We’re very pleased to announce our latest launch, Study Logic, a market-research firm catering to the food services industry. As part of a visual identity overhaul, Study Logic handed over flat designs to Social Ink which we workshopped and converted to a dynamic and extensible CMS platform. Read more about the project on our portfolio!

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City

We’re delighted to announce two new launches of the last month, the progressive and activist journalism site Waging Nonviolence, and the fresh, exciting classical music organization Concert Artists Guild.

Waging Nonviolence’s exciting mission:

Waging Nonviolence is a source for original news and analysis about struggles for justice and peace around the globe. Ordinary people build power using nonviolent strategies and tactics every day, even under the most difficult of circumstances, yet these stories often go unnoticed or misunderstood by a media industry fixated on violence and celebrity.

Concert Artist Guild’s mission is also one of helping the community:

Founded in 1951 with a mission to discover, nurture & promote young musicians, Concert Artists Guild helps artists launch sustainable careers. CAG provides support to a roster of talented artists during a critical and formative time: between completion of formal studies and the achievement of an established career.

Visit the portfolio pages of Waging Nonviolence or Concert Artists Guild today!

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City

We’ve released another awesome WP plugin that helps with working with custom post types as content types that work in relation to – but not alone – other content pieces.

This is useful, for example, if you have Staff as your custom post type, for example, but don’t want anyone visiting the single of that staff and instead want them going to a staff overview page.  You also want, in the search results, to overwrite the permalink or the excerpt so nobody gets there in the first place. We can help!

This plugin does just that, allowing you to choose to redirect people to a different page, and even overwrite search results, on a granular, per-post basis.

Download it here, or at the WordPress exchange.

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City

Social Ink is proud to continue our efforts in Community and Education work with the launch of a new website for The Pinkerton Foundation. Established in 1966, the foundation:

supports community-based programs for children, youth and families in economically disadvantaged areas in New York City.  Although we consider a wide range of youth development initiatives, Pinkerton favors direct-service programs that have one overriding goal: to help young people reach their full potential.

Most of the programs we support take place in the after-school, weekend or summer hours and focus on providing opportunities for academic development, career readiness and cultural enrichment. We also support a number of programs that offer a way forward for young people after an encounter with the criminal justice system or years in foster care.

Read more about our work with this passionate organization on the Pinkerton Foundation’s portfolio page.

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City

As the summer winds down, we’re happy to unveil our latest project with New York-based BoardAssist:

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City

In this hot summer of 2012, it’s important to remember all those who are in the various confines of the United States correctional system.  The Correctional Association of New York, an organization advocating for prison justice since 1844, approached Social Ink about rejuvenating their site to reflect changing constituencies.

In 1846, the CA was granted authority by New York State Legislature to inspect prisons and to report its findings and recommendations to the public. The only private organization in New York with unrestricted access to prisons, the CA has remained steadfast in its commitment to inform the public debate on criminal justice for nearly 168 years.  The CA utilizes its unique legislative mandate to expose abusive practices, educate the public and policymakers about what goes on behind prison walls, and advocate for systemic, lasting and progressive change.

With a large resource bank to import, various campaigns and coalitions to represent, the CANY needed a fresh look that also reflected the gravity of their work and the depths of their research.  We’re happy today to announce the new Correctional Association site and to continue Social Ink’s proud tradition of doing good in the world with technology.  For more on the project, click over to the portfolio item or visit their website directly.

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City

Social Ink is happy to announce our newest WordPress Plugin, Striped Members!  Our plugin uses the awesome new Stripe payment gateway to create a full paywall/paid subscription website on your WordPress install! A turnkey solution offering different levels of content control, you can now push your website to the next level.

Like our famously popular Simple Stripe Payments WordPress or Simple Authorize Payments WordPress plugins, we developed our plugin to integrate easily with the WordPress user management system, rather than rebuilding it.  Our approach allows you to work with existing membership management plugins, or other plugins that rely on the WordPress user community (such as mailing list software). With our awesome interface and minimal styling, you can be accepting payments and new members in just five minutes.

Roll over to our Social Ink Shop to read more and see screenshots on Striped Members and let us know what you think.

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City

We are pleased to announce the recent launch of Inside the Law School Bubble, a startup venture from law school veteran (and current lawyer!) Krystle Cobran. The ILSB is a new resource for law school students with articles, activities, and a platform for a community of fellow learners. Read more about the project on our portfolio or head on over to the site.

Know any future lawyers in need of some guidance? Send them over to http://insidethelawschoolbubble.com. Wishing ILSB the best of luck as Social Ink designs and develops websites for communities, publications, and startups.

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City

When the Wing advertising agency decided to leave their Flash-based site and move toward a WordPress-based CMS platform we knew we have a whole lot to offer.

As fellow creatives we understand how important it is to combine presentation and functionality. Following the Social Ink collaborative model, we worked with the Wing art department to convert their designs to a fully functional, dynamic web home, free of flash, but not of powerful slideshows, smooth layered popups, and embedded video. You can read more about the project and explore similar work on our portfolio entry.  

Leaving flash for a javascript/html/css solution offered the following advantages:

1. Better search engines performance (SEO);
2. Improved mobile viewing;
3. Faster content load;
4. Flexibility for custom development and a powerful framework and plugin-set;
5. The opportunity for non-technical staff to easily maintain, edit, and add content to the site, while retaining the look and feel of the site.

Let us help you with your next flash conversion or design conversion project. For more about the benefits of a CMS, read up on why we think everyone should be building websites with a CMS these days.

Social Ink - Web Design for Nonprofits and Small Businesses in New York City