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Zac Ball
Zac has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the distinguished Kettering University and is a recipient of the prestigious John Fitzgerald Kennedy Award for Excellence. He is focused on providing our clients with multimedia solutions using artistic care and cutting-edge technologies. His specialty is Macromedia Flash and he recently placed first in a national Flash assessment exam. With over 16 years of experience in computer programming and 12 years of Macromedia Flash interactive application development, Zac brings the expertise and knowledge to develop any type of project. Other applications include Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, DVD interfaces, 3D Studio Max, ASP, JavaScript, PHP and ActionScript. Zac has a unique problem solving ability that allows him to pinpoint to most efficient solution available for almost any situation he is presented.
Josh Ball
Joshua Ball, a graduate from the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, has worked in the field of Graphic Illustration and Web Design for more than 18 years. Art with its urge to create and examine new territory, has been the fire that has fueled Josh’s growth in this unpredictable yet fulfilling career. As a Fine artist, Josh has made of name for himself in the city of Detroit as a unique visionary. Within the Graphic/Web Design industry, Josh has masterfully created unique designs spanning the gamut from multi-national corporations, automotive companies to “mom and pop” shops.
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Our team is pretty crazy. Most of us are college grads that migrated into this field out of sheer curiosity… Luckily, we all seem to have found something we love. We’re always accepting bribes to expedite your website launch in the form of delicious beer.
Stop in and say hi, we’d be happy to tell you all about what shenanigans we’ve gotten into lately.
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Members of our design team are typically a double threat – seasoned designers trained at top-tier institutions, with the web development expertise to ensure form and functionality blend gracefully. They’ve assisted our clients with everything you could imagine in the new media field: traditional website design, mobile/responsive design, image and video asset creation, brand collateral design and creation, even more traditional illustration and print design work.
Throughout the process, our designers continuously seek your feedback on their work. We tend to assign a designer to the project from the earliest client meetings, to ensure they don’t miss a single detail. The designer will work closely with you for the duration of the project, as they will help our development team fulfill the vision you’ve collaborated with them to design.
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The team at Mercury has been collaboratively creating exciting web properties since our managing partners got started in 1998. For projects of all sizes, we stick to a process we believe produces the best results with your goals and resources in mind.
Phase 1 – Discover
Like in any partnership, we want to be sure both parties know what to expect. Any project starts with a series of communications establishing the broader goals and challenges your organization faces. At that point, we like to have your team join ours for an official discovery meeting. Once we’ve brainstormed all the possible solutions, a formal quote and project prospectus will be presented to create the roadmap our team will use to deliver your site on schedule and with total satisfaction.
Phase 2 – Design
Once the project scope is agreed upon, our design team sits down with you to hear your vision and craft a plan to bring it to life. After we’ve reviewed your feedback and your competitors strategies, our design team drafts initial wireframes and creative comps for your review. After each review, we work to finalize a design and site flow that you feel totally comfortable with before the project transitions to the next phase, development.
Phase 3 – Develop
As our design and support staff finalizes preparation of creative assets, our development team begins to create the framework for your website. And we don’t just stop at the typical web browser. Need something to present at that big trade show? Our staff can develop the project as an interactive display kiosk. Want this project turned into a mobile app? We’ll get you up in the app store.
Phase 4 – Deploy
Once your project has been thoroughly tested internally, we invite you to work through a series of reviews with our team. Once we secure your final approval, the website goes live and you are in business! But that isn’t where our job stops – Mercury offers hosting and maintenance solutions to keep your site running at peak performance and updated to reflect your latest needs.
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Analysts anticipate mobile visitors to account for over 50% of web traffic in the near future; is your business ready for all those eyes? Conventional websites, particularly those more than a few years old, can have a tough time presenting their content to a mobile viewer. The last thing your business needs is for a potential customer to be turned away from your brand because of a failed attempt to pull up your menu or get your address from their mobile device.
Our team has been at the forefront of delivering effective mobile solutions for our clients. From “mobile friendly” site designs, to full fledge responsive designs that accommodate for any number of device types, to custom mobile applications for users to download in their smartphone marketplace – there’s no stone we’ve left unturned in this mobile revolution. Ask us how we can make mobile work for you.
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The rapid rise of social media has left many companies scrambling to deploy a strategy to interact with their customers on the web. From questions like “Facebook or Twitter?” to “How do I Pintrest to my YouTubes?" our team can help your business determine what social strategies work best for your organization and what resources it takes to maximize their impact.
We’ve handled elements from across the disciplines for social media: web-based marketing tactics for optimal exposure, custom designed themes for styling your Facebook page and related feeds, brand collateral to correspond to digital marketing campaigns, coordinating “web-to-store” events to drive traffic, even unconventional “guerilla tactics” for injecting your social media presence into real world settings.
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Burns & Wilcox
- Development
- Mobile
Burns and Wilcox, as well as their Canadian division Royal Premium, have worked with us to implement site updates throughout the years. We’ve also provided assistance integrating and updating their websites user login system through various web APIs.
