What We Do

Brands are only as strong as the consistency of their implementation. The brand guidelines produced by Grafx help to ensure that the elements of a company’s corporate identity stay true to their original strategy, content, and design.

Grafx specializes in developing user-centric applications designed to meet the highest level of security, while still maintaining the ideology that the application’s core focus is ease of use and productivity. Grafx strives to build our functionality based on the concept that when we deliver a finished product not only does it meet or exceed our clients business needs, but that it falls within all function and environmental specifications; it has evolved to the point where training is minimal, and even the most discerning of IT specialists would approve it without a second thought.

Grafx accomplishes this by placing ourselves in the shoes of the end-user. Grafx team work closely with our clients to determine the best possible resolution to their needs. Grafx ensures our developers are accessible at all times so that they can get a first-hand account of what is important to the client and where the client’s emphasis falls. Grafx team pride ourselves in communication at all levels and feel that it’s best that our developers can effectively communicate with those who are less familiar with the technical jargon that so often clouds the process of building an effective application. Once the Grafx team has a clear understanding of our clients needs, we draft a solution based on how our application can assist the end-user to increase productivity, decrease repetition, and automate as much of the process as possible.

In this industry a small miscalculation or transposition can mean huge ramifications. By placing the burden of the workload on the application and removing the opportunity for human inaccuracy, Grafx can effectively diminish the margin of error.

Capabilities

Grafx is capable of building applications across the board. Grafx specializes in robust web applications driven by sophisticated content management systems. Grafx delives a self-sustaining website, which encompasses all the tools the client needs to easily and effectively build upon their site without the hassle or need for complex developer skills. Once the site is delivered, our goal is to step out of the picture and let the site do all of the work. All the necessary functionality is easily placed at the user’s fingertips in a way that is both practical and straightforward.

Grafx in-house capabilities to build high-end data driven applications, capable of handling large volumes of real-time data in a fashion that is both elegant and reliable. Using the technologies of tomorrow and the best practices of today, Grafx can effectively handle any project thrown our way. Grafx developers have extensive experience developing and maintain applications from .NET 1.1 to the most recent adoption .NET 4.0. Grafx has the flexibility to build applications from the ground up in any of the major languages or scripts used today, such as: C#, Visual Basic, PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), JavaScript, Flex, C++, Objective C, and ActionScript.

Grafx tool set extends beyond the development of applications and into data management. With the skill set to create functional and elegant SQL procedures in both MS SQL and MYSQL as well as designing database layouts to decrease response time and increase the effectiveness of the application. All of this coupled with our experience in both Microsoft and Linux based server settings, allows us to design, develop, and implement a perfect fit application for our clients.

Grafx has extensive experience developing major web applications in a large variety of cost-effective CMS’s. It has been our experience that a reliable CMS in-place can make the biggest impact on any website. As part of Grafx process, we carefully address and dissect all the needs of our clients, and then recommend a CMS based on our findings. Many of our clients rely on social networking as a way of getting their product into the mainstream. Security concerns also play a big factor in the selection of any CMS. Grafx team has spent countless hours reviewing and researching what is out there and we find this knowledge goes a long way to aid in the design and development of our websites and applications.

Grafx team will find the best CMS that can be tailored the most. There is no “One Size Fits All” when it comes to web applications and websites. Grafx rely heavily on our team’s ability build upon the most robust CMS’s that we use. With years of experience in the following CMS’s our team has been able to design and develop highly useful custom user controls and plug-ins, which can be implemented to extend the standard robust CMS into a much more effective tool for our clients.

• Umbraco
• Sitefinity
• WordPress
• Kentico
• DotNetNuke
• Drupal
• Joomla
• Expression Engine
• as well as Proprietary Custom-Built CMS’s

A creative and insightful corporate identity can dramatically improve the way a company is perceived by their customers and prospects. Grafx collaborates with clients to understand the core ideas and cultural behaviors that define their operations. Then, the agency’s creative team breathes life into that business personality – that corporate identity – with color, images, taglines, and even music and video. The result? A corporate identity that is memorable and impactful.

Creating a interactive infographic can not only be informative to your constituents, but also a great marketing tool for prospective clients. Grafx compels your audience to engage with your brand in a whole new way.

Email blasts, electronic newsletters, and web banners are all effective ways to market your product to potential consumers. These methods encourage customer loyalty, repeat business, and keep your audience informed about important updates and events. Grafx has years of experience producing and distributing digital marketing materials that retain your brand image and effectively communicate the right message to your audience. Digital Marketing is one more great tool Grafx successfully uses in building your brand and your business.

Direct mail can be a powerful advertising strategy, but it requires strong creative that stands out from all the rest. Grafx has created direct mail campaigns that have broken through the “junk mail” clutter to generate big business results.

Grafx talented designers use all of the robust animation, high-tech video and multimedia interactivity offered by Flash to create presentations that dynamically communicate clients’ messages and make brands come alive.

