Manna Studio - Web Portfolio

Lalela Music (lalela.com) Lalela, (pronounced 'la-LEH-la') is Zulu for 'LISTEN.' Lalela Music is a USA/South African company providing an expansive music library for film, TV and other media. This project, which was approximately a year in the making was to provide an online avenue for licensing music tracks from some of the best composers in the business, from Cape Town to LA, from Rio to New York City. The list include Golden Globe nominees and composers for shows like "Sex and the City." Our goal was to make the process of browsing and searching tracks, listening to samples, and purchasing licenses as simple and streamlined as possible. We created a site for those on a deadline that need music right now, eliminating much of the hassle commonly associated with this process on other industry-standard sites. There was an incredible amount of work involved in collecting and organizing the tracks, outputting various versions and formats of each track, providing the ability to listen quickly, and once a track is chosen, purchase an appropriate license for their region easily. The site has been so successful, that they already had contracts with major networks before the site went from beta to an official launch. We're currently working on phase 2 which will improve on the extensive administration features, which give them the ability to add new composers and tracks, create any number of unique licenses, manage users and output advanced reports. We're also working with them to do intensive social marketing as well as other global efforts to promote the site. There will be exciting advances in the next year, so keep your eye on this company.
Boldenow & Associates (boldenow.net) This is a high-end developer that builds custom old-world homes. They are incredibly skilled, and their work is nothing less than breathtaking. They wanted a way to present the beauty and impression of their work in a way that would be appealing, as well as give the viewer a bit of the feeling of actually experiencing some of the living spaces they've created. We worked with them to develop and plan and a multi-use presentation that would allow us to distribute it both on CD-Rom, as well as display it on the web as their main website. The response to all the materials has been outstanding, and even though we've only made minor changes in the last couple years, the feedback continues to be extremely positive. It continues to put them in the spotlight for many magazines and other high-visibility venues. The CD's are still kept, circulated and praised, even 5 years later! Keep an eye on this site for new works and upcoming projects.
Downtown Dogs (www.downtowndogsminneapolis.com) This work began around 2002 with a redesign of their existing brand, basically from scratch. We started with the rough image they were using as a logo and a "downtown" feel, and carried this motif across all their web and print material. Once the brand was established, we continued to adapt it to their print work, including stationery, signs, banners, postcards, magnets, magazine ads, etc. The new campaign was extremely successful, and their business and web traffic increased dramatically. They already had an incredibly successful business model, and their public image now matched what they were already doing...great business. Through the end of 2009, and early 2010, we did an entire redesign of the website, keeping with the existing successful brand. The goal with the site was not to make drastic changes to the image, but to clean it up, and to make adjustments based on the research, statistics and feedback we'd gathered over the years. They wanted to make the content easier to update via a web-based content management system, and to give users a better overall experience, allowing them quicker access to exactly what we determined to be the important areas of the site. We also set up a framework for publishing ongoing editorial content that Downtown Dogs produces for a local newspaper column, as well as other articles and useful info related to the industry. As a final step in this phase, we're now working on social marketing to take advantage of the latest trends like Facebook and Twitter, as well as considering some new marketing tactics.
Shania Twain This project consisted of designing a website for Shania Twain and another producer to promote a new, self-released album. The site was designed to be classy, appealing and simple. Since this was to be a short-lived site (no longer online), the main focus was to quickly drive CD sales. The site provided other interesting info (photo gallery, bio, etc.), to accompany the CD sales functionality.
Mortal Kombat (www.mortalkombat.com) This was a quick, complete redesign of the existing Mortal Kombat website for Threshold Digital Research Labs. They needed a complete site with an immediate turnaround because they were about to release a new game and movie. We had only old content to work with, and had to recreate graphics, titling, etc from scratch as new material wasn't available for release yet. They were great to work with and were extremely happy with the results and our quick turnaround of a project that had such an immediate deadline.
