General Mills History Blog

General Mills came to Spyder Trap with an idea that they wanted to share with the world some fun and hilarious moments of their historic past. This project needed the content to be on a platform where it could be easily added by the client and shared by the consumer and user. Tumblr became the platform best suited to handle the publishing, management and engagement of their content.

With today’s Internet accessible from every device and screen possible, we utilized Responsive Web Design to allow the user experience and content to shine on smartphones, tablets and the desktop.

Vintage Design

Most of the products that’ll be featured on this site are long from the past, so the look needed to have a very vintage feel to it. General Mills had some great illustration work of their company from very early on (late 1800′s) that I had to bring into the site in some shape or form. Use of old logos and a worn polaroid helped complete the vintage look and feel for the theme.

Tumblr Features

Here’s a condensed list of features designed and developed into this site:

• Responsive Web Design
• Content Management
• Photo & Video Uploading
• Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest Sharing
• Integrated DISQUS Commenting and Notes
• CSS Mobile Menu

View the General Mills History Blog.

The final graphic was a combination of goals related to how we wanted to visually convey the message:

1. Easy to understand the issue at hand

We wanted to take a very large issue and use a creative layout to make the process of how obesity is affecting the children of MN more understandable.

2. Explaining the issue

Using a variety of different visuals and statistics, we created a flow of information which kept reinforcing the major concern of obesity in children within Minnesota, and the message stays the same as the user moves from top to bottom.

3. Clear statistics

The challenge is taking very eye opening statistics about obesity and designing them in a way that grabs the user and calls them to action. We used large typography and over-sized graphs to help tell the story.

4. Appealing to a larger audience

Rather than speaking only to current parents, we wanted to appeal to all those who are considering having a child and show them how to take measures against obesity as that child grows.

We love the final graphic and we feel it hits very hard on the message Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is trying to get out to the public. We’d really like to hear your questions, comments or ideas on the issue of how the use of infographics can deliver a powerful punch for any type of message.

This past Friday Spyder Traper’s Aaron Weiche, Liz Tunheim, Aimee Cheek of CSM and myself participated in Ad Fed’s Golferoo Golf Tournament at Como City Golf Course.

The event was created as a way for marketers and advertisers within the Twin Cities community to get out and network with each other by enjoying a round of golf. Ad Fed does a fantastic job of creating so many events like this throughout the year with Golferoo being one of them.

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. The weather this time around cooperated very nicely for a 18 hole scramble which must of inspired the Spyder Trap team because we came out of the gates on fire.

Spyder Trap Can Golf Too

To start the tournament on our first hole Aaron Weiche blasted a drive (on a Par 4 mind you) 5 feet from the hole, which led to an eagle for our team. From there, the Spyder Traper’s just kept on rolling in birdies.  We’re not just online marketing experts, we’ve got some swing to us.

Golferoo worked with so many great sponsors that helped out with the event. From a fabulous pig roast, to free gifts/awards and individual hole sponsors. One hole sponsor (Fredrikson & Byron P.A.) had a contest where they challenged each golfer to hit a marshmellow with a hockey stick as far as they could. Well, needless to say we were all up to the task.

My attempt ended up being a pretty hilarious moment when I sent the blade of my hockey stick further than my marshmellow. Guess they don’t make those wood sticks like they use to.

The rest of the day consisted of Tweets, Posts, Check-ins, Closest to the Pins, Long Drives and a ton of laughs.

In the end, the Spyder Trap team came out victorious finishing with a -11 under score and took home the mixed team (guys & gals) championship. We can’t thank the Ad Federation of Minnesota enough for such a great event and we look forward to participating in it next year.

If you’d like to see more pictures from our round at the Golferoo event please visit Aaron Weiche’s Flickr Gallery.

Famous Dave's Infographic created by Spyder Trap

Infographics Bring Beauty To Data

As of late, I’ve been creating infographics (information graphics) as a great visual presentation tool for our business development team when they’re meeting with clients and prospects.

It’s a great way to present complex or even basic information in a very clear, helpful and visually pleasing format. Infographics are very popular around the web. I’ve seen numerous posts on some of my favorite blogs that use infographics to help tell the story of a company, a trend, a service or other data relationships.

Here are a few other great examples of infographics that I really like:

• The iPod Revolution
• What kind of geek are you?
• The Evolution of Typography
• How are Mac & PC people different?

As you can see there are many different ways of creating and using infographics for any topic of discussion. It’s a great way to engage your audience in the message you’re trying to deliver.

If you don’t have a designer on staff, take a look at one of these amazing FREE tools for creating your own infographics.