Gorton Studios - Websites that Work

Now Hiring: Project Manager

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:08:46 -0500

We're looking for an experienced Project Manager to be the next star on our team.

PBS - The Forgetting

admin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:18:25 -0500

Gorton Studios is pleased to announce the launch of The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer's. This website is for the Primetime Emmy award-winning documentary that takes a dramatic, compassionate, all-encompassing look at the growing epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease.

The site was originally launched in 2004 to coincide with the original airing of the show. The original site, also produced by Gorton Studios, received much media attention and was variously described as "extremely thorough", "easy to navigate" and "the best Alzheimer's site out there". In the intervening years the research on Alheimer's has progressed and with the shows re-broadcast (also in August 2008) came an opportunity to redesign and rework the site to reflect the best current understandings of the disease.

The new site covers all the basics of Alzheimer's Disease, contains over 6 hours of online video (in both English and Spanish), hosts RSS Feeds from reputable news sources and a offers hundreds of links to vetted, well-established resources on specific topics, from support groups to diagnosis to scientific news.

Gorton Studios designed, developed and delivered all aspects of the website, including the management of writing and academic review processes.

http://www.pbs.org/theforgetting/

Little House on the Prairie

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:04:43 -0500

Gorton Studios is proud to announce the launch of Little House on the Prairie website for the new musical that is breaking box-office records at the Guthrie Theater.

This new micro-site is presented within the Guthrie's existing Drupal-powered website (www.guthrietheater.org) and uses Flash animation to capitalize on the playful imagery of this new American musical.

The site offers many interactive areas, including spots where visitors can hear directly from the cast and creative team, watch behind the scenes videos of the production process, get the latest news, send eCards to friends and customize their computer desktops with Little House art.

http://www.guthrietheater.org/prairie

Wellstone Action!

admin — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:24:31 -0500

Wellstone Action is a national center for training and leadership development of the progressive movement. Wellstone Action honors the legacy of Paul and Sheila Wellstone by continuing their work through training, educating, mobilizing and organizing a vast network of progressive individuals and organizations.

With their ever-changing events, classes and seminars, Wellstone Action! needed a site that was easy to update and maintain and a content structure that was flexible and responsive to changing (and growing) organizational needs. Gorton Studios accomplished all of it and more with this new Drupal-based website.

http://wellstone.org/

Drupal + Boston (+ Rockband?) = Love!

admin — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:19:56 -0600

The annual Drupal Convention was amazing. Being honored? Even more so.

W3 Award Winner

admin — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:43:26 -0600

Gorton Studios wins a Silver Medal!

PBS's Nova - Absolute Zero

admin — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:03:56 -0600

In conjunction with NOVA—the highest rated science series on television—Gorton Studios developed activities for a two-hour documentary on Absolute Zero.

Gorton Studios worked with NOVA to design and develop six interactive features that explore the science of cold.

Milestones In Cold Research

In this interactive time line, trace the trajectory of discovery, from Galileo's thermoscope to a recent experiment that reached less than a billionth of a degree above absolute zero.

How Low Can You Go?

In our virtual lab, use the "cascade" process to achieve dramatically lower temperatures.

States of Matter

Adjust temperature and pressure, and watch as gases become liquids, liquids harden into solids, and more.

A Matter of Degrees

Create your own temperature scale, then see how it compares to those of Fahrenheit and Celsius.

Anatomy of a Refrigerator

You likely have one, but do you know how it works?

The Ice Trade

In this game, dispatch 10 ships loaded with natural ice to Florida, Brazil, or India. Can you make a profit?

We are also very proud of the fact that we are the first outside web firm to ever work with NOVA to develop such activities.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/zero/

The Rake Magazine

admin — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:03:28 -0600

The Rake is an arts and culture magazine based in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The magazine is known for its strong storytelling focus as well as its unapologetic brand of humor, style, and personality.

The main goals of this new site were to expose The Rake’s rich resources (about 7,000 nodes) and help visitors find interesting content quickly. It features a wealth of carefully highlighted and cross-connected articles, integration with the organization’s pre-existing Event and Restaurant database (still managed outside of Drupal) and a bevy of blogs.

Simplifying administrative overhead was a key mandate from the outset. The old system was an unwieldy mix of Movable Type blogs and custom CMS content. Updating and featuring content had become an overwhelming process that was preventing The Rake‘s online edition from growing into something more fluid and community-oriented. The new site has enabled much more frequent updating, thanks to easily edited content and a robust permissions system.

The Drupal Community honored us by featuring this site on the Drupal.org homepage in November of 2007 and and by awarding it as the overall #2 showcase site at the annual 2008 Drupal Convention (behind Popular Science magazine).

You can read more about the technical details that went into producing this Drupal site on Drupal.org. http://www.rakemag.com

Guthrie Theater

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:07:18 -0500

The Guthrie Theater is a major Minneapolis destination, cultural icon and national center for the arts and arts education. As such, its website needed to serve many different audiences, including theatergoers young and old, subscribers, students, artists, the press, and many more.

Gorton Studios designed and built a site that evokes the energy, excitement, and color of the Guthrie. Starting with their new building as inspiration, the site was built to withstand an ever-changing deluge of events and offerings. From productions to classes to bars, the site is full of easy-to-find information.

All of these improvements were made with a Content Management System (CMS) that makes the site simple for Guthrie staff to manage, expand, and update.

http://www.guthrietheater.org

Lutheran Community Foundation

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 04:04:54 -0500

The Lutheran Community Foundation underwent a brand transformation in early 2007 and selected Gorton Studios to help extend that transformation to their website.

Gorton Studios built their new site based on the new look, existing needs and a desire for flexible expansion in the future. The new site is built in a CMS (Content Management System) called Drupal, and it allows LCF staff to easily add pages, update text, insert images, upload files, restrict portions of the site to registered users and much more, as well as providing a flexible platform for growth far into the future.

http://www.thelcf.org