Logo design is just one of the elements that Grafx can create in a corporate identity portfolio. From fun and whimsical to intense and serious, Grafx has the talent to capture the essence of the brand in logo designs.

Mobile Apps are quickly becoming one of the best ways to engage with customers and prospects, and Grafx knows how to bring them to life. Rooted in business strategy, Grafx mobile apps are fun for fans and functional for business objectives. Wish your business could get in on the iPhone action? With Grafx, you can.

Need an outdoor campaign that will stop traffic? Grafx outdoor designs do just that, and they drive traffic to businesses, too.

Product packaging design can be the most important aspect of your consumer product. Packaging design conveys to the customer the most important features of your product as well as getting the customer to SEE your product amidst all the other myriad of competitor’s products.

A picture may be worth a 1,000 words, but is it saying the right words about your business? Grafx stages and manages photography and video shoots that ensure every frame is a positive reflection of the Corporate ID and the brand.

Want more ways to create and share dynamic presentations with your audience? Exciting new audio and visual capabilities within Microsoft PowerPoint help to tell a crisp, cinematic story that is dynamic and powerful for your customers to watch.

Fresh concepts, unforgettable graphics and attention-grabbing copy are all essential elements to Grafx print work, which includes print ads, brochures, calendars and more.

Grafx point of purchase materials and promotions break through the noise and draw consumers in to engage with the brand.

Search Engine Optimization is about making the web experience faster and more convenient for users. SEO differs from AdWords and PPC management, because SEO is “free”. You don’t have to pay for the search result to show up in search engines.

Your company has something to offer that consumers want. By optimizing your website with search terms that users are typing into engines, your likelihood to improve search engine ranks is greatly increased. If it sounds simple, it isn’t. There’s a lot more to effective SEO than just finding the right keywords.

Grafx conducts extensive research on your competitors, analyzes your current website, and identifies ways to help draw more traffic. User experience, inbound and outbound linking, presence in virtual communities, and registration with local directories are all a part of an effective SEO campaign.

Grafx offers multiple levels of SEO services. A basic SEO package is included with all website development projects.

Every business needs to take a strategic approach to incorporating social media into their PR and marketing plans. Do you have a Twitter feed and a Facebook page, but you’re not quite sure what to do with them, or how to measure your results? In 2010, 82% of all companies are planning to incorporate social media into their marketing and PR plans. Let the experts at Grafx guide you through a social media strategy for your business.

In a sea of booths, how does your tradeshow space stand out from the rest? Grafx utilizes multiple media, including high resolution video, flat screen TVs, sound systems, and three-dimensional panels to create more than a booth; it’s a complete tradeshow experience.

Increasing a brand’s visibility can begin with the company car. Grafx takes brands on the “road to success” with stylish, cutting edge vehicle wraps that boost a brand’s presence wherever it may be.

With online video currently accounting for more than 50 percent of all web traffic, businesses must include online video and web video marketing tactics in their program budgets. Referral traffic for online video from Facebook and Twitter is growing faster than from traditional search engines. At current growth rates, Facebook will surpass Yahoo! within the year to be the second only to Google for video referral traffic.

Grafx builds visually compelling websites that wow the eye and engage the user while communicating clients’ key messages in a clear, creative style that works for business.

Explore

As a company of problem solvers, we realize that successful projects always begin with a deep understanding of our client’s business situation. Each business we engage with faces unique challenges that require creative but realistic solutions. In this phase our aim is to identify your customers, competitors and most importantly your goals. What does success look like? How will you know when you’ve got there? Any project, no matter how big or small, can benefit from exploring and planning before the creative begins.

Plan

A sitemap is created to visually demonstrate the flow of information and is emphasized with optimal user paths and clear calls to action. Wireframes are developed as a way to visualize content organization and prioritization, as well as functional requirements. It is used to iron out any problems or missing elements, and will act as the blueprint for the content, design and development work that comes later.

Create

With a solid plan in place, the creative process begins. Visual designs are created based on the Information Architecture to demonstrate the creative direction and proposed interactive elements. The existing brand is reinforced in a clear and consistent manner to leverage the strengths and offerings of your business. We may develop functional prototypes to demonstrate how users will interact with the interface. As a design studio first and foremost we believe that great design is the most important way to differentiate our clients from their competitors.

Develop

Once functional requirements are understood, the development of the site begins using the pre-determined technologies. Our developers are well versed in several programming languages, Content Management Systems (CMS) and E-Commerce solutions. We work with our clients to establish the best combination of technologies to meet all business objectives. Regardless of the technologies used, we realize that true interactivity is about encouraging communication above all else.

Deploy

We make sure that designs are ready before they launch. All user testing, quality assurance, and reviews are conducted within Grafx testing environment, a site to which clients have access. When all development is complete, we work with the client’s internal IT department to deploy and launch the site at a live production environment.