M8th Blog

Local health departments are one of the greatest resources, and often a hidden treasure, for many in communities across our country. The Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale (GNR) County Health Departments are among those offering services to meet the needs of their local communities. From child immunizations, family planning and disease prevention to local health inspection scores, the GNR Health Department offers a wealth of helpful services and information.

The Challenge

The Health Department was challenged with effectively communicating everything to everyone, which is common for an organization that provides such a variety of services to a diverse audience. As you can imagine, prioritizing health services or trying to predict what someone might find helpful isn’t always simple, making organization and presentation of content one of the major keys to an effective website.

As with any government organization, managing resources as efficiently as possible is critical. GNR need to manage their website in-house, but they also recognized that the days of having a dedicated web developer on staff were coming to an end. Therefore, creating a custom yet easy-to-use backend content management system for the website was a must-have.

The Opportunity

Since staring at your own website content can often become mindnumbing and steal the creativity right out of the room, the Health Department thought it would serve them best to enlist a team like Mighty 8th Media to take a step back, examine their content with fresh eyes, and propose an effective way of communicating with their audiences via the website.

The Results

By developing a site map, the Health Department was able to see the big picture of how we recommended bucketing content. From there, each page was wireframed to ensure that content layout was reader-friendly and all necessary elements were represented.

Once the content was organized, we created a design that showcased the variety and quality of services offered. By designing an expandable drop down system, we provided a way for the Health Department to expand or update services on the fly. Personable photography, soothing colors and clean text treatments also helped further enhance the Health Department’s image.

From overall web strategy and content organization to web design and development, we enjoyed helping GNR more effectively communicate the important resources they offer. We appreciate the role they serve in keeping our community strong and healthy, and hope you enjoy using their website!

Visit the new and improved GNR Health Department website.

This past week our very own Gordon McMahan turned 36 years old, so we decided to thrown down, Shetland style!

Gordon spent his early years in Shetland and Iceland, clubbing baby seals and burning batches of wild moss in his hobbit hut to stay warm. A main source of income for his family in those days was raising sheep, so in keeping with his rich heritage, the Mighty 8th crew pimped out his cubical Shetland style, complete with free-standing cut-out sheep.

We also included plenty of wild moss, and a beautiful poster depicting the birthday boy in all his Shetland glory. Yes, that sheep he’s riding like a bull is in a great deal of pain.

For lunch we visited Ted’s Montana Grill to get our graze on. With it’s rustic charm and exotic cuisine, Ted’s worked nicely with the day’s somewhat rugged and outdoorsy theme.

To Gordon’s disappointment, the menu was devoid of his favorite entrée, lamb and mutton. However, he did settle on one of the many styles of bison burgers for which Ted’s is famous. Who knew buffalo tasted so good?

After lunch we continued the festivities back at The Hangar. There were no games of “Pin the Tail on the Shetland Pony” or “Hide and Go Sheep” as promised. Bradley took great pleasure to Gordon’s dismay.

There was, however, one of the BEST caramel pound cakes ever! Even better, Gordon was able to share a piece with his “special friend.”

Happy Birthday to one of Mighty 8th’s long-time employees! A great guy to work with, and one who really stands out from the herd.

As 2011 draws to a close, the crew at Mighty 8th Media wanted to share some warm wishes for the holidays with our clients, fans, friends and families.  What better way to celebrate the season than in song?

Please take a moment to enjoy this charming Holiday video, featuring the first public performance by…the Mighty Chins!

If you want a holiday chuckle, and to be mildly freaked out, you definitely want to give the video a watch.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Last week we celebrated the birthday of one of our longtime coworkers, Kevin Moss. Many of you know Kevin as a member of our strong design team at Mighty 8th Media. What you might not know is that Kevin also collects vintage vinyl records from ebay, a large number of antique stores and Goodwill locations throughout the area. And when we say “collect”, we mean that the mailman usually has a new album for Kevin every single day.

Naturally, that worked its way into a birthday theme for Kevin. We covered our conference table in a hodgepodge of albums across virtually every style, genre and decade. There was even a cake crafted in the shape of a turntable!

Because of his love for vinyl records, we crafted a nickname for our odd album aficionado: DJ Banana. Ben was the mastermind behind this cool sign that hung above the conference table full of vinyl classics.

Kevin was thrilled with the theme, so much so that he immediately went into DJ mode and mimicked some scratching on this virtual DJ cake.

Happy Birthday Kevin! Your great design work and keen sense of humor certainly keeps all of us spinning!

As things were winding down for Thanksgiving, the team recently spent some quality time together for lunch at Aqua Terra Bistro, the crown jewel of Buford’s fine restaurants. (and a long time client of Mighty 8th Media!)

Inevitably, these gatherings end up providing lots of laughs and usually a trip or two down memory lane as we reflect on seven wonderful years together. Our crew and the relationship we have is just one of the many characteristics that have led Mighty 8th to be named one of the Top Places to Work in Atlanta by both the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Georgia Trend magazine.

After an amazing array of tasty dishes at Aqua Terra, we returned to the office to celebrate the birthday of Eric Rader, a member of the Mighty 8th business development team. Because of Eric’s love for his cats, we decided to get a cake with a creepy cat theme.

As if it couldn’t get any weirder, we followed up the cat cake with a cat puzzle, some cat treats and even a cat and puppy coloring and activity book. Despite the odd mix that made up this feline fun-pack, Eric seemed to enjoy the silliness.

Happy Birthday Eric!