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!

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.

We are thrilled to welcome Andy Cullen, Senior Web Developer, to Sandstorm Design! The newest addition to our technology and usability team, this Chicagoland native specializes in backend development. Andy speaks a number of languages including PHP, SQL, and ActionScript. And much to our delight, he is also an experienced Drupal 7 developer. Andy is a fan of all things Apple, but his hobbies are far from any computer screen. He mixes up his seasons with outdoorsy activities and sports. Spring brings baseball and football takes over in fall. He’s gone fly fishing in Wyoming, and snowboarding and whitewater rafting in Colorado.

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

2011 has been an award-winning year for Sandstorm Design! Earlier this year we were recognized by BtoB Magazine as a Top B2B Interactive Agency. Today, we’ve been recognized again—This time as a top Chicago Web Developer for 2011 by Crain’s Chicago Business. Not only does this mean we’re in the printed newspaper, but we’ll also be included in the Book of Lists for 2011.

Our developers work closely with the design team to create powerful results. And when it comes to content management systems, our Drupal 7 developers build robust and flexible web sites customized to your needs. We love the work we do, and are so honored to be included as a top Chicago Web Development firm!

Chicago is a booming city with a robust pool of developers

While our Chicago web design firm focuses on user-centered design, we’d like to give kudos to the City of Chicago, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Cook County, and the State of Illinois for taking a user-centered approach to government and working to build useful tools for Metro Chicago. Bravo!

Now, while we’re pleased to see Chicago building useful apps, there are some pros and cons to the competition method, also known as crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing has become very popular, even as a tool to leverage as part of a marketing strategy. But even with the possibility of benefiting from the talent that fills Chicago, in the end, there is just less creative control of the end product. Instead of choosing one dedicated team that builds a relationship with you, learns your business needs, and provides a customized solution to your problem, you end up hoping someone in the crowd finds the right idea.

But what if none of the entries solves your problem? During the two month entry period, how do you feel about sitting in the dark, unable to truly guide the direction your solutions are headed? And what do you say to all the unselected artists and programmers who put in dozens of hours creating an app for you and get nothing in return for their hard work? However risky their methods, we are still very excited to see Chicago focusing on technology!

At Sandstorm we do custom quality work, gathering requirements to make certain that the end product meets the clients’ specific needs. Let us know what your needs are!

This time a month ago, Sandstorm Design was attending the Drupal conference in Chicago. Since then, our team of Drupal 7 developers have been sharing with the rest of the company the key takeaways from the conference.

Over sandwiches and soda, our Technology and Usability Director Michael Hartman talked to the team about new possibilities Drupal 7 features open up and how we can use them to continue to provide exceptional content management solutions. We were inspired enough to keep discussing Drupal long after the last bite had been eaten. In fact, we’re still talking Drupal this and Drupal that. And the conversation isn’t likely to end anytime soon!

It has been an amazing week for our development team at DrupalCon Chicago 2011. We absorbed Dries Buytaert’s keynote, mingled with other Drupal 7 developers, danced to a song about Drupal (not kidding!), and attended session after session on topics like theming, design, user experience, implementation and configuration. We had a blast and learned a lot!

We’re so proud that Chicago got to host the Drupal conference this year. And we’re so grateful to all those who made DrupalCon Chicago a success. Most of all, we’re looking forward to the future of Drupal, which is only looking brighter and brighter!

Check out our pictures from DrupalCon Chicago!

Meet Drew Jarvis, our newest User Experience Web Developer – We are so thrilled to add Drew to our technology and usability team! Not only does he live by pixel-perfect front-end web design, he also brings years of Drupal expertise, social media intelligence, video editing, and SEO marketing (oh yeah, and 3d modeling – is there anything he can’t do?). When Drew’s not online, he can be found traveling the world, making his own videos, or adding to his LEGO collection.

Welcome Drew. We can’t wait to work with you!

We’re looking for someone with a passion for building user-friendly experiences and creating elegant and dynamic UIs for the web. Required skills include 2-4 years experience with HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and JQuery (XML and AJAX a plus!) and 2-4 years experience developing web pages and front-end solutions from provided wireframes and designs. The successful candidate will have a strong understanding of web standards and web browser peculiarities, the ability to create cross-browser and cross-platform compliant pages, proficiency in Adobe CS3-4 Creative Suite (Photoshop and Illustrator) and knowledge of Drupal development, WordPress and other open source tools and frameworks.

Any experience in the following will be a bonus: Flash/Action Script, PHP, Ruby on Rails and/or ASP.NET, Facebook and other social media integration, SQL, MySQL or other databases, Apache and/or Microsoft IIS.

We work in a team environment, so we need someone with a demonstrated ability to work both as a member of a team and independently. We’re looking for someone with a commitment to excellence, usability, coding standards and an intense attention to detail. The successful candidate will need to be flexible in day-to-day activities and embrace change as required, working both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment with many projects, priorities and opportunities.

Sandstorm Design offers competitive salary, health insurance, paid vacations, paid holidays (including your birthday!) and a fun and creative atmosphere.

