Tell us a little about your background.

I’m a digital designer specializing in video production and photography. I graduated in 2010 from Ohio University’s School of Media Arts and Studies, where my focus was video production.  I minored in film. I began my professional career as a freelancer, creating videos for small companies and organizations in the greater-Cincinnati area. This freelancing led to an opportunity to work for a large design firm as a videographer, where I honed my skills behind both camera and keyboard, creating and contributing to multimedia content for a diverse portfolio of clients.

What is your primary role at USDP?

I am the one and only videographer! I’ll be giving USDP the capability to create compelling video content. I’ll work collaboratively with my colleagues and clients to ideate, plan, and execute video productions. My heart is in DSLR filmmaking; I aim to produce videos that have a cinematic appeal to them, emulating techniques both old and new.

How did you start getting into video and photography work?

An intense love of movies. I started making movies with my friends when I was probably 10 years old. I used a clunky old VHS camcorder back then but it made me feel like Alfred Hitchcock. While that feeling may have faded away, the thrill of being behind the camera hasn’t changed. The gut feeling of a project well-done, one that resonates with other people and moves them, is a feeling unlike anything else. There were definitely roadblocks and challenges along the way but I have a feeling my 10-year-old former-self would be happy with where I am today.

What do you like best about working behind the camera?

I love being a fly on the wall, a silent observer. That’s when I feel as though I can do some of my best work. I’m motivated by my insatiable desire to capture the world around me and to articulate my unique perspective. I’m also drawn to technology, and in the last few years or so there have been enormous leaps and bounds. Thanks to DSLRs, a videographer is no longer someone who just points a camera at something and presses “record.” We are craftsmen and storytellers. With the technology that’s available to me today, I’m able to create an end result that finally matches my vision, and resonates with others.

What do you like to do outside of work?

Spend time with friends, drink craft beer, and work on side projects. I’m also a gamer at heart so you’ll often find me enjoying the latest console offerings or re-living my childhood through the Super Nintendo. Movies continue to be a huge personal and professional interest of mine. My favorite genre is science-fiction, which I believe reached its peak some time during the 80′s. I feel like modern sci-fi is too clean and perfect, which I think has a lot to do with its reliance on special effects and a de-emphasis on the physicality of older productions.

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Step right up and get all the latest Cincinnati interactive agency news by reading the US Digital Partners newsletter. Learn about the new ticketing system for the Western & Southern Open that’s a huge success, the new mobile/responsive website launch for Boogie Wipes that kids and moms love, and more crazy stories about that USDPeeps than you care to know. It’s all just a click away.

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It wasn’t easy to improve on a ticketing system that was already considered a big success over the past five years. With this re-build, we wanted to take the opportunity to step back and thoroughly analyze the process of buying something online, specifically event tickets. We wanted to start with a blank slate. What could we do that would make the process as easy as possible for our customers? We looked at what other ticketing e-commerce websites were doing and were still not satisfied.

We came up with the idea of a seamless and integrated shopping experience that gives customers complete control of what they are buying. Here are several points that highlight this approach.

1. Keep the customer on the same page throughout the shopping and buying process. Searching for and buying what you want is certainly a step-by-step process, but it doesn’t need to be page after page.

2. At all times, display what has been added to their shopping cart and allow them to add more items or remove the items to get to the dollar amount they want to spend. We wanted the customers to see exactly how much they would be paying, and to play with different combinations of tickets to get what they want.

3. Offer related (smart) products at checkout that the customer might have missed, such as a tournament program, special event ticket for the dates they will be physically at the tournament, gift cards, and tournament apparel.

4. Design the experience to work perfectly on smartphone and tablet devices. Over 25% of the tournament’s visitors are using iPad, iPhone, and Android browsers to visit this e-commerce website. We want to make the experience perfect for them, too. Be sure to take this for a test drive on your smartphone!

5. Have you ever purchased event tickets but not really known what the view will be from your seats? Not in this system! We provide a slick seat viewer that shows the view from every angle.

6. And finally, we needed to create an effective back-end for tournament employees to manage everything. The administrative area was also custom-developed, and allows for the full management of the store and orders.

