community Archives - Brown Bear Creative

Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments (NECCOG) Logo and Responsive Website

Role: Graphic Designer / Web Designer / Web Developer

The Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments (NECCOG) provides a wide array of services for its sixteen member towns. NECCOG contracted with Brown Bear Creative to design and develop an all-encompassing website and a new logo.

NECCOG’s new logo is simple and sleek, using a modern color palette of grays and burgundies. The graphic alludes to the type of towns the council serves without being completely literal and overly cluttered.

NECCOG’s new website is powered by WordPress, an open-source content management system. In this way, staff can easily update the site to provide the latest information and photos using an intuitive, browser-based admin panel.

Brown Bear designed and developed the website theme to be responsive, which means the layout adapts gracefully depending on the screen size. This allows the information to be easily readable and accessible on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones alike.

According to John Filchak, NECCOG Executive Director, “This web site will enable NECCOG to better communicate with the public in northeastern Connecticut – allowing them more informed opportunities to comment on our activities and the future of the region.”

Brown Bear has also designed and developed a standalone site and logo for NECCOG’s bus system, the Northeastern Connecticut Transit District (NECTD), which provides schedules, maps, fare information, and more.

Launch the Northeastern Connecticut Council of Governments Website »

Scranton Library Responsive WordPress Site

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer

Awards: 2015 Connecticut Library Association’s Publicity Award for Electronic Media/Website

E.C. Scranton Memorial Library in Madison, CT needed a complete revamp of their website. Brown Bear Creative designed and developed a new responsive website powered by WordPress for them.

The color scheme of the new site more closely matches the palette inside the library, which include eggplant, mango, and lime hues. The Kids and Teens sections have individualized templates to help them stand out from the rest of the site. The landing pages for these sections along with the homepage of the website highlight frequently-used features such as the catalog search, upcoming events, new books, eBooks, and online databases.

Because the website is powered by WordPress, various members of staff can update their own department pages and news items. They do not need special software, and they can log in from anywhere into the backend admin area. This streamlines the process of keeping the website up to date.

The website is responsive which means the layout adapts to various screen sizes like desktop, tablet, or mobile. This makes the site readable and accessible across all devices.

Launch E.C. Scranton Memorial Library website >

My House Rabbit Responsive Website Reboot

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer

My House Rabbit, an educational website providing tips on pet rabbit care and behavior, got an under-the-hood makeover. While the look of the desktop version of the site looks fairly similar to the previous version, the site was completely redeveloped by Brown Bear Creative.

The new site runs on the WordPress platform. This means all the content is maintained via an easy-to-use online admin panel. Adding new articles and photos is a quick, streamlined process. Because all the content is housed in a database, a new search function at the top of every page allows visitors to access any information in the site in an efficient manner.

In addition, the new site has a responsive design. A responsive design allows the website’s layout to adjust to different screen sizes. In this way, visitors using smart phones or tablets see a version of the site optimized for that specific size. Everything is still accessible to those visitors, but they don’t have to zoom in or do any side scrolling to access the information. The text is already readable when they load the site.

Launch My House Rabbit website >

New Look for Discover East Lyme Website

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer

Launched in 2006, Discover East Lyme was due for a makeover. Brown Bear created a fresh, open look for the website, while still retaining the site’s original charm.

The new design showcases more beautiful photos of the town and focuses more attention on local businesses. The new navigation across the top provides an intuitive experience for visitors and frees up space in the main body of the website.

The homepage highlights the latest news and upcoming events so that visitors can quickly and easily find information about seasonal happenings such as the Light Parade, Restaurant Week, the Memorial Day Parade, the LobsterFest, Celebrate East Lyme, and more!

Launch the Discover East Lyme website >

Ledyard Public Libraries Responsive Website

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer

Ledyard Public Libraries was in need of a website that would showcase all the offerings of the Bill Library and the Gales Ferry Library.

Brown Bear Creative designed and developed a modern, responsive website powered by WordPress. The design is very clean, using a palette of teals, tans, and greys. Each library is given a distinguishing, signature color (cranberry for Bill Library and green for Galesferry). Visitors to the site can easily search the LION catalog, access a multitude of databases, and learn about upcoming events at the libraries.

