The process of creating a website is one of the most frustrating, rewarding, time-consuming, fulfilling, labor-intensive, ... well you get the picture.
If you've never been involved in the design and production of a website, it's like planning a trip: You have to figure out exactly where you want to go, and then make sure it fits your budget. Next, you have to start designing your route, mapping it out to make sure you see all the sites along the way.
Then you start making reservations, only to realize some of the places you really wanted to see aren't going to fit your needs, or your budget. So you re-group, and redesign.
Once you hit the road, you deal with potholes, literally in some cases, which often take you temporarily off course, and sometimes move you in an entirely different direction than originally planned.
But in the end you reach your destination, and it makes all the time and effort and frustration worth it.
But the time and effort and frustration experienced along the way are also the reasons people hire travel agents. Hendrik-Jan Francke, owner and creative director of Bright Orange Thread, was our travel agent through the entire website design process. And from start to finish he was what every travel agent has to be - knowledgeable, creative, and most importantly ... patient.
He listened with open ears as to where we wanted to go, and then made suggestions how best to get there. Once we hit the road in the design process he guided us along the way, sitting through scheduled meetings and on-a-whim conference calls, often listening to us argue amongst ourselves over things like colors and fonts, like kids in the backseat arguing Burger King versus McDonalds.
He not only heard our ideas, but listened despite not always agreeing, managing to turn our path-less-traveled brainstorms into preferred destinations.
Trying to create a website sometimes felt like writing a book without knowing the ending. Or painting a portrait without having ever seen the model. We knew what we wanted to say, but not always how to express it.
Francke made sure we created a masterpiece. Why? Because he cares about our organization and the athletes we serve. Since his original design of our former website, he better knows us, and thus, our Internet needs.
Special Olympics Delaware owes Francke and his Bright Orange Thread team, including Ed Abbott and Theresa Monaco, a debt of gratitude. The new website not only enhances our ability to communicate with our existing members, but allows us to effectively reach out to new ones. It gives us a chance to explore unchartered territory, while driving with the top down.
Because of Bright Orange Thread's gracious financial donation of the project, we were able to design and build it the right way, and include new and improved features that otherwise would have been cut from the final budget, much like that last day in Disney World when the money runs out.
Like any good tour guide, Francke made sure our trip was a success ... and somehow managed to make it fun along the way.
He created a brilliant, user-friendly, state-of-the-art website.
We think you'll agree -- it's a five-star hotel.
Note: To inquire about having Bright Orange Thread design or enhance your website, contact Hendrik-Jan Francke at hfrancke@brightorangethread.com or visit their site.
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