Many thanks to Will Sikes and the great team at the W&S Open for working with USDP on this project! They knew we were up to the challenge and gave us the collaboration and website design freedom we needed to produce something great.

See you at the tournament!

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In Lynn’s video interview she talks about Kroger’s incredible generosity including: $3 million to fight breast cancer, $3 million to support our soldiers through USO, and 40 million fresh-food meals for neighbors in our communities. In addition, Lynn is proud of her work to reduce waste and promote recycling efforts in manufacturing and retail stores around the country.

We’ve partnered with Kroger on each of the four initiatives Lynn mentions in her video. Please check out :

Congratulations Lynn on your well-deserved honor!

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There were a few key elements USDP and the Boogie Wipes team wanted to focus on for the re-design: the products, where to buy them, and promotions. As a result, these three items are on the homepage. “Products” has its own slide which links out to the products page, and customers can buy Boogie Wipes online through the Boog E Store or through various online retailers.

One of our biggest challenges while designing the new site was finding the balance between a professional look and the silly, “booger” humor that makes the Boogie Wipes brand. We achieved this balance by keeping the homepage clean and legible, but maintaining a casual and often goofy tone throughout the headlines and calls to action. Our goal was to present the information in a way that the consumer–moms–could read and understand quickly and easily. Kids can have some fun on the site, too, by “Taking the Pledge,” which is a section on the site where kids promise to “Save the Sleeve” and get a chance to win a prize! This portion of the site is designed to be more interactive for children, fully equipped with fun characters, facts, and jokes.

We loved working with Boogie Wipes, and consequently, we know a whole lot more about boogers! (Did you know that a sneeze can travel up to 100mph?) Check out the site in action.

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Tell us a little about your background.

I’ve always been pretty big into computers, and began learning basic programming at a very young age. Programming was more of a hobby throughout high school and my early years of college. In an attempt to expand my horizons, I pursued a double-major in Political Science and Philosophy in college. Ultimately, when it came time to make a career choice, choosing development was a relatively easy decision. After graduating and before coming to USDP, I spent a couple years working at a local company in a typical corporate environment. While I loved what I did, I wanted to find a more intimate work atmosphere to have more of an impact in project decision-making. Being a small, tight-knit team of 13 people, USDP turned out to be a perfect fit for me.

What is your primary role at USDP?

By official title, I’m an interactive developer. This includes bringing new sites to life, as well as maintaining and adding features to existing sites. To my surprise, I’ve found that I’m responsible for more than just code. Because we’re such a small team, I can also participate in many of the decision processes and work one-on-one with our clients. I also have the ability to work on many projects simultaneously, which means I’ve always got something new and interesting to work on.

How have new technologies influenced you?

I’ve been fortunate to have grown up during a time of huge technological change. I can remember doing research using an Encyclopedia in book form, later on CD-ROM, and most recently through Wikipedia or the internet more generally. I think it’s easy to take technology for granted, but reflecting on the ways it has impacted day-to-day tasks and communication is simply mind-blowing. As a developer, the internet is an invaluable resource not only for information and how-to’s, but also for the communities that it fosters. Without these communities, I don’t think the development industry as a whole would be nearly as innovative and exciting as it currently is.

What do you like about being an interactive developer?

I like to think that development projects are analogous to puzzle games. They both pose a solvable problem, and share the same gratifying feeling when I’m able to solve them. They allow me to express creativity in how I approach a problem and bring life to otherwise lifeless code. At a more practical level, developing a tool or application allows me to simplify otherwise tedious tasks for myself and others. In these cases, it gives me a special joy to know that my work provides others a solution to an everyday problem.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I try to spend a couple hours each day working out at the gym. Since it’s replaced much of my previous video gaming time, I suppose you could equate it to real-life leveling up. When the weather is nice, I enjoy playing tennis and breaking out the grill for some steaks and corn hole with friends. To relax, I love to watch television and movies. While there are several which I enjoy, my favorite TV shows at the moment are “Parks & Recreation” and “Game of Thrones.” I have a one-year-old German-Shephard/Chow puppy named Kobi who tends to keep me busy for any remaining time I might have.

