Pica Design is pleased to announce the new redesign of Waldo County General Hospital’s website at www.wcgh.org! Waldo County Healthcare, Inc. (WCHI) serves the healthcare needs of Waldo County residents through Waldo County General Hospital, five rural health centers, home health and hospice services, public health nursing, physicians’ offices and educational programs.

Waldo County General Hospital (WCGH) is a not-for-profit community hospital committed to providing excellent care for patients and their families in a friendly, caring atmosphere in line with its mission to be the BEST. Services are provided as efficiently as possible with an eye on the future and in collaboration with other community-minded agencies. All services are provided regardless of ability to pay in accordance with the hospital’s financial assistance policy.

In early March, Pica Design was selected to redesign and redevelop the hospital’s new website working within the brand standards outlined by MaineHealth. The goal of the new website design was to remain accessible and intuitive to a broad-range audience while incorporating the newest tools and technologies to allow the hospital to enhance their existing communications and open new channels of communication. In addition, the new website needed to offer the ability to allow Hospital staff to manage every aspect of the website. Over the past six months, we have worked closely with the Hospital’s administrative staff to implement and test all of the site’s new functionality, including:

• a search-as-you-type feature to help people locate Doctor specialties that are difficult to spell
• built-in web accessibility tools for the handicapped (for example, the site can be navigated without a mouse)
• a find-a-doctor feature for specific medical needs
• news features & resources: subscribe to RSS news feeds, newsletters (InPulse & Journey to Health), and the news blog

One of the bigger challenges for our team was to code the new website to work on every browser and keep the website as accessible as possible. Should a website break occur, the user has the ability to ‘Submit a Website Problem’ through a link located within the footer navigation.

In addition to developing the new website, Pica Design is providing hosting services as well as consulting on web and social media strategies to help the Hospital get the most out of its online presence. To learn more about Pica website development and social media strategies, contact us by phone at 207-338-1740 or email at: info@picadesign.com

We’d like to welcome Downeast Lakes Land Trust as a new Client. In early June 2010, Pica Design was awarded a contract from Downeast Lakes Land Trust (DLLT) for the design and development of their new website. DLLT is a community-based 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2001 in Grand Lake Stream, Maine. Their mission is to contribute to the long-term economic and environmental well-being of the Downeast Lakes region through the conservation and exemplary management of its forests and waters. To learn more about their initiatives and the land that they are conserving, visit: http://www.downeastlakes.org

To learn more about Pica Design’s partnership benefits with other non-profits like Downeast Lakes Land Trust, contact us today at: info@picadesign.com

We are happy to announce the release of a new website for Home Energy Solutions out of Northport, ME. The folks there came to us looking to revamp their website, but they were on a budget. We suggested one of our Pica Pre-Packaged websites for small businesses.

We then themed the new website to match the identity and business cards we also created for them:

Home Energy Solutions Website

Home Energy Solutions Business Card

Let us know if you need a face-lift for your business! info@picadesign.com

The owners of Landworks Waterfront came to us with a request to update their old website. They were completely happy with the design / functionality of their old website; however, they wanted to add the ability to update the site themselves and, in particular, manage their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) internally. We created a custom WordPress theme for them while keeping the design / layout / colors exactly the same.

Check out the updated Landworks Waterfront website! http://www.landworkswaterfront.com/

We are happy to announce a new website for BJ’s Automotive and Diagnostic Center. After our initial meeting with owner / operator Joel Knight, we all decided that our basic pre-packaged WordPress theme was the best fit for his needs. Joel’s main priority was to be one of the first small businesses in Belfast, Maine to have a website and be involved with social networking. Add BJ’s on Facebook and stay up-to-date with local automotive deals!

Check out the new BJ’s Automotive website! http://www.bjsautod.com/

Pica Design is happy to announce our sponsorship of The Belfast Maskers with a new website! All of us here love the Maskers and all the great plays / readings they perform for the public here in Belfast, Maine. So what better way to show our appreciation than by donating something we create daily.. a website! The site has image slideshows, an event calendar, and a news blog. The Maskers are also able to edit / manage all the content on their new website by themselves.

But, how did we do it without breaking the budget? Well, we’ve created a series of customized WordPress themes, which allow us to create a branded web presence for our small business clients. Pretty cool huh?

Check out The Belfast Maskers new website! http://www.belfastmaskers.com/

Here at Pica Design we are always looking to innovate and help other businesses meet their marketing goals. We truly believe all successful businesses should have a strong web presence in order to meet these goals. The cornerstone of a web presence obviously begins with a strong website which successfully communicates the business to their audience. Most large companies can easily afford such a presence, but what are small businesses to do without breaking the bank?

Here at Pica we have found a middle-ground; branded WordPress themes. These themes let us reuse the common website framing used for most websites; similar to a house foundation, then style the exterior with client branding and colors. We also have modularized several common website components like a calendar, sideshows, image galleries, and blogs so clients can pick and choose the tools their website will need. Once a client chooses a template layout which matches their business model; we customize the template with the client branding and color scheme. We then bundle hosting / domain support and SEO into these packages.

So far we’ve had great success using these themes to create The Belfast Maskers website and the BJ’s Automotive website.

Contact us to learn how these pre-packaged themes can help your business! 207-338-1470 | web@picadesign.com

I often wonder what the future of Web Design will be. Is the information superhighway going to become an infrastructure just like our roadways and city’s are designed. A place where every page has the same navigation structure and always leads to the same intersection. In theory it would be great if say for instance every state run organization shared the same navigational structure. This way we could all find the information easier without having to learn how to navigate each site. On the other hand it wouldn’t be great if every tattoo shop had the same look and structure. They would then lack the originality and character that attracts people to certain shops.

WordPress themes and others like it are changing the way the landscape looks and creating an economical option for small companies. The benefit is that it gives start-up companies an option to get online without breaking the budget. The risk is that your business might not stand out from the rest.

I am not sure what the future holds for web design but I am sure that WordPress themes will be around for a while. Please choose wisely.

What a better way to celebrate the holidays than to help spread peace through Blueberry and Strawberry Preserves. Peace Preserves, a Client of Pica Design, is a local business that was created to provide an array of unique fundraising items to nonprofit organizations and the retail market. Products were developed as a vehicle to express the simple message to “Spread Peace, Peace Works”. When you buy their products, you send funds directly to youth organizations who are working towards achieving peace in our world today. To learn more on Pica Design’s involvement in helping Peace Preserves to develop their brand identity and packaging, click here. To purchase Peace Preserves for gifts or for your holiday enjoyment, you can visit a variety of local establishments such as the Farmers Fare, the Belfast Co-op, Whole Foods in Portland or directly through the Peace Preserves website . Enjoy!

Pica Design will participate in a panel discussion at CMCA to demonstrate Websites (that work!) for Artists at the CMCA Event: Making Connections: Monthly Marketing Series for Artists this Thursday. Join us from 7:00 – 8:30 PM for Websites, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, e-marketing, organizational websites for artists, and more. Contact CMCA for registration or questions: 207-236-2875 x303.