Please send your resume, cover letter and links to work samples to jobs@sandstormdesign.com. No phone calls please.

We are looking for web developers skilled in Flash / Action Script, Front-end development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, j-Query), PHP, MySQL and Drupal. On a less frequent basis, we will need web developers with experience in ASP.NET, Cold Fusion and WordPress. If you have any combination of these skills, get in touch with us today!

Sandstorm Design is a fun place to work, with a creative atmosphere. Not only will you enjoy coming to work with us, you’ll enjoy the free snacks and pop too!

Please send your resume/CV, your hourly rates and links to your work examples to jobs@sandstormdesign.com with Chicago Web Developer in the subject line. We would like Chicago area developers only, as we need our freelancers to work on-site at our office in Lakeview. Please, No Phone Calls, No Recruiters.

We are proud to announce the launch of the new F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen web site! We love working with this construction company, some say we’re almost as “Paschen”-ate as they are. Great people, great work, and a great history. We couldn’t wait for this site launch!

In addition to a new branded look and feel, the web site is filled with interactive video and functionality. We built a searchable project database that includes over 100 of their top projects. We also created an interactive experience on the homepage, new custom videos, an interactive map and a dynamically building ‘Contact Us’ form. To top it all off, custom photography highlights one of the company’s strongest points of pride – their people. We couldn’t be more passionate about launching this web site for F.H. Paschen, a company we are proud to call our client and partner.

Candidates must have 4+ years .NET experience, preferably with a Microsoft certification, 1+ years hands-on experience using Sitecore CMS and 2+ years experience with MsSQL. We would like someone with experience developing high volume web applications, and the ability to design database tables, stored procedures and SQL Queries. You will need to know HTML and CSS. We also need you to be able to meet project timelines and budgets, collaborate with peers on a project to meet client needs, and have strong written and verbal communication skills. We’re looking for a highly motivated, detail-oriented individual with excellent problem solving skills and a passion for delivering high quality products and creating highly usable web sites that optimize the user experience. A few pluses that will give you an edge: experience with AJAX/Jquery, developing e-commerce sites, and/or familiarity with Shopsite shopping site software.

Think you might be the one we are seeking? Submit your resume and work samples and/or links to jobs@sandstormdesign.com. Please NO phone calls.

It’s easy to love your job when you work for Sandstorm Design, and it’s even easier when the projects that come your way are for organizations that are working to make the world a better place – like The Cradle, an open adoption agency in Chicago. Along with giving them a fresh, new look, we also made their site easy to update by completing development in Drupal so that they can change their content regularly with current news, new waiting families, and new stories of success.  

We loved working with The Cradle and being a part of helping birthparents, adoptive families, and adopted children come together to create their own unique family stories. We are so proud to launch this web site!

Sandstorm Design is so excited to announce the launch of a new web site for a new firm, Partridge IP Law. Having the opportunity to work with this unique law firm from inception has been such a privilege. We created their new identity and brand, starting with the logo and print work before moving to the web. And while the firm might be new, the attorneys are experienced. Their new web site showcases this expertise with detailed bios and a very active blog. We absolutely loved working with Partridge IP Law, and couldn’t be happier to announce this launch!

Sandstorm Design is proud to announce the launch of our second Blue Cross Blue Shield interactive health care web application, AskBlue for Federal Employees. Federal employees have the opportunity to answer a series of questions and get a customized recommendation to help them find the right insurance plan. Along the way, learning moments are integrated throughout the experience, educating the user to make better decisions. We love working with Blue Cross Blue Shield as much as we love creating interactive tools to make people’s lives a little easier, and that’s why we’re so excited to launch this quick and easy-to-use web application to help Federal employees!

Third River Capital Management wanted a web site that would represent them for who they are: a professional, contemporary, collaborative group. We at Sandstorm Design were so excited take this vision and build it, and are even more excited to announce the web site launch!

The imagery of running waters on the site gives it a clean look, and reflects Third River Capital Management’s approach to the business – consistent and long term. They are such a joy to work with, and their collaborative approach is especially inspiring. We couldn’t be happier to announce this web site launch!

Welcome Michael. We are so looking forward to working with you.

We are so proud to announce the launch of the Immaculate Conception School web site! The parents at Immaculate Conception School are an inspiring group of people. They came together with the school’s administration and Sandstorm Design to redesign and develop the Immaculate Conception School web site.  We were so excited to be a part of this project, and even donated extra time and effort to make sure their new web site was absolutely incredible.

One of the most valuable sections on the web site is the Parent Center, accessible through a secure login. There, families with registered students can see calendar updates, register for afterschool programs, see upcoming events and more. And the best part… every face you see on the web site is an actual student at the school! We loved working with the school and parents to create this very functional web site, and couldn’t be happier to announce its launch!

Welcome David. We can’t wait to work with you.

At Sandstorm, you have the job you are hired for, and then you have your X factor.Whatever your X factor is, we want to hear about it! The senior interactive web developer we are looking for must be brilliant, innovative and fearless. I know it may seem like we’re asking for the world, but we’re asking the world to find us our senior developer.

Interested in applying? Contact us and send us your resume, sample urls, and your X factor.