Minneapolis Downtown Council The Minneapolis Downtown Council badly needed a complete redesign of their main website. They had been paying extremely high prices for minor site updates and maintenance for years. We came in and did a complete redesign of the site, including a custom event calendar application, and a downtown Minneapolis business members database for visitors to search local business, both with web-based administration. We also took over hosting of the site, including advanced spam and virus filtering. We improved their site and helped them to save a significant amount of money on their yearly cost at the same time. In the year after the initial launch, their web traffic tripled. The were so pleased, that we also took over many of their other Minneapolis event sites including the Holidazzle Parade and Minneapolis Aquatennial. Over the course of approximately 6+ years, we improved their efficiency with managing the web-based event data, and saved them 10's of thousands of dollars in the process.
United Noodles (www.unitednoodles.com) This complex site allows the largest oriental grocer in the midwest to incorporate unique products through a database driven site. They have total control over their site's content via a web-based admin tool, so the site can be maintained internally. They have an incredibly unique array of over 8,000 products available in their physical store. As they make the transition to selling online, we've helped them increase sales and capture new clients that shop at their Minneapolis location. In addition to the website, we have worked with United Noodles for almost 10 years, helping them with logo design, translation, billboards, print ads, video shooting and editing, store signage and even a created a cool noodle mascot for use in animations and promotion of alternate store locations.
Yoga Bonding (yogabonding.com) This work began with creation of a logo and brand, and identity centered around an initial yoga DVD. After the DVD and print work, we developed a website. Stage one was to create a platform for online sales. We also created a custom audio player to stream the music that was commissioned for the DVD. The next phase will include more extensive yoga info, classes, training, etc. See more of the work we did for Yoga Bonding in our print portfolio.
Minneapolis Aquatennial (aquatennial.com) The Minneapolis Downtown Council holds this 10-day schedule-packed event. Their previous web development company was unable to provide the council staff with access and administration tools to keep their website updated in house. So we took original company's initial design, and built the complete site, integrating a new content management system and custom, dynamic event calendar. The site is easy to manage, and the events are searchable via category, keyword search or calendar view.
Uptown Association / Uptown Art Fair We developed and maintained the online presence for the Minneapolis Uptown Association for almost a decade. Over the years we've done everything from live, online art auctions, product sales, advanced interactive maps for the annual Uptown Art Fair, searchable local business members directories, brochures, logo work, custom event photography and more. We eventually improved their online presence to the point where they were ready to separate their biggest event, the Uptown Art Fair, from their general Uptown Association business website. We designed 2 separate sites, each with a unifying, yet unique design. Both sites were designed around an extensive content management system, allowing the staff to manage all content including a "places to go" local business directory, downloadable forms/documents, mailing lists, photo galleries, merchandise and a ton of other content. The system was simple enough, that even with a constant cycle of new interns, they were easily able to pick up where the previous interns left off, with very little learning training. They have recently changed management and have worked out a new partnership arrangement for design and develpment, so these sites are no longer online. We wish them well and thank them for the years of a great win-win relationship.
Gray Gardens (www.graygardens.net) This project was developed for multiple methods of presentation. First we designed a website that consisted of a vast quantity of high-end landscaping & garden photos. The whole presentation, once developed for the web, was reworked for use on a miniCD™ using higher quality images/audio. These digital business cards were then used as interactive brochures to hand to potential customers. In addition to the site, we spent many years on projects ranging from postcards and business cards, to banners, window signs, individualized custom logo and image decals for a whole fleet of vehicles, magazine ads, etc. Their phone response and web traffic increased dramatically as a result of our work.
Threshold Digital Research Labs (tdrl.com) TDRL works with companies like Discovery Channel, NBC, GM, Disney, Paramount, etc. They do everything from digital work on films and TV, to development of theme park attractions. They needed a complete site rebuild in 24 hours, with design based solely on a provided header (photo & logo) and their existing color palette. Although we were extremely limited, the complete site was developed, revised and launched on schedule.
The Morrissettes (themorrissettes.com) This site was built for a family going into the mission field. They needed a platform for interacting with family, friends and supporters while training and traveling. The site includes a blog, event calendar and photo gallery.
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