Meet Nick Henderson, Sandstorm’s new Relationship Manager. A friendly guy in person and on the phone, Nick is building relationships with new clients in addition to strengthening our connection with current clients. Nick comes from a long experience working one-on-one with many organizations and associations, and we’re glad to add his skills and personality to our marketing firm. You can often find him hitting the links (golfing, that is, although at Sandstorm, he can help you to create some links on your user-oriented web site). Being a proud Texan, Nick is a fan of the Dallas Cowboys and The Texas Rangers. (We promise to not hold that against him).

We’re glad to have you working alongside us. Welcome, Nick!

When Adobe announced their decision to stop Flash development for mobile devices, we certainly weren’t surprised. It’s been a year since we’ve had any requests for Flash of any kind. But if you’ve been hearing that this is the end of Flash altogether, don’t think that means it’s time to toss it if you’ve got it.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

When styling practices started moving away from tables-based layouts (way back when) there was a rush to convert anything and everything to tableless layouts with CSS. While many sites really did need to overcome some huge inefficiencies, others that were working perfectly fine in tables underwent redesigns just to be able to say they were now up-to-date. In reality, they could have waited until the need to change arose.

While mobile is growing and eventually we’ll all want to have our sites accessible from any device, that doesn’t mean we all need it immediately.

Analytics

Check your analytics. If you don’t have a very large mobile audience yet, and you’re already using Flash effectively—then keep it! There’s no reason to get rid of a perfectly wonderful experience built in Flash if your audience is accessing it just fine.

HTML5 for Mobile

If after checking your analytics you find that you do have a growing mobile audience, then HTML5 is the way to go. Along with Adobe’s Flash statement, they also said they would be contributing to HTML5 for mobile. It’s universally compatible with mobile devices (iPhone, Android and beyond). The downside is that it isn’t completely functional in all desktop browsers yet.

Beyond the web site

Let’s not forget, Flash isn’t just for web sites. It’s been used to create some amazing applications for use at tradeshows and conferences. And the great news is that these applications aren’t affected by the mobile barrier, so Flash is still a great option for creating them.

At Sandstorm, we love the beautiful interactive work that has come from Flash. The Johnny Cash Project is one of our favorites. Within our portfolio, we’re so proud of the AskBlue Medicare application for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. And while we’ll always have a soft spot for Flash, we’re also extremely excited about the opportunities HTML5 creates. Regardless of the technology, we’re just happy to be building powerful interactive experiences.

Sandstorm takes home silver in the prestigious 13th annual Web Health Awards℠. (WOO HOO!) This competition recognizes the nation’s best digital health resources and top interactive agencies. A panel of 32 experts in digital health media served as judges and selected gold, silver, bronze, and merit winners.

Our work creating Ask Blue Medicare received a coveted Silver Award for the Web Based Resource Category. This interactive web application helps users understand Medicare health care coverage options from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.  With closed captioning as well as the ability to increase the type size, this application was designed to educate people around 65 years old on the benefits available through Medicare.

We launched this highly interactive and accessible application in August 2010.  To offer this helpful tool to an even broader audience, the application was also launched in Spanish in April 2011.

We’re really excited about this accomplishment and look forward to developing more award-winning web applications, Drupal websites, and interactive user experiences in 2012.

Who doesn’t love a good tradition? For Sandstorm, one of our favorite traditions is gathering at Café Ba Ba Reeba for the holiday party. Way back in the early days of our Chicago marketing firm, the holiday party was just a table of four out in the dining room. Now we pack 25 people into a private room where we get to laugh as loud as we want. And believe me…we laugh loud.

After passing our favorite tapas plates around the table, we exchanged dirty santa gifts. Among the many gifts there was a vintage fondue pot, a pop culture history book, a mustache cookie tray, fancy salt and pepper shakers and a book of Elvis paper cut-outs. And as if the holiday party itself weren’t amazing enough, we didn’t come into the office until 1:00 PM the next day. AND it was pajama day. Do you see why we love the holidays?

Check out the pictures of the holiday party below, and see more on our Facebook!

View all of Sandstorm’s holiday party photos on Facebook. Learn more about our Chicago web design, interactive and marketing firm.

Someone should have told us our new office had elves. Had we known, maybe we would have moved in a long time ago! As of today, when stepping off the elevator you’re greeted with a colorful, sparkling, blinking display of holiday spirit bursting from the Sandstorm Design office.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t elves. Maybe a few of the Sandstorm staff came into the office unenviably early to set up the surprise. Either way, our Chicago marketing firm now has quite the magical, merry vibe. There’s a cozy fireplace next to the tree, candy cane poles, a light-up Santa Claus and garland galore. See for yourself in the pictures below:

What can I say, this is our favorite season. From all of us at Sandstorm, Happy Holidays!

See more pictures on Sandstorm’s Facebook page—and don’t forget to like us!

We are excited to welcome Will Biby to Sandstorm Design as our Production Manager! He is the new face of Sandstorm Design, literally. Will’s desk is the reception area, the first thing you see when entering our new office. He comes from a varied and creative administrative background. Will is supporting every facet of our marketing firm, from usability testing to assisting our Drupal development team. His can-do attitude comes from his experience in education and improvisation (He’s currently studying at iO Chicago and The Second City).

We’re so excited to work with you. Welcome, Will!

REALTOR^® University and the National Association of REALTORS^® partnered with Sandstorm’s Drupal development team to build their first ever master’s degree program. The web site was developed through a combination of marketing messaging, copywriting, tagline development, user interface design and implementation of the Drupal 7 CMS. Featured on the homepage are rotating graphics emphasizing the core advantages the university offers. We are so excited to announce this launch!

Following a year of exceptional growth, Sandstorm Design is excited to announce its move! Don’t worry, we’re still in Chicago—just a couple blocks north of our old address. In the heart of the Ravenswood Corridor, this architecturally inspired space is perfectly suited for the strategy and execution of Drupal web sites, interactive web applications and creative marketing campaigns.

With this relocation, we have expanded space for collaboration and day-to-day activity. This includes an on-site usability lab, ideal for conducting formal and informal usability studies. Our “zen room” is the ideal place to find inner peace.  The new office is distinctly Sandstorm with our giant swirl logo painted at the entrance (It’s 8-foot by 11-foot!), and 4700 feet of exposed ceiling pipe was hand-painted Sandstorm blue to give some added color to this former warehouse space. To see more about this exciting development, check out the Sandstorm Photostream. We even tallied all the numbers from the move, and put together this infographic.

Be sure to update your records, CRM system, and iPhones. Our marketing firm is now located at 4619 N. Ravenswood Suite 300, Chicago, Illinois 60640. Our phone number is the same, 773-348-4200, but all extensions have shifted with an upgrade to a new Shoretel phone system.