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Helping such an impressive Catholic institution to shine in our age of interactive marketing is the kind of challenge we are always looking for. We were happy to provide the college with the right tools so they can effectively tell their own story. And in an ever-changing educational landscape, where small private schools are beginning to trade in their books for tablets, US Digital Partners knew that a responsive site was a must.

The site’s target audience–prospective students–will find more than just mobile and tablet-friendly functionality. The site also features a fresh look, intuitive navigation, integrated news and calendaring that prospective students can enjoy once they begin attending.  The site also contains a robust content management system that the staff can use to keep the site’s content fresh and accurate each day.

Sister Mary Sarah, O.P., president of Aquinas College, sees the way that this project can help bring to life a better tomorrow for Aquinas College: “This new website reflects the College’s vision for the future. With the addition of graduate studies and residential life last fall, this new communications tool will help us reach a national and international audience to accomplish our goals.”

Paul Downey, the Aquinas College project leader, offered this about working with USDP: “We picked US Digital Partners after a search both locally and nationally. They came out on top not only in their knowledge of the technology we needed, but also in knowledge of our industry and particular mission. With other companies we looked at, we felt like we were being sold a bill of goods rather than entering in upon a collaborative process.

The US Digital Partners team was very easy to work with. The process was laid out very clearly and was completed in a very timely manner. They have a great team with expertise in a lot of different areas. They always picked up the phone when we called them and responded to issues almost immediately. I would wholeheartedly recommend working with US Digital Partners. Their skill set, team size, and technological bag of tricks were perfect for Aquinas.”

Read the re-launch press release by Aquinas College.

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So just what is CreativeMornings?

CreativeMornings is a monthly, free breakfast lecture series, started by Tina Roth Eisenberg (@swissmiss) in NYC. Tina wanted an event that was more intimate, accessible, and something in the morning to get people inspired to create throughout their day. Kicked off in 2008, CreativeMornings has been growing steadily ever since. There are currently 49 chapters worldwide. Each chapter holds one monthly morning event which is free to the public and features presenters typically from the chapter’s city. The ultimate goal of each meeting is to promote local creative efforts, help support the community, and inspire attendees.

In part, we owe thanks to our very own Jeremy Thobe(@thobejp) and Joe Kruessel(@jkruessel) for helping to bring CreativeMornings to Cincinnati. Jeremy and Joe are a part of the creative team here at USDP. Over the last half of 2012, both have been working to assemble a great team of volunteers to get our chapter off the ground.

So why start a chapter here in Cincinnati? Check out this wonderful video produced by the team which explains it all.

CreativeMornings/Cincinnati Application Video from CreativeMornings/Cincinnati on Vimeo.

For additional details on CreativeMornings/Cincinnati, you can find them on Twitter(@Cincinnati_CM), Facebook or you can check out CreativeMornings.com. Be sure to join the USDP crew and many others this Friday for the start of a great creative venture!

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Pictured here: Kelsey Gallagher, Andrew Duthie, Michael Whelan, Jesy Herron, and Kate Mock.

Based upon the Alaskan Iditarod, the “Cinciditarod” had teams, each with their own theme and customized shopping carts, race around the area to select checkpoints.  At every checkpoint, teams faced unique challenges, ranging from a song and dance contest, eating ice cream and chugging 2 liters of soda to trivia on Cincinnati’s history.

After a grueling five miles, we made it to the finish line intact (our pride included!).  We assume our accomplishment is on-par with the original Iditarod, but that might be up for debate.

2013 Cinciditarod on Fountain Square from 3CDC on Vimeo.

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From left to right: John Rice, Anastasia Mileham, Michael Whelan, Brittney Carden, Kelsey Gallagher, Kate Mock, and David Brecount

The Washington Park website took home the Gold ADDY, and Fountain Square took home the Silver ADDY for “Digital Creative Technology” and “Responsive Design.” Yet another reason to celebrate, and it doesn’t take much for that to happen around here!

We want to thank the Academy for this honor, but most of all we want to thank the great people at 3CDC for letting us loose on these two projects. They’ve become two of the most visited websites in Cincinnati.

We hope to see you at the park or on the square!

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