The Liquor Mart Launch – just in time for the holidays!

December 3rd, 2010 Beth Krodel

I’m proud to say that today we launched a new and drastically-improved website for a Boulder icon – Liquor Mart.

The new custom-designed site uses a Magento-powered e-commerce system with all the bells and whistles:

• a product catalog with more 12,000 SKUs with real-time inventory
• reward points that are awarded for each purchase and can be redeemed for discounts
• a slick delivery module that allows customers to schedule their package delivery
• custom online coupons and case discounts calculated at checkout
• special features including compare products, recommended products, product photo zoom and more.

The site also includes several new content sections such as Wine Wisdom, Brews News, Cocktail Corner, a blog called Simply Served, videos, audios, a party planning feature and more! And all of it can be managed by Liquor Mart staff through a password-protected CMS.

I bought all the alcohol for tonight’s Insight Designs holiday open house from liquormart.com — ordering was a breeze, all the coupons worked, and the delivery showed up right on time.

Check it out, and fill up on spirits for the holidays!

Posted in Insight News, Miscellaneous, Testing, Web Design, Web Marketing, Web Technology | No Comments »

A new site and a great cause

November 19th, 2010 Beth Krodel

This week, the Insight Designs team was proud to launch a new and improved website for the HERA Women’s Cancer Foundation.

HERA is an awesome organization that aims to stop the loss of women from ovarian cancer, an ugly disease that strikes one in every 72 women and claimed the lives of 14,600 women in the U.S. alone in 2009.

In their efforts to save women’s lives and find a cure, HERA awards grants to scientists researching early detection, treatment and prevention of ovarian cancer. The non-profit also gives community grants to other non-profits that improve the quality of life for women with ovarian cancer or raise awareness about the disease in novel and unusual ways.

HERA’s signature is its Climb4Life series. These multi-day rock climbing events in cities throughout the U.S. and Mexico offer a great way to raise awareness about ovarian cancer among women who are healthy and active.

The new site – which features custom design and a WordPress content management system – is at herafoundation.org. Be sure to check out the Symptoms page and share it with all of your friends! Early detection makes a huge difference.

Posted in Insight News, Web Design | No Comments »

Another sickening fire

October 29th, 2010 Beth Krodel

The buzz in the Insight Designs‘ office this morning is about a fire that started around 8:30 am today just west of our office. What started as a single light grey plume of smoke has quickly engulfed the foothills just behind Settlers Park. We’re all safe, but the smoke has started seeping in through our office windows. And it’s quite unsettling to watch the cloud of thick smoke grow in size and intensity. Nico took this photo about 10 minutes ago – looking west out of his office window. You can get more details on the fire at the Daily Camera website.

Posted in Insight News | No Comments »

A fun site and a good deal

October 22nd, 2010 Beth Krodel

This week, the Insight Designs team created a new site called Zowzee.com. Actually, designer Carlos Real gets almost all of the credit. And he did this fun, cool design from start to finish — including implementation — in just 2 days!

The site’s concept is similar to Groupon.com and BoCodeals.com – where consumers sign up to get amazing daily deals in their community.

Check it out! And if you live in the Denver area, go ahead and sign up for some amazing deals!

Posted in Insight News, Web Design, Web Marketing | No Comments »

Take in a FLIC

October 15th, 2010 Beth Krodel

After a summer hiatus, Boulder’s FLIC is back at it, and Insight Designs is proud to continue sponsoring this great community event.

Check it out!

What: FLIC (food, libation & independent cinema)
When: Thursday, Oct. 21 — cocktails & cartoons at 6pm; featured film at 7:30 pm
Where: Boulder Draft House, 13th Street between Spruce and Pearl in Boulder
Featured Film: Winnebago Man
Community Cause: Proceeds go to the Boulder County AIDS Project Food Bank and Meals on Wheels of Boulder

I’ll be there. Hope you will, too!

Posted in Insight News | No Comments »

Ouch! 12 Hours of Moab.

October 11th, 2010 Beth Krodel

iphone photo from 3am Sunday, Oct. 10

It was yet another weekend of bike racing for Insight Designs business partner Nico Toutenhoofd. Nico and Mike Martin, CEO of juwi solar Inc. were doing the 16th annual 24 hours of Moab as a two-person team. (For those of you not in the know, the cyclists really do ride 24 hours in a row on some pretty tricky terrain in Moab, Utah.)

Unfortunately this time, there’s no win to report. Nico and Mike had to pull out due to injury.

In Nico’s email explaining what happened, he wrote: “Lesson learned… When you see the triple “X” signs on the trail, and it’s the middle of the night, and you’re tired, and they tell you to dismount your bike, you should… I had successfully ridden down “The Ledge” on my first 4 laps, but it was getting close to midnight, we were riding with lights on our bikes, I took a different line through the technical section, and I found myself flipping over the bars. My face took the entire impact — I truly didn’t get scratched or even bruised anywhere other than my face. I limped the 6 miles back to the medical tent where they told me to abandon the race and go to the emergency room. So I only made it half way through the 24-hour race.”

Nico got 5 stitches, lost half a tooth and is pretty swollen, but he’ll be back at work tomorrow. Please give him a break is his speech is a bit garbled over the next few days.

