Heideldesign Case Study

Heideldesign Uses Movable Type to Develop Beautiful Client Sites that Are Easy to Maintain and Update

Customer Profile

Web design and development firm Heideldesign was an early adopter of Movable Type; the company began using MT shortly after it was first released. As early blogging enthusiasts, the Heideldesign team quickly realized that Movable Type was a flexible framework that would enable them to create far more than just blogs. Today, the firm uses Movable Type 4 to enable a range of content-rich web applications for a wide customer base, and continues to explore new creative territory on the Movable Type platform.

The Challenge

A very small percentage of our clients have IT staff; others have outsourced most of their IT functions. Movable Type is a perfect solution for powerful self-publishing without a lot of technical know-how.

- Lee Heidel, founder of Heideldesign

Heideldesign operates out of Savannah, Georgia, where they maintain a growing team of full-time and contract employees to serve clients across a range of industries, including government and education, medical and health care, and small- to medium-sized businesses. Heideldesign has made it their mission to investigate innovative ways to publish and manage content with the goal of delivering creative solutions that fit the unique needs of each client.

Founder Lee Heidel believes that the ultimate test of a successful website, blog, or content management system is how quickly the client can learn how to use it and maintain it. "Once we finish design and development on a project, we completely hand it off to the client," Lee reports. "It's very important for us to have confidence that our clients can immediately begin publishing on their own, even if they have limited technical knowledge."

Lee has discovered that content management is often prohibitive for end users: "We've found that 'serious' CMS tools are often filled with industry terminology that is intimidating to many people, which creates a barrier to being used," Lee says. "Another problem with traditional content management systems is that they often become more complicated and rigid over time."

The complexity of many content management platforms is at odds with the growing demand for tools that are easy to use: "Now that Facebook and other web-based tools are so ubiquitous, our clients expect the same ease of use that they find in those types of applications," says Lee.

The Solution

Heideldesign first discovered Movable Type shortly after version 2.0 was released. "We were lucky to have been interested in blogging from the very beginning," Lee Heidel says. When version 3.0 was released, they migrated to that platform; today, Heideldesign builds sites, blogs and content management systems in Movable Type 4.

"Movable Type is a cost-saving measure over legacy CMS applications, but more importantly - it's a lot easier to learn, simpler to moderate, and far more affordable," Lee reports.

The true test occurs when Heideldesign turns over the site to the client. The agency developed a one-sheet page that explains how to use Movable Type - when they hand off the site, Heideldesign give clients a 30-minute orientation along with the tip sheet.

"When you think about the user manuals that so many systems require..." Lee chuckles. "Movable Type can be explained in one page. It's not intimidating, it's written in plain, straightforward language - when we walk away, our clients can start publishing immediately."

If issues do arise, Heideldesign points to the Six Apart support team. "Our clients know that they're covered," Lee says. "The support is tremendous."

Inside the agency, Movable Type is valuable for other reasons: "Movable Type enables us to create so many different kinds of sites with a single tool," Lee explains. "Every implementation can be tailored to the exact needs of our clients, and no two are the same - all on one powerful, flexible platform."

The agency has found that more clients than ever before are coming to them with specific requests for sites built in Movable Type. "Movable Type helps us to look good," Lee says. "It also frees us up to spend more time focusing on client relationships, and that's very valuable to us."

Client Showcase

Savannah Music Festival
For the Savannah Music Festival, Heideldesign created a site built on Movable Type to showcase this unique 7-day event that attracts more than 60,000 attendees. The site acts as an online tour guide and contains a staggering volume of content, including artist profiles, show times, venue locations, and media management such as audio, video and podcasting. Heideldesign used the "tags" feature in Movable Type for cross-referencing, enabling visitors to search for a particular artist, performer, genre, venue, or performance type, for a dynamic and interactive web experience.

The Savannah Music Festival was a not only able to promote the event with a new level of sophistication, but it was also able to capture fan reactions, attract docents and volunteers, and add new members to the organization.

Dawson Wissmach Architects
For prominent architecture firm Dawson Wissmach Architects, Heideldesign created a website that serves as an online showcase of the firm's portfolio. Using Movable Type 4, Heideldesign created a clean design that focuses on stunning project photography, with powerful, yet simple content management system in the back end. With Movable Type, the staff at Dawson Wissmach Architects can manage a photo-intensive portfolio, an online media kit, staff profiles, and a project blog. The blog enables clients and potential customers to watch as each phase of a project unfolds. From showcasing diverse projects from a low country estate to an HGTV Dream Home, the Dawson Wissmach Architects website provides the professional web presence this industry leader demands.

CoolMomPicks
Two moms came together to create CoolMomPicks, a shopping blog by moms for moms. The two women asked Heideldesign to develop a site dynamic enough to organize and display a lot of information, yet simple enough for two busy parents to manage. CoolMom Picks is powered by Movable Type, which handles the main blog, a video blog, a comprehensive archive search feature, a shop, advertisements and more. Movable Type's templating language made it easy for Heideldesign to optimize the site for search engines. CoolMomPicks.com receives 160,000 page views per month, and the creators have been featured in Time Magazine, the L.A. Times, and the New York Times.