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Carhartt
- Development
Our relationship with Carhartt has involved everything from rich banner creation to full website rebuilds. While we seem to be helping with a fresh batch of web banners every season, some of our more notable contributions come in the form of their custom campaigns like "Made in the U.S.A." and "Imported from Detroit," standalone microsites that feature expansive, interactive Flash galleries.
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Michigan Opera Theatre
- Development
Mercury Studio handled the development of the Michigan Opera Theatre website, custom built on the Concrete5 CMS platform. The website features information and ticket purchasing opportunities for the various performances, and information on other programs and opportunities through the organization.
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Driver's Talk Radio
- Design
- Development
- Mobile
Mercury Studio first built custom Joomla websites for the Driver's Talk brand in 2007. When racing legend Rick Titus wanted to bring the website for his popular Driver's Talk Radio podcast into the "social age," Mercury again came to the rescue. In addition to a Concrete5 CMS to manage blog content and page imagery, we integrated a number of social media feeds and podcast resources and developed a mobile version of the site.
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Great Oaks Landscaping
- Design
- Development
Great Oaks Landscape is synonymous with tranquil settings and pristine landscapes; it is only fitting that their website conveys a similar style. Designed and developed by the Mercury team, the Great Oaks website speaks to the user through its use of luscious imagery and playful elements. The customized Concrete5 website features a sortable image gallery, innovative integration of Google docs to create a custom timeline, and a handy "request a quote" form to generate new leads for the Great Oaks team.
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Lion's Den
- Development
- Mobile
- Social Media
Known for their fantastic food and cozy atmosphere, Lion's Den Restaurant saw a fairly regular crowd of locals each night. However, due to a minimal online presence, the restaurant was having a tough time attracting new visitors. To assist with this issue we created a mobile version of their website, including their entire menu and easy to use call-ahead links. We also helped them establish a social media presence, updating their Facebook page to include images, a menu, and printable incentives. Our efforts saw their Facebook friend count go from under 50 to over 1,000, in addition to generating tons of social buzz from both their loyal patrons and new visitors.
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Mobibo
- Design
- Development
- Mobile
- Social Media
During the spring of 2011, Mercury founder Zac Ball developed a mobile application for delivering real-time deals to smartphone users passing by a retail location. With Josh Ball's help designing the look and feel for the application and supporting parent brand, Gravy Network, the pair set their sights on the Metro Detroit market through a strategic partnership with local coupon giant, SaveOnEverything. Mobibo's deal network saw over 300 merchants offering nearly 500 unique, location-based deals on everything from hotdogs to carpet cleaning. Gravy Network is still actively pursuing investors for an eventual nationwide launch of this groundbreaking advertising platform.
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MovementSearch
- Development
When it comes to finding top-notch talent, MovementSearch has been building a reputation in the Metro Detroit market. As they expanded, they approached the Mercury team for new solutions in web-based marketing, email campaigns, and website updates. As Movement continues to experience record growth, our team is on call to support their latest web-based marketing needs.
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Olga's Kitchen
- Development
- Mobile
- Social Media
Mercury and Olga's have a special relationship…and it's not just because our staff can't get enough of those delicious pitas! Working with one of our strategic partners, Mercury has assisted Olga's with the development of a number of web properties – their traditional website, the unique mobile version, their fundraising application, and a number of unique promotional events. Luckily, just like our team can't get enough of their yummy pitas, our tasteful web work keeps them coming back for more!
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Pluto
- Development
When our neighbors at Pluto in Birmingham needed a new website, Mercury Studio built them a customized Wordpress site with all of the trimmings, including a flickr feed of images from their studio and an animated video reel portfolio.
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Real Integrated
- Development
- Mobile
As a longtime strategic partner, Real Integrated (formerly Soloman Friedman) has continued to present challenging, fun projects for our development team to tackle. From interactive display kiosks for tier-one manufacturing firms, to rich media web advertising and email marketing campaigns, to mobile websites and applications, they test our range like few others can. One thing remains constant - they act as an amazing catalyst for our team to try bold, new strategies for tackling some of the toughest client challenges!
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Save On Everything
- Design
- Development
Mike Gauthier has long been known as the Coupon King. When he wanted to bring SaveOnEverything into the digital age through an expansion of his web and mobile based services, a strategic partnership with Mercury Studio was born. Our team created a custom CMS and database solution to power a number of the SaveOn web properties. This ambitious website allows SaveOnEverything to easily manage hundreds of clients offering thousands of promotions, all built with the user accessibility in mind.
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Carhartt
- Development
Our relationship with Carhartt has involved everything from rich banner creation to full website rebuilds. While we seem to be helping with a fresh batch of web banners every season, some of our more notable contributions come in the form of their custom campaigns like "Made in the U.S.A." and "Imported from Detroit," standalone microsites that feature expansive, interactive Flash galleries.
