Every few months we’re excited to find out the new “adventure” theme from LA Sports Net. Here is a snapshot of some new logos we helped with for two of their upcoming excursions.
Building a non-profit website with WordPress + The Events Calendar + Woocommerce
We recently just completed a non-profit website for the National Society of Professional Engineers, Albuquerque (NMSPE Albuquerque), that with the use of WordPress + Woocommerce + The Events Calendar plugin, produced a powerful tool for NMSPE Albuquerque to not only showcase their non-profit, but create events and allow users to purchase tickets. Event management and selling/ managing ticket sales is functionality that can help any non-profit grow and take the headache out of managing sales and content via multiple sites and avenues. Often times in the past clients would need to broadcast events via their website, but then sell the tickets via something such as Eventbrite, but with the addition of Tickets: Woocommerce clients can not only broadcast their events, but easily sell tickets online as well and at an affordable price.
Beyond the setup of Woocommerce + The Events Calendar, we customized a theme using the Genesis Framework to better serve the user’s needs and along brand guidelines.
The essential setup needs are:
- WordPress Vanilla install
- Genesis Framework + custom Child Theme (~$99)
- Woocommerce
- Tickets: Woocommerce ($65)
- Genesis Connect for Woocommerce (this basically integrates Woocommerce with the Genesis Framework)
- The Events Calendar
In addition we also included:
- Gravity Forms for forms and email newsletter sign up
- Yoast SEO for Search Engine Optimization
- Genesis Responsive Slider for the Homepage Slider
- Advanced Custom Fields for additional field options for the Homepage Slider and generally just a really handy plugin
Although a novice could definitely integrate and build out this site, we had to make a good amount of modifications and customizations not only to the theme, but to integrate Woocommerce + Tickets + The Events Calendar, specifically in regards to layout and aesthetic, but also with regard to functionality. But for someone with coding knowledge and WordPress background, this setup can cut costs and labor and create an affordable option for non-profits, but with plenty of power under the trunk.
Beyond the plugin install and customization, the only other need is choosing a payment gateway. In our case they opted for PayPal Standard which runs payments off site at PayPal and has no monthly fees plus doesn’t require a SSL certificate — again keeping fixed costs low for non-profits.
We’re not going to into explicit details in regards to implementation, but if you stumble upon this and have questions either about your own setup and install or would like to find out more information about how we can help to implement for your non-profit or organization, drop us a note.
Custom App? Sure, why not?
We’ve done a lot of work with various groups at Pasadena City College, including the eSTEM grant, which focuses on providing better support and increasing student diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. One of the many projects under this grant has been the creation and opening of the STEM Center, where selected students enrolled in PCC science courses go to study independently, receive support from mentors, study with peers, and attend various events and workshops.
Each semester, the students invited to attend the STEM Center commit to spending a certain amount of time in the center. After almost a year of students hand-writing how much time they spent in the center and mentors manually entering it into an Excel sheet, we all decided that there HAS to be a better way. We spent many hours searching through the exhaustive list of time-tracking apps that already existed, and quickly realized that none of them would work. The STEM Center was looking to not only capture the time students spent in the center, but also the activities they were participating in while there. None of these pre-existing apps were the perfect match for what they needed.
A common mantra at Mackey is “sure, why not”. Had we developed an app like this before? Definitely not. Could we figure out a way to get it done? Sure, why not. Together, we set out with the STEM Center to think up the perfect app— How would it work? What would it track? What would it look like? What information would it give to students and those running the center?. We combined some big thinking, creative designs, and developer help to create a custom web app that would meet this vision and the data that was needed.
The finished product has a front end that allows students to check in and out, log their activities and % of time spent on type of activity, and view their progress. It has a backend that allows admins to view the students, track the hours students are logging and run MANY different types of reports to assist in analyzing all of this data. We have just finished the first roll-out and students have started to use it. As we work through the remainder of this semester and as well as future ones, we know that there will be tweaks, additions, and deletions. But, for now, we have the beginning of a web app customized to their branding and their needs. Perhaps, you could say, we are one step closer to “the perfect match”.
Launching LA HI-TECH
Last week we helped launch a new program called LA HI-TECH which helps link students with careers in ICT careers in the Los Angeles area. Pretty cool deal if you ask me. Anyway, when it came down to it we had two weeks to help brand, develop collateral and launch a new website for their first press conference — an all out blitz. All came together smoothly thanks to good teamwork between all involved and special shout out to Valerie, Salomon and Rochelle from Pasadena City College. Below are some of the fruits of our labor.
FTC – Launched
We recently, like today, went live with a cool little project called Fresh Thread Club (FTC).
FTC is a monthly subscription service for design tees — all custom.
There were as always some caveats, but all in all the project went smoothly implementing the likes of WordPress, Woocommerce and Woocommerce Subscriptions. Clean and simple, with a little edge. We also helped out with all graphics, dev and copy. Oh and we started this baby out with logo and identity — from the ground up.
Check it out and enjoy: https://freshthreadclub.com
Poppy Cake Baking Company Logo & Photog