Posted in Insight News | No Comments »

A little help after the fire

October 1st, 2010 Beth Krodel

Before becoming a web entrepreneur, I was a journalist – a newspaper reporter for papers in Detroit, Boulder, Duluth and Washington DC. In those days, I often felt the pleasure of making a difference in the world. I’d write a feature on a non-profit that would result in tons of donations. I’d do a piece that exposed wrongdoing in local government.

But in my 11-plus years in the web world, those feel-good experiences are fewer and further between.

Yesterday, however, I had one of those moments.

I got a call from a former client whom I hadn’t heard from since 2004. His house was one of the 166 homes that burned during the Fourmile Canyon Fire in the foothills west of Boulder in September. It was the worst wildfire in Colorado history.

My former client, Yates Lansing, is a sculptor who not only lost his home in the fire. He lost his studio. He lost his artwork. And he lost his computer, which contained what he thought were the only records of the sculptures he’d created over the past three decades.

When he called me, he said he knew it was a long-shot, but he was hoping that somewhere Insight Designs might have an old copy of his website, which contained images of hundreds of pieces of his work.

In less than an hour, we were able to locate the 2004 version of his website in our archives. By this morning, we had his website restored at yateslansing.net. We also added a new photo gallery called After the Fire that contains powerful images taken of the scorched sculpture garden surrounding the bare remains of what was once his glorious mountain home.

Yates was thrilled and incredibly grateful that we found the old files. It wasn’t much, but it was something. And for someone who’s lost just about everything, something can mean a whole lot.

Posted in Insight News, Web Design | 1 Comment »

Geocaching, popping balloons, shooting pix and more.

September 20th, 2010 Beth Krodel

Staff retreats are sort of like teacher workdays (a.k.a. professional days) in that no one really knows what they are.

I’ve had clients and colleagues ask me again and again, “So what do you actually do on a retreat?”

We, meaning the Insight Designs crew, had our annual retreat last Friday. So it’s a perfect time for me to enlighten everyone on what an Insight retreat looks like. We started our day by doing a 2-hour photo shoot for our infamous holiday card. (Each year we try to outdo our idea from the previous year.)

Then, we headed to North Boulder Park for some team-building exercises (i.e. silly games). We had a balloon-popping contest, in which Keith Harper celebrated prematurely costing his teammates the win, while Carlos Real went on to out-sprint me by something like a gazillionth of a second for the prize. One game tested our communication skills; two people took turns verbally guiding a third blind-folded person through a course; out of nine attempts, only one blind-folded person ran into a tree. Some games helped us hone our strategic thinking skills; others were just plain goofy.

Next up was a long lunch at Proto’s Pizza, where the topic of conversation was “If I could change one thing at Insight Designs, it would be …”

Finally, we finished the day off with some group geocaching (aka new-age treasure hunting). We found two out of three caches and were able to explore some trails and places in Boulder that none of us had ever seen. Cool stuff. Find caching opportunities near you at geocaching.com.

Posted in Insight News | No Comments »

Another huge win for Nico – the Mt. Washington Hillclimb

August 25th, 2010 Beth Krodel

Photo: DennisCoughlin.com

Here I am again bragging about my amazingly talented business partner Nico Toutenhoofd, who just won the 38th annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb in Gorham, New Hampshire.

For the non-cyclists out there, this isn’t just any old bike race. It’s one of the most famous cycling events in the United States. It’s a 7.6-mile grind up the highest peak in the Northeast with an average grade of 12% nearing 22% at the finish. It makes Boulder’s Flagstaff seem flat.

And not only did Nico win it at the ripe old age of 42. He beat professionals half his age.

He also got tons of press coverage:

• VeloNews Article
• VeloNews Photo Gallery
• 303Cycling Blog
  
• WMUR New Hampshire’s Channel 9 Story
• Boulder Daily Camera Article
  

And what’s truly incredible is that he manages to train and take part in — AND WIN — cycling events all over the country while working full-time and pulling his weight at Insight Designs! His secret? He doesn’t get much sleep.

Congrats partner on another fabulous feat!

Posted in Insight News | No Comments »

Help save a life!

August 10th, 2010 Beth Krodel

Grab your running — or walking — shoes, and help us raise money to support the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.

Insight Designs is sponsoring the 21st Annual Cause for Paws Doggie Dash (4K run and 3K walk) on Saturday, Sept. 11.

All proceeds benefit the Humane Society, which provides shelter and care to more than 8,000 homeless, abandoned and abused animals each year. Your participation could literally save the life of a cat or dog.

Insight partner Beth Krodel will be there with her family – and of course JavaD! Hope you’ll come, too.

Here’s the skinny:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 • 7 AM TO NOON
HUMANE SOCIETY OF BOULDER VALLEY, 2323 55TH STREET [MAP]

• 4K run starts at 8:30 a.m. and 3K walk starts at 8:45 a.m.
• It’s a fun family event where dogs are welcome to be part of the fun.
• There will be a costume contest, agility fun-trials and more.
• The 4K run is an official Bolder Boulder qualifier.
• Includes a Fabulous Pet Expo plus a delicious pancake breakfast.
• Enjoy live music and a bouncy house for kids.
• Form a team of six or more for even more fun.

For more details or to register, please visit boulderhumane.org/causeforpaws or call 303-442-4030 ext. 634.

Posted in Insight News | No Comments »