The layout adapts gracefully to smaller screen sizes, going down to a two-column design for tablets and a one-column design for mobile devices.

The librarians manage the content of the website via WordPress’s admin panel. They can post news, hold online book discussions, and add or edit webpages.

Launch Ledyard Public Libraries website >

Midsummer Festival 2013 Brochure & Responsive Website

Role: Graphic Designer / Web Designer / Web Developer

The Midsummer Festival is a celebration of arts and culture that has taken place every summer in Old Lyme for over twenty years. 2013’s event is bigger than ever, with seven sites along Lyme Street from the Village Shoppes all the way up to the Florence Griswold Museum.

To showcase the festival’s expansion, Brown Bear created a vibrant brochure that lists all the events over two days plus a custom-drawn map of the festival sites, parking areas, and shuttle bus route.

Brown Bear also made improvements to the website, which was originally developed in 2008, to optimize the site across all devices. Now people accessing the site on their smartphones will have an enhanced experience when looking for festival information. The layout is simplified, text is readable, and side scrolling is eliminated when viewing the site on smaller devices.

This type of website is called a responsive website. The layout and other elements change automatically based on the screen width in order to create an optimum viewing experience for all devices.

Launch the Midsummer Festival website >

2013 Discover East Lyme Brochure

Role: Graphic Designer

The 2013 Discover East Lyme brochures are out! These brightly colored brochures promote the attractions and businesses in the villages of Niantic and Flanders. The inside folds out to a business directory and custom-drawn map of the area so visitors and residents can easily locate restaurants, shops, art venues, and more!

Look for the new brochures in local storefronts and check out Discover East Lyme online for town news and events.

Visit Old Lyme Brochure

Role: Graphic Designer

Brown Bear Creative designed bright and welcoming brochures for the Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce. These trifolds showcase information and photos about Old Lyme’s scenic and cultural hotspots. The inside provides a custom-drawn map and business directory of all the chamber’s members.

The brochure ties in well with the chamber’s website, Visit Old Lyme, which Brown Bear Creative also designed and developed. Read more about the web design project here >

Visit Old Lyme: Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce Site

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer

The Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce wanted to strengthen their web presence with a new website. Brown Bear designed and developed a welcoming, yet comprehensive site that appeals to residents, tourists, and businesses alike.

Drawing upon the town’s artistic heritage, Brown Bear used textures and graphics that hinted at fine art paper and brushstrokes. The vivid blues, greens, and yellows in the site’s color palette coupled with a slideshow of various town festivities help create an overall feeling of vibrancy on the homepage.

Four highlighted categories on the homepage draw you into the heart of the site: the Chamber’s business directory. Divided into Live, Visit, Dine, and Shop, the business listings include each business’s contact details, an image/logo, a description, a map of its location, and social media links when available. The directory can be further filtered by subcategory or searched by keyword.

The site also includes a calendar of Chamber and town events; information, forms, and news relating to the Chamber; and a description/history of the town.

Launch Visit Old Lyme website »

Brown Bear Creative also designed promotional brochures for the Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce. Read about the brochure design project here >

Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library Website

Role: Web Designer / Web Developer

Awards: 2012 Connecticut Library Association Publicity Award for Electronic Media/Website

The Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library offers a multitude of services including books/e-books, movies, periodicals, museum passes, genealogy/local history materials, passport renewals, community programs, and more.

The staff needed a website that would display all the services in an easily accessible manner. Brown Bear Creative designed a site that streamlines the user’s experience with intuitive navigation menus and a clean, consistent layout. The homepage calls attention to recent news and upcoming events, along with a search form to the library’s entire catalog.

Because the site is backed by the powerful WordPress platform, all the librarians can easily update their own department pages without using any special web-editing software. The Children’s, Teens’, and Adults’ sections also feature their own blogs to share news about department-specific programs and events.

The website was recognized by the Connecticut Library Association (CLA) in their 2012 Publicity Awards contest, winning the website category. See the results here.

Launch Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Website »