Portfolio

Horizontal and Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines – A Place For Each

Visit any large utility-scale wind farm and you’re likely to see row upon row of turbines that look like airplane propellers, turning on a horizontal axis. Have you ever wondered why vertical-axis turbines are less common?

Community Renewable Energy: Strength In Numbers

It seems that everywhere you look these days you see rooftop solar arrays … on houses, on factories, on schools. Many of these are grid-connected systems, sharing their power with their neighbors through the local utility grid in return for a feed-in-tariff. It’s a sweet deal … if your circumstances permit it. If they don’t, you may want to consider a community renewable energy project.

Environmental Impact Assessments for Offshore Wind Farms

Wind power has proven itself to be a viable renewable energy option. Unfortunately, it is not without drawbacks. Utility-scale turbines inevitably have an impact on their environment. This is obvious with onshore turbines, but the effects are less apparent with offshore turbines, where they are out of sight and out of mind.

The Present And Future Of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

Mention zero-emission vehicles and most people think of battery electric cars. But there is another option: Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles – FCEVs – powered by hydrogen. Why don’t we see more of them on the road? What are the hurdles hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles need to overcome before we’ll be able to find them at a local dealership?

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure: Where Do You Plug In

One of the biggest challenges facing the wider adoption of electric vehicles is the charging infrastructure. Where do you plug in? With limited battery range and charge times of a half hour or more for even the most powerful chargers, it’s crucial that charging facilities be plentiful and readily accessible. Where does the electric vehicle charging infrastructure stand now and where is it headed?

Shining a Light on Light Pollution

It’s hard to imagine Richmond Hill, Ontario as the site of the largest astronomical observatory in Canada. As part of the GTA — the Greater Toronto Area — the town sits astride the country’s most populous — and arguably brightest — city. As the light pollution from that city has increased over time, the ability of the telescope at the David Dunlap Observatory to resolve fainter and more distant objects has proportionately diminished.

Exspans: Simple Solutions to Complex Problems

Exspans is an IBM software development firm specializing in system automation and enabling tools for IBM z/OS & OS/390 mainframes. The company boasts cost-effective solutions and personalized customer service.

We created a series of sell sheets presenting Exspans and its applications.

The project required a review of the company’s reference material, competitive and market analysis, and additional research. We also reviewed IBM’s Partner Showcase guidelines to ensure the completed documents would match IBM’s requirements. Delivery included writing, document design, sourcing stock photos, and graphics editing.

Sterling Combustion Corporate Brochure and Efficiency Upgrade Brochure

Sterling Combustion delivers turnkey boiler installations and efficiency upgrades. This pair of brochures served to introduce the company and it’s Efficiency Upgrade services.

The client provided technical reference material, while LightningStrike conducted a business needs analysis, research into boiler technology, safety standards, and government regulations. Layout was handled by a third-party graphic designer.

19Gauge

19Gauge is a telecom consultancy based in Austria, building professional relationships and sales pipelines for telecom, ICT, and IoT projects across Europe, North America, and the world. The firm’s owner and Principal, Steven Donald, wanted a website refresh that would better represent 19Gauge’s activities and lead to increased exposure.

As the basis for the project we conducted an extensive interview with Steven, reviewed his existing resources, and conducted additional research. We then designed an entirely new website and wrote new content.

Build Tru Group

Build Tru Group is a design and build team that tackles everything from renovating single rooms to building entire homes. While much of their business comes from referrals, they were eager to expand and they realized they needed to improve their online presence, beginning with a new website.

Working with our colleagues at Elle Jay Media, we delivered an attractive, modern website; updated their logo; interviewed the principals and staff and wrote bios for each team member; wrote text content; and provided social media coaching.

Carolyn Lee Jones

Carolyn Lee Jones is a talented vocalist from Texas who performs hits from classic jazz to vintage pop.

We completed this project with our associate Lesley J. Vander Welle over at Elle Jay Media. The development and design of Carolyn’s new site offers easy reading and navigation across all devices. A music player provides snippets of popular tracks for new visitors to enjoy. Carolyn’s calendar is easy to update and archives past performances automatically, while the EPK/Press Kit is complete and concise, offering booking agents everything they need from promotion to stage plot. The addition of Carolyn’s bright new professional photography makes this site “sing” and mirrors Miss Jones’ vitality.

Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor is an international recording saxophonist based out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

In August of 2016, Paul needed an updated, contemporary website in advance of the release of his latest album, Countdown. Collaborating with our talented designer and project coordinator, Lesley J. Vander Welle at Elle Jay Media, we quickly went to work producing a site that perfectly complemented Paul’s new album artwork by Melissa Castro.

The site was ready on time for Countdown’s September release. It is fully responsive across all mobile devices and allows Paul to easily maintain a calendar of his upcoming gigs.

Rob Straby

Rob Straby is a professor at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ontario where he teaches the Career Development Practitioner Program. He also works directly with clients in his own successful online career coaching firm.

Rob needed a new web site to refresh his brand and his career coaching practice. Working with Lesley Vander Welle at Elle Jay Media, we developed a modern, fully responsive, easily updated site that clearly represents Rob’s firm. The project included video interviews with Rob as we developed the site’s content and helped to focus the Straby.com brand.

In-House ECM Development: More Trouble Than It’s Worth

MES Hybrid Document Systems is a consulting firm focused on Enterprise Content Management. It helps organizations move toward the ideal of the paperless office by converting paper-based records into electronic documents, and then securely managing and storing that information.

MES needed a white paper that would examine the challenges organizations face managing paper and electronic documentation, analyze the options of in-house development versus a packaged third-party solution, and then present MES as the preferred vendor of that solution.

The project required extensive research including interviews with MES’ North American sales staff and European development team, interviews with third-party Information Technology administrators and developers, a business needs analysis, a competitive analysis, and investigation into the complexities and requirements of legal discovery. Delivery was as a PDF with page layout.