Our friends at Liine, a music technology company that develops music production tools for the iOS, as well as plug-ins for popular music software applications, asked us to redesign their website in preparation for the release of their new flagship product, Lemur.

Since they exist in the mobile space it was key that the site looked and behaved well on a variety of mobile devices in addition to a desktop browser. We took a responsive approach, utilizing CSS3 media queries, to ensure that the site was viewable on common resolutions found on portrait and landscape orientations of popular mobile devices.

We’ve been big fans of SilverStripe CMS for a couple of years now and build the majority of our sites using Sapphire, their PHP framework, and corresponding CMS. The Liine site was no exception. We were able to customize the environment so it suited the specific needs of this project leveraging core features such as i18n, multi-lingual content and the short-code parser.

One of the more challenging aspects of this project was the development of a user community within SilverStripe for Lemur. We built out a section of the site to allow user registration and provided the ability for authenticated users to manage their profiles and manage template files that other users could download for their own use.

Finally, we applied a number of the stylistic elements that were designed for the web site to the phpBB template on the existing Liine Forum.

We’re really happy with the redesigned Liine website – let us know what you think in the comments.

On the surface, the project seemed straightforward, but in fact there were a number of factors in place that made things interesting. For one, Chromian Wars is designed to be played on mobile devices, including the iPad.  It was imperative that the site present well at various resolutions and touch interfaces.  We used CSS media queries to format the site for common resolutions to ensure all visitors have a good experience. Secondly, the guys at Miralupa had set up a support portal on Assistly that also needed to be styled so the transition back and forth from the web site was seamless.

Chromian Wars has just been approved by Apple and available for download in the iTunes App Store.

The desktop version, playable on Mac and PC using the Unity Web Player, and the Android version are coming soon.

Organism’s role in this project was to create a single page which replaced the usual landing page of Hawtin’s Minus label website. Here users can view the live stream of the performance from the Grand Palais as well as links to various pertinent information and social media links.

Related Links

• Monumenta Website
• Minus Record Label
• RED Microsite
• Hawtin & Kapoor

Its pretty well known fact that the lifeforms that make up ORGANISM can be a tad bit geeky, and so the mere mention of HTML5, CSS3, geolocation, and Twitter in the same sentence is bound to cause some minor heart palpitations and even the sweats. But throw world renowned techno DJ, producer and artist, Richie Hawtin as the client, and someone going to need to call 911.

We recently launched the first phase of a collaboration with Rich that provides his fans with up to the minute information regarding his current One City world tour as well as his social activity on Twitter and more. Hawtin’s music focuses on concepts of minimalism and subtraction, so with that in mind, we set out to apply these  concepts to Google’s Maps Api. Reskinning a map isn’t difficult although it can be time consuming as the One City map at the highest zoom consists of almost 5000 image tiles.

Event markers were needed to display the usual info like event name, date and location but furthermore we integrated a social element into the mix to allow for easy sharing on Twitter and Facebook links which uses deep linking concepts to ensure that a recipient will see the same event info.

Along with the event markers we also wanted to show Rich’s current location on the map along with his latest tweet. One of his team members, Bryan McDade, wrote a custom geo-location app for his iPhone that updates a database periodically with geo coordinates. We tap into this database to extract his latest location as well as displaying his latest tweet.

There is also a “live mode” where the event info window  will list each track as they are played during a dj set.

As this is a multiphase project, be sure to check back and see the evolution of One City at richiehawtin.com

“In 1851 Seattle, chief of the Squamish and other Indian tribes around Washington’s Puget Sound, delivered what is considered to be one of the most beautiful and profound environmental statements ever made. The city of Seattle is named for the chief, whose speech was in response to a proposed treaty under which the Indians were persuaded to sell two million acres of land for $150,000.” — Buckminster Fuller in Critical Path.

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us.

If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man.

The white man’s dead forget the country of their birth when they go to walk among the stars. Our dead never forget this beautiful earth, for it is the mother of the red man. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters; the deer, the horse, the great eagle, these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the juices in the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man — all belong to the same family.

So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us. The Great Chief sends word he will reserve us a place so that we can live comfortably to ourselves. He will be our father and we will be his children.

So, we will consider your offer to buy our land. But it will not be easy. For this land is sacred to us. This shining water that moves in the streams and rivers is not just water but the blood of our ancestors. If we sell you the land, you must remember that it is sacred, and you must teach your children that it is sacred and that each ghostly reflection in the clear water of the lakes tells of events and memories in the life of my people. The water’s murmur is the voice of my father’s father.

