About Us
Spring Studio is a boutique web design firm that specializes in bringing websites to life. Based in Sausalito, California, our experienced team of professional user-interface and visual designers began working together in 1996.
By 1999 we had applied our user-focused methodology to a distinguished client list that included Apple Computer, Bank America Mortgage Securities, Charles Schwab & Co., Cisco Systems, Handspring, Microsoft, Palm, Sun Microsystems and Xerox, among others.
We've been helping our clients keep up with the ever-evolving web technologies since the earliest websites burst on to the scene. Now, with Web 2.0, a large-scale rebirth of the web is challenging many businesses to update, overhaul, or redesign their online experiences. Web 2.0 presents companies with an unprecedented opportunity to create a more interactive and satisfying online experience for users. Spring Studio has the expertise needed to help you establish a state-of-the-art, interactive user interface for your web site, online demo or web-based application.
Our core competency is maximizing your site's user-friendliness while incorporating this interactivity. We are experts at keeping your user base clearly oriented, doing what you want (and need) them to be doing on your site, inside of a compelling and pleasing online environment.
At Spring Studio, our project teams are small, focused units that build a dynamic user interface layer that stands upon your back-end technology platform, as well as an elegant, user-friendly visual design that greets your customers.
The challenge of achieving precision, clarity and utility in your online properties is what every professional designer strives to provide. At Spring Studio, you'll see better, faster results than you ever thought possible. Our Experience is your advantage.
Our History
12 Years of Proven Experience
Spring Studio is the latest incarnation of an Internet professional services team that began working together in 1996. In 1997 Bruce Randall and Sanjay Shamdasani left the web design agency where they met and founded i-Socket Web Creative. By 1999 we had built a world-class design and development firm with a client list that included Apple Computer, Charles Schwab & Co., Cisco Systems, Handspring, Microsoft, Palm, Sun Microsystems and Xerox, amongst many others.
In January 2000, i-Socket Web Creative was acquired by Cyberplex, Inc., the largest Internet professional services firm in Canada, based in Toronto, Ontario. The team from i-Socket continued to operate as the West Coast arm of Cyberplex. In September 2001, after market conditions caused Cyberplex to re-think its US expansion plans and significantly reduce the size of the West Coast office, the original team from i-Socket bought back their boutique firm and formed 4D Internet Solutions, Inc. 4Di Solutions has continued to produce great work for Blue Shield of California, Charles Schwab, Cisco Systems, American Express and many others.
Today, Web 2.0 is causing a large-scale rebirth of the web, and is challenging many businesses to update, overhaul, or redesign their online experiences. As we've done for 12 years, we have reinvented ourselves to keep up with the changes in the online world. The result is Spring Studio.
Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is the center of much discussion and disagreement, but one point is clear. The web is getting more interactive. It is getting more creative. And it is becoming more inclusive, both for those consuming content and those creating it.
Web 2.0 concepts and technologies enable a much richer and more interactive online experience. These technologies and techniques extend what is possible and what is practical online. They allow for content to be more dynamic, more personal and more interactive, with less waiting on the part of the user. Things like clicking quickly through multiple views of a product, getting the most up to date news, seeing a preview of a page or product without leaving the page you are on, all become practical. In our view, what has become known as Web 2.0 is finally the delivery of what the web has been promising since its inception.
The introduction of these relatively new technologies and techniques for creating this highly interactive experience has created an overload of "buzz" on the topic, and along with it, a mad rush by technology firms and design firms to deliver Web 2.0 products and services. Unfortunately, most firms are not able to deliver fully on the promise of Web 2.0.
Most firms offering Web 2.0 solutions come from one of two perspectives. Some are design-focused. They see these new capabilities as way to create the latest in "hip" and "cool" designs. They can almost taste the creative awards they can win with the new found design freedom Web 2.0 provides. However, most users aren't interested in award winning, "hip" and "cool" design for design's sake. They are looking to accomplish something online, and they want the design to make that easier, not to just look "cool".
On the other side of the spectrum are all of the technology firms that see a world of new opportunities for using these Web 2.0 capabilities to provide new features to their applications. And many of the new features they come up with are very valuable, but they rarely are able to package those features in a way that is visually appealing and easy to use for the end user.
Spring Studio's founders, Bruce Randall and Sanjay Shamdasani, have been applying our user-focused, business-driven approach to web design and development since the Internet's inception as a visual medium in the early 90's. Over the years technologies have advanced, possibilities increased and design styles have changed, but one thing remains the same. People still want to USE the Internet to ACCOMPLISH something, and they want it to make their lives easier. Let us show you how our approach to Web 2.0 can breath new life into your web properties.
Our Design Approach
Our user-focused, business driven methodology translates your users' goals, expectations and motivations into your business results.
User-Focused
Our entire design process is built around a user-focused approach. This means that we start by understanding the user's needs, expectations and motivations and design everything from the information architecture to the visual presentation to the features set specifically for those users. We employ user interviews, prototype testing, usability testing and other usability tools throughout our design process.
Business-Driven
When all is said and done, corporate web design, whether the project is a public website, an intranet, a web-based application or an online marketing asset, is driven by some business goal. It must ultimately increase revenue or decrease expenses. At Spring Studio, we never forget that. Our team stays focused on one question: How do we meet your business objectives by meeting your user's needs.
When Clients Become Partners We All Succeed
We work closely with our clients to produce beautiful, interactive websites. We pride ourselves in our ability to adapt our process to the unique politics, personalities, and idiosyncrasies of your work environment. Our flexible, collaborative approach to every client engagement means we can work on site as an extension of your web design, marketing, or technical team, or work off-site independently. However your organization works best, we'll partner with you to work within your preferred parameters.
