(616) 356-2545 15 Ionia Ave. SW, Suite 220 - Grand Rapids, MI 49503

News: What’s the ACA Have to Do with Your Website?

October 1st, 2016 by Ima Admin

ACA_180x180So you’ve probably heard of the ACA (Affordable Care Act), right? What about Section 1557 regulations and how it could affect your website?

Who knows that the deadline to have the required non-discrimination taglines, statements and notices (in the top 15 languages unique to YOUR state) posted in your office, on your primary marketing materials AND your website was October 16th, 2016?
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News: Threemendous

September 20th, 2016 by Ima Admin

Three fingersToday’s news update is brought to you by the number three. We hear many times that a whole lot of ‘things’ come in three’s.

Celebrities seem to die in three’s

Religion has the Father, Son, & Holy Ghost

In writing, things that come in three are funnier, more satisfying, more effective.

…Three Little Pigs, …Three Musketeers, …Friends, Romans, Countrymen

And a few of you may even remember, the cold war slogan …Duck, Cover and Roll.
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Site ReDesign: Kentwood Office Furniture

July 14th, 2016 by Ima Admin

IFIblog_KWOF_552x587Although many of our website solutions are built to serve our clients well for many years, technology continues to march forward providing new options and marketing channels of which to take advantage. At a minimum, we suggest revisiting the site design every five years or less.

Kentwood Office Furniture is the Midwest’s specialist in high quality remanufactured, used, and new office furniture and is well aware of rapidly changing environments. As a result, Kentwood Office and the Imagination Factory takes a look every 2-3 years at the site and how best to leverage the new technology and aesthetics in their site.

For your own closer inspection, visit the NEW KENTWOOD OFFICE site.


Branding: Athletic Mentors

May 11th, 2016 by Ima Admin

AMM_SIGN-300x225As you may have noticed, many of these blogs are a mix of new client projects and those from long-time clients that trust us with numerous opportunities to assist them with their continuing marketing needs as they grow.

One such client is Athletic Mentors, for whom we’ve designed & developed their brand logo, several concurrent mobile responsive & ecommerce websites as well as many tradeshow collateral pieces, event banners, sales brochures & flyers, and stationery and business cards.

In addition to banners, posters and tent cards, we recently designed this backlit sign for their new coaching facility. The fabrication, municipal permits and zoning issues and installation were all handled by our good friends at Sign-a-rama which allowed us to provide a total solution to the client alleviating many of the headaches associated in getting this accomplished.


Ecommerce: Minor League, Major Food

March 20th, 2016 by Ima Admin

baseball_suite-300x224Yessir, it’s baseball season once again and time to update over a dozen client’s “SOCS” (suite online catering system) websites.

Team IFI’s SOCS sites are customized for each participating club and allow baseball fans who have rented a game day suite to order online from their club’s catering menu.

Each year we added a few more clubs to the IFI SOCS roster. If your favourite ball club doesn’t offer it yet, have them contact us at the Imagination Factory.


Site Launch: Trinitas Classical School

January 29th, 2016 by Ima Admin

IFIblog_TCS_smTrinitas Classical School joins with parents to provide the very best in Christian classical education with an approach to education that is distinctive because it is multi-directional. It looks to the past and the present to prepare students for the future.

Trinitas needed an update web presence that would reflect their rich classical environment and yet take advantage of newer web and user technologies for the future. So they took a lesson from history. They looked back to the early days of the web and discovered the Imagination Factory had been there all along developing websites for clients of all sizes and types.

Trinitas put team IFI to work developing a mobile-responsive, content managed structure (CMS) with private student-specific content including newsletters, homework assignments, and event calendar.

Learn more at TRINITAS CLASSICAL SCHOOL


Site Launch: CTMAX ERASE

August 16th, 2015 by Ted Bailey

IFIblog_CTMXERASE_smLong-time client (since 1996) in Connecticut, CTMAX, branched out their services a few years ago to include non-invasive facial aesthetic enhancement/refinement.

Recently, they purchased a new and very advanced, pico-second laser as well as state-of-the-art skin cooling system for their practice. This pico laser/cryo cooler combination is very good at reducing fine lines, treating acne scars and removing blemishes and age spots. Its also extremely good at removing tattoos, even those with difficult colours, more quickly and less painfully than other methods generally in use.

For them it meant the need to announce the capability as there are only three of these lasers in Connecticut and embrace a market not typical from them. For us, this meant another logo and another sister website as a method to further brand and distinguish their services in the area.

Learn more about this technology and how they use it to erase the past at CTMAX erase


Web Tips Learned from a Cab Ride

June 9th, 2015 by Ted Bailey

What could a simple cab ride have to do with having a better website?

Actually a lot! I’m going to share five lessons you can learn in just the ride from any airport to a downtown hotel in any larger metropolitan area.

Now bear in mind that this illustrates only the initial customer interaction with your website. There is even more to consider when thinking about the customer’s different needs during the entire journey with you during their lifecycle which I hope to address in a later post soon.

OK… You’ve landed at the airport, gathered all of your luggage, and headed curbside to grab a cab.
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News: IFI is on the Move

February 28th, 2014 by Ted Bailey

Ionia StudioWe’re excited to be on the move as of Friday, February 28th to the vibrant, historic Blodgett building downtown!

After 10 years out by the GR airport, another 20 years along the Grand River (last 10 at the Brassworks building), the Imagination Factory is expanding to two locations.

Our client center and NEW business address is 15 Ionia SW, Suite 220; Grand Rapids, MI 40503 and will be dedicated to project meetings and training.

Production will move to our new design studio on Grand River. Our web and mail servers will remain buried in the secure vault (with multiple bandwidth, power, A/C and security measures) where they have been since time immortal.


Of Mice & Multimedia

May 4th, 2008 by Ted Bailey

Bertrand Russell once wrote “The mind is a strange machine which can combine the materials offered to it in the most astonishing ways.” When mice and man (not to be confused with Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”) combine, many buzzwords get bounced around like so many ping-pong balls. Of these, one of the more popular buzzwords today is “multimedia”. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of confusion about precisely what “multimedia” is and why “it” is so exciting and important.

Many of us have had the opportunity, at one time or another, to work with someone who can’t quite seem to explain specifically what they want… but “will know it when they see it!”. Multimedia is similar in that it is difficult to specifically define… but we all seem to “know it when we see it!”.

Contrary to what the buzzword might imply, Multimedia isn’t a single ‘thing’ that may be purchased from the local computer mart shelves. Multimedia is more a computer- supported cooperative environment of business, industry, education, art, entertainment, technology and more. Multimedia offers unparalleled and unprecedented power to enable people to share information and ideas irrespective of their geographical location. Read the rest of this entry »


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