickly to address the increase in help requests after Sandy hit.

We redesigned the site and expanded on their existing content, utilizing a WordPress framework for content management system so that they could easily update the site.

NJHometownHeroes.org

New web site design launched for Squeeze Official.

Official web presence for the rock band Squeeze. This is our third site design for the band, and is based on their “Pop Up Shop” tour poster.

SqueezeOfficial.com

New web site design launched for Passport Romance.

Passport Romance is a travel and lifestyle site run by radio and television personality Michelle Jerson. The site is built on a WordPress framework for content management, which allows the client to easily add posts and photos to her site.

Michelle had an existing WordPress blog that was on her main website with several years of existing content. She wanted a new design that was more organized and flexible, as well as move the blog to it’s own domain. We designed a new site and imported the database from the old site to the new framework.

PassportRomance.com

Promotional Video for Nino’s Coal Fired Pizza

Video created for Nino’s Coal Fired Pizza in Toms River, NJ to showcase their restaurant. The video focuses on their high quality ingredients and coal fired pizza oven.

The video was shot with a Canon 7D camera, and edited in Final Cut Pro.

Concert poster designed for the “Music in the Park”

“Music in the Park” is a free summer concert series held in downtown San Jose, CA featuring Neon Trees, The English Beat, and Cracker.

For this poster design, we wanted to evoke that warm, sunny feeling of  an outdoor summer concert… where you swap out your work shoes for sandals as you head over to the show right after work…

Opaque Design is pleased to announce the launch of their site design for SaveAlternative.com.

Save Alternative is a radio network and online music community focused on alternative music. The goal of the site design was to present a lot of content – news, featured artists, videos, and concert listings of new and upcoming artists - in a concise format with a modern, minimalist design.

This project was especially enjoyable for us to develop, as we are huge, huge, huge alt music enthusiasts. We grew up during the rise of alternative music in the ’80s, listening to Depeche Mode, The Cure, New Order, The Mission, etc. (which we listen to as much today as 25+ years ago). While some of our current favorites to crank in the office are She Wants Revenge, IAMX, Moving Units, Dial M For Murder, Veil Veil Vanish… and well, we could go on and on…

SaveAlternative.com

New web site design launched for Millstone United Travel Soccer.

This soccer club is based in central New Jersey and has boys and girls soccer teams in a variety of age ranges. Millstone United needed a site that organized a lot of club information in a concise format, and that they could add and update club news, minutes, and other information themselves.

We designed the site to accomplish this by making news items prominent on the homepage, a featured pages image slider at the top, and putting the most referenced information like field status and weather in the sidebar. The overall design goal was to be modern, clean, and energetic.

The site utilizes the WordPress platform for content management, which allows the site development costs to be kept manageable while allowing the client to easily make content changes.

MillstoneSoccer.com

Possible Uses for Video

Visually explain a service or demo a product – Demonstrate a product in action, show installers on the job, or have the owner or other staff on screen explaining what the company does.

How-to videos – Offer helpful video content to customers to keep them coming back to the web site, or into a store. Give them tips on how to use their new purchases.

Before and After video – Quickly show the benefits of a product or service by showing the results of using it.

Promotional Video Tips

Keep production costs in check – Opaque Design often creates a promotional video by combining photos, logos and voice-overs with animated video effects and transitions.

This technique provides an effective promotional tool, while keeping production costs low. The resulting video can be used online or for broadcast.

Simplicity is Key – Potential customers and prospects have limited time to spend, so outline the specific benefits of your service or product. Give enough information to get them interested, but resist the temptation to go overboard with details and lose their interest.

Video Length – Shorter is better. Prospects have many things competing for their attention – get to the point. Under three minutes is usually best.

Appropriate Graphics – Professional visual transitions, effects and keys will make your video stand out.

Promote the Video – In addition to posting the video on your web site:

• Include a link to the video if you send an e-newsletter to customers and prospects.
• Create a YouTube account to upload and embed videos. For multiple videos, create a YouTube channel for your company.
• Post the video on your Facebook Fan page and Twitter

Check out some more promotional videos, and contact us to find out how we can help promote your business with video.

We upgraded from our trusty and beloved Canon Digital Rebel this year, so it’s been sitting forlorn in the closet. Next to that is our ancient Canon Elph.

They are well used but too nice to toss, and so outdated they are probably not worth much on Ebay (not that we wanted to fuss with that anyway).

So we gave www.gazelle.com a shot. The site makes you an offer for the item, depending on condition and if it has cables etc.

It took a few clicks to get a price offer and set up an account. Then we packed the cameras, cables, instruction manuals and disks (we are ridiculously organized and still had everything) and printed out the free shipping label they provided.

Gazelle evaluates the received item to make sure it matches the stated condition, then sends you money via Paypal or a check.

The whole process was super easy, and we received $65. Certainly not crazy money, but not bad for two items taking up space in our closet.

Squareup

Free app and card reader, for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android devices. Charges a percentage of the transaction as a fee.

Install the app, create an account, apply to accept payment cards and then Squareup sends a reader devices to swipe cards. Needs an internet connection to process credit card transactions.

Site: www.squareup.com

Review of Squareup on Wired.com

Mophie Marketplace

Mophie takes a different approach by charging $179.95 for a swiping device that attaches to the bottom of an 3G/3GS iPhone (not available for 4G yet).

The GoPayment service by Intuit handles the transactions. Monthly service is $12.95, with processing fees of 1.7%3 or 2.7%, plus a transaction fee of .30.

There are no contracts, so the service can be stopped and started as needed… a big plus if your credit card needs are seasonal or occasional.

Site: http://www.mophie.com/

Review of Mophie Marketplace on Wired.com