It’s already almost the end of January in the new year, and the first major fail of 2013 is that we never recapped how exciting 2012 was for Human Element (Probly because the first couple weeks of 2013 have been rockin’ busy). Right from the get-go in 2012, we were developing new Magento sites, building new extensions, and making plans for the company’s first big move to Downtown Ann Arbor. So… here it is. Our list of awesome 2012 accomplishments and milestones.

#1. We Built Some Badass New Magento Websites

Magento_website_showcase_2

Shambhala Publications’ Magento Website

This year, we embraced Magento in a whole new way and successfully developed and launched several custom Magento Enterprise and Magento Community websites. One of our favorite clients, Shambhala Publications, launched two new websites in May. Both Shambhala.com and Roostbooks.com feature a number of Human-Element-built Magento extensions. We’re especially proud of the Authors module, the custom Magento quickorder extension, the super-speedy dropdown search, and the integrated ONIX feed that brings products right into the Magento admin. Cool new features will be coming from Shambhala soon, so check back in with them often, and buy a book or two. Shambhala is your go-to knowledge source if you’re looking to discover the ancient secrets of yoga, buddhism, philosophy or how to make a bomb French chocolate crepe.

#2. We Did Some Swanky Makeovers

A couple of our long-time clients wanted to make changes to the look and feel of their websites this year. Here are a some of our favorite DotNetNuke and Magento Redesigns.

Downtown

Downtown_Updated

Downtown’s New Look

Downtown was one of our first Magento Community clients, and since they launched their first Magento site in 2009, we’ve helped them remodel twice to keep it new and fresh for their trendy clientele. This last redesign included a couple of new features like an integrated Magento-Wordpress blog from Fishpig to help them get more traction for their fashion blogs, which we think are excellent and SEO-friendly. We also upgraded their site to the latest version of Magento Community and updated the look of their Mailchimp-based email marketing campaign to match their sleek new website.

Brandmotion

Magento_Site_Showcase_1

Brandmotion’s Magento Makeover

Brandmotion is another one of Human Element’s first Magento Community site builds. Although they’ve been with us for a long time, we’ve never built them a custom template. But in 2012, we overhauled their look and feel in a way that we think will help bring in the auto enthusiasts. We also built them a custom Magento extension to help their clients more easily find products on the Brandmotion site that will fit their vehicles. We love the new look and hope to continue to grow with this innovative Michigan automotive accessories company.