The rivers are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The rivers carry our canoes, and feed our children. If we sell you our land, you must remember, and teach your children, that the rivers are our brothers and yours, and you must henceforth give the rivers the kindness you would give any brother.

We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father’s grave behind, and he does not care. He kidnaps the earth from his children, and he does not care. His father’s grave, and his children’s birthright are forgotten. He treats his mother, the earth, and his brother, the sky, as things to be bought, plundered, sold like sheep or bright beads. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert.

I do not know. Our ways are different than your ways. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the unfurling of leaves in spring or the rustle of the insect’s wings. The clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lonely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around the pond at night? I am a red man and do not understand. The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond and the smell of the wind itself, cleaned by a midday rain, or scented with pinon pine.

The air is precious to the red man for all things share the same breath, the beast, the tree, the man, they all share the same breath. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days he is numb to the stench. But if we sell you our land, you must remember that the air is precious to us, that the air shares its spirit with all the life it supports.

The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also receives his last sigh. And if we sell you our land, you must keep it apart and sacred as a place where even the white man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by the meadow’s flowers.

So we will consider your offer to buy our land. If we decide to accept, I will make one condition – the white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers.

I am a savage and do not understand any other way. I have seen a thousand rotting buffaloes on the prairie, left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be made more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive.

What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.

You must teach your children that the ground beneath their feet is the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will respect the land, tell your children that the earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach your children that we have taught our children that the earth is our mother. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves.

This we know; the earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites one family. All things are connected.

Even the white man, whose God walks and talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we know which the white man may one day discover; our God is the same God.

You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of man, and His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. The earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.

But in your perishing you will shine brightly fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man.

That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wires.

Where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone.

The end of living and the beginning of survival.

Last but not least, the site has been designed and developed for every screen, from desktop to mobile. A quick browser resize will highlight this. however, the in-house client presentations are specific to an iPad. A little HTML5, (pave the way for mobile and future browsers) and a couple of custom jQuery functions (the slideshow behaviours) and we’re in business. Of course, don’t forget a few fallbacks for older browsers and Internet Explorer to complete the experience.

Just like their previous site, Zed is good again for the next ten years, at least!

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company says it can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels on demand at unprecedented rates, and can do it in facilities large and small at costs comparable to the cheapest fossil fuels.

Although its still in its infancy, a few more Google searches reveal various news releases documenting the company’s growth, several high profile director/management additions and the recent lease of a 7000 sq ft space. Hats off and good luck to Joule Unlimited.

The events and workshops seek to explore the relationship between words and meaning, and their relationship within the practice of Zen Buddhism and brings together poets, calligraphers, zen practitioners, and more from all over the world.

The 2011 festival will be our third, and this year we’re proud to be an official partner. We updated the look and feel of the website as well as an overhaul to the backend / CMS from WordPress to SilverStripe. Nothing against WordPress however, we felt that the festival needs had outgrown it, and SilverStripe is much more versatile when it comes to the specific data models we used for the bios, poems, schedule, and more.

During the past year, Organism played a significant role in the Festival’s social media strategy, planning and execution. The organization relied heavily on Twitter and Facebook to generate awareness about the events and have creates a niche social community.

2011 Montreal Zen Poetry Festival website

Visit Resource Energy Solutions website.

The Challenge

As part of a company-wide initiative to increase sales and build brand awareness Organism was approached to perform a review of their existing website. We found the site to be lacking on a number of fronts including site organization, design and content and were awarded the contract to rework the entire site.

Concept

First impressions are critical. Our review showed that the RES site was in dire need of an engaging and functional landing page. We brought the product line front and center and provided a number of CTAs to engage the visitor and promote RES’ services.
In order to appeal to both the mining and oil and gas industries we created a flexible design with subtle theme changes on each page depending on its relationship to min- ing, oil and gas, or both.

Highlights

Implementation of a PHP-based CMS on Microsoft IIS

Asteroids is simple. This is why it endure the test of times and I find myself playing it once again. It’s simplicity is also what allows it to be re purposed again, 30 years later. That’s how code works. You may not get 30 years out of an actual routine or function, but the concept will always exist.

Erik Rothoff’s amazing html’ized version of asteroids just goes to show, a classic never dies. With a single click you can shoot amd destroy blocks of  text, images, and yes, banner ads on any site, or web page, including this one here!

Add it to your bookmark/favourites toolbar, handy addition to your web arsenal… ready at any moments notice. I had a lot of fun smashing my hootsuite dashboard.