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Cadillac User Experience (CUE)
- Design
- Development
Mercury Studio developed a WBT for the Cadillac brand's infotainment system, CUE. The Flash-based course was designed to inform sales persons and is a requirement for employees as part of their ongoing training regimen. The course uses SCORM technology and incorporates video of an onscreen instructor with various interactivities and quizzes throughout.
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Description
- Design
- Development
Do you see any Teletubbies in here? Do you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it? Do you see a little Asian child with a blank expression on his face sitting outside on a mechanical helicopter that shakes when you put quarters in it? No? Well, that's what you see at a toy store. And you must think you're in a toy store, because you're here shopping for an infant named Jeb.
Do you see any Teletubbies in here? Do you see a slender plastic tag clipped to my shirt with my name printed on it? Do you see a little Asian child with a blank expression on his face sitting outside on a mechanical helicopter that shakes when you put quarters in it? No? Well, that's what you see at a toy store. And you must think you're in a toy store, because you're here shopping for an infant named Jeb.
Now that we know who you are, I know who I am. I'm not a mistake! It all makes sense! In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain's going to be? He's the exact opposite of the hero. And most times they're friends, like you and me! I should've known way back when... You know why, David? Because of the kids. They called me Mr Glass.
Normally, both your asses would be dead as fucking fried chicken, but you happen to pull this shit while I'm in a transitional period so I don't wanna kill you, I wanna help you. But I can't give you this case, it don't belong to me. Besides, I've already been through too much shit this morning over this case to hand it over to your dumb ass.
Your bones don't break, mine do. That's clear. Your cells react to bacteria and viruses differently than mine. You don't get sick, I do. That's also clear. But for some reason, you and I react the exact same way to water. We swallow it too fast, we choke. We get some in our lungs, we drown. However unreal it may seem, we are connected, you and I. We're on the same curve, just on opposite ends.
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Eric Freitas
- Development
Innovative craftsman Eric Freitas has been a long-time friend of the studio (ask us about some of his pieces we have installed the next time you’re here!) For his website, he wanted something simple that showcased his unique vision. We helped him customize a Wordpress installation that allowed him to share his art and the creation process with his fans.
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General Dynamics Land Systems
- Development
Mercury Studio has developed two versions now of General Dynamics Lands Systems' main website, both customized builds on the Joomla platform. The team also has produced websites for General Dynamics Canada, Arab Nations, and various microsites for General Dynamics ventures. Recently the Mercury team developed a Flash-based Tank Configurator for touch-screen devices.
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GM Product Source
- Design
- Development
- Mobile
For over a decade, Mercury Studio has been responsible for the development of GM Product Source, the online repository for any informative media that supports GM's product line. With a heavy focus on video media, document resources, and spec sheets, the library contains thousands of media files that are updated regularly by the Mercury team.
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Status Sexy Heroes
- Design
- Development
AIDS Partnership Michigan needed a new way to spread awareness that focused on social sharing and return traffic. The Status Sexy Heroes site features an avatar creation system with dozens of unique customizable features; all illustrated by Mercury Studio's resident artist Josh Ball. In addition to the avatar creator, the site features a full CMS, social media widgets and feeds, and a Facebook login system that allows visitors to share their avatars to Facebook and invite friends to come create their own hero and rate them.
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Jackson Dawson
- Design
- Development
- Mobile
As one of our strategic partners, Jackson Dawson is always presenting us with new opportunities to test our skills. Their latest site design relied heavily on image and video resources, utilizing a number of customized add-ons to achieve a more dynamic look and feel. The website we also optimized for mobile display.
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Mack's Earplugs
- Design
- Development
- Social Media
Mack's Earplugs have a long history with the Mercury team, who has now built the last 2 versions of their website. A local brand with international reach, Mack's has continued to retain us as their digital agency of record for over ten years! Our latest work can be found in their website, which features a custom built store locator tool, as well as a number of promotional campaigns they've engaged in over the years. During the summer of 2012, we helped them launch a web-based photo contest, featuring thousands of dollars in prizes, which attracted hundreds of unique submissions of Mack's Earplugs in action.
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North American Bancard
- Development
Mercury Studio developed a highly-customized website for North American Bancard using the Joomla CMS platform. The client is able to independently maintain their detailed listings of services, solutions and product offerings.
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Royal Premium
- Development
Burns and Wilcox, as well as their Canadian division Royal Premium, have worked with us to implement site updates throughout the years. We’ve also provided assistance integrating and updating their websites user login system through various web APIs.
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Southernmost Hotel Collection
- Design
- Development
- Mobile
Mercury Studio developed a customized Concrete5-based site for the Southernmost Hotel Collection. The site features stunning photography and multiple image galleries of the properties and rooms. There are also events calendars and live video feeds of some of the property web cams.
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Volt Selling Skills
- Design
- Development
Mercury Studio designed and developed this three-part Web-Based Training Module for the Chevrolet Volt. The Flash-based course is a requirement for dealership sales and services personnel as part of their training program, and uses SCORM technology. The course incorporates video of an onscreen instructor with various interactivities and quizzes throughout.
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