David Ball

[ Video Post-Production | Website Development | Photography ]

Ojika Island, Nagasaki Japan

Beyondmedia Education

Website Design + CMS Development

Over the course of 6 years, I worked as the in-house website designer for Beyondmedia Education. Expanding the non-profits website to incorporate an online marketplace for educators and institutions to purchase our films was a major focus on the organization's website redesign. I created a custom solution using the Expression Engine CMS to facilitate online sales in combination with media-rich landing pages for each of the organizations projects to improve SEO.

CAPABILITY

CMS Training
E-commerce
Email Marketing
Fundraising
Google AdWords
Print Design
User Experience
Website Design
Workshop Facilitation

TECHNOLOGY

Expression Engine CMS
Github Pages
Mailchimp

ONLINE

www.beyondmedia.org

Distribution + Services

— A web platform to increase revenue

When I began working at Beyondmedia, institutional and individual DVD sales from our educational video work were handled via printed catalogue by mail. I setup an e-commerce order system integrated with Paypal so these orders could be placed and paid for online.

Beyondmedia also wanted to offer video production and post-production services to clients in the Chicago area as a way to supplement income awarded from grants. I worked on an organizational reel, and setup a client services portal to aquire new contracts which included:

"Beyondmedia brings the richness and the reality of people's stories to life. It shares them with us and opens our world to a new way of seeing people and conditions in our society that we just otherwise wouldn't see. It's amazing stuff."
— Steve Edwards
WBEZ-Chicago Public Radio

A Multimedia Hub

— Giving each project a stage + audience

Another important redesign goal was to create landing pages for every project the organization produced. This gave visitors a place where all awards, video stills, and video trailers could be accessed that was centralized. Creating navigational relationships between similar projects on these pages assisted with the discovery of other relevant topics for organizations and researchers while improving the website's SEO.

Connection + Engagement

— Community Building Offline

An events page was also made to list screenings and gallery openings to connect audiences with our work in person and serve as an archive.

Celebrating & Preserving Legacy

— 10 Years of Work

Special event fundraising webpages were also needed during my time there. One such event was Beyondmedia's "Taste of Ten" gala which I created an informational website for with accompanying email marketing materials for.

After 10+ years of work Beyondmedia closed it's doors in 2011. I transitioned the website off of its content management system and created an online archive for the organization using GitHub Pages that would be free to host indefinitely.

Beyondmedia Education coordinated and facilitated a workshop at Roosevelt University to allow youth to communicate with community advocates about their experience and perspectives on violence in their schools, homes, and neighborhoods throughout Chicago. The workshop brought about how important it is for youth to speak up and have a voice about the issues in their communities. This is one example of the various issues Beyondmedia Education supports by creating a safe space for youth, women and communities to make a difference by having a voice through media.
— Jaime Turner
Volunteer