Situation
When companies go to the effort of creating a web site, they naturally hope to make a positive impression. They want their story told, their vision felt and their benefits known. They want potential customers and clients to know where they’ve been and where they’re going. One element many companies include on their web site is the company history. Most consider it an important tool that serves to ground it in the culture of the industry, detail its development and establish its credibility.

Problem
If you survey the multitude of company web sites on the Internet, you’ll discover how the vast array of available technological tools, in the hands of creative web designers, can be employed to jazz up the company history and keep the reader interested and involved in their stories…or will you?

Surprisingly, a large percentage of websites that include a company history choose to simply provide a running narrative of dates and events, many unillustrated, and to put it bluntly, boring. It’s tough to “feel” the company vision when the company history is presented as dry and unimaginative.

Solution
MillerWhite, LLC found a way to solve that problem by integrating technology with innovative design. Every year since the company first went into business in 1980, MillerWhite’s designers have created a holiday greeting card to send to clients and vendors. Using those cards as the ribbon to tie its years of evolution together, MillerWhite employed interactive technology to build a timeline that moves, pops up, quickly summarizes each year’s accomplishments and leaves the reader wondering what the next year will bring.

To get to MillerWhite’s holiday card timeline, the viewer clicks on “About Us” and then “History.” Scrolling on the timeline makes each year’s card pop into the frame. When the viewer clicks on a date or on one of the card views, a new window opens to show the front of the card and the company history for that year. The viewer can then click on the card to open a second box that reveals the inside of the card in more detail.

“A part of developing integrated solutions that compose positive results is being able to creatively communicate to your viewer,” said Bill White, a partner in MillerWhite. “We have won multiple awards for our Christmas cards, and we wanted to use them to tie our history together.”

MillerWhite’s interactive media manager Jill Coleman said, “We created our historical timeline with Macromedia Flash integrated with HTML. Rather than giving the viewer a listing of dates and text, the technology made it possible for us to create a richer interactive experience for viewers and give them something they’re more likely to enjoy and remember.”

Result
“Many of our clients see and remember receiving these cards,” said Brian Miller, a partner in MillerWhite. “We hope seeing the timeline on our website lets them reflect on the relationship and partnership they have had with MillerWhite over the years.”

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