HoHoTO from the Spirit Train to the Gravy Train

If you were to think of the one Christmas story that impacted your life, you would probably refer back to Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”. This story would stick out in your mind for various reasons, but what if I asked you to think about the part in the story that truly shaped your idea of Christmas. Would it be the beginning when Ebenezer Scrooge demeans Bob Cratchit or would it be one of the four ghosts (Jacob Marley, Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present, Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) or would it be when Scrooge wakes up Christmas morning with love and joy in his heart and he finally does the right thing?

The site

For all of us here at Peapod Studios it is the Ghost of Christmas Present that sticks out in our minds the most. Scrooge sees how impoverished the Cratchit family is and how Tiny Tim through all his struggles is still full of joy. He sees the Cratchit’s make due with what they have, though their Christmas meal is not nearly enough to feed the whole family properly. This is a scene that doesn’t just happen in the storybooks of our childhoods. This scene is happening daily in homes all around this great country and in every city we reside in.

In real life The Ghost of Christmas Present is actually played by a variety of people and organizations. This year Peapod Studios was asked to design the HoHoTO website and we jumped on the chance to be able to show the real Scrooges of the world just how important this cause is. HoHoTO has been in existence for almost three years now, raising money, awareness and donating food for the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank. The first HoHoTO was organized in less than 20 days and had 600 attendees, it has been dubbed “the party that Twitter built” but in all honesty I think we can realize that its “the party that human compassion and selflessness built.”

HoHoTO has raised more than $80,000 and collected about four tons of food (That is roughly the weight of your average African Elephant or 65 extremely well fed pigs) for the Toronto Daily Bread Food Bank. These numbers are pretty astounding but to most people the numbers, the weight none of that is really what they care about. What the average person cares about is “Why do they do it?”. So we asked a few very important HoHoTo members just why they do it.

The responses to the question “Why are you a part of HoHoTO?” were as genuine as they come.

Ryan Taylor

“It’s been 2+ years since I enthusiastically asked that we use the hashtag #hohoto to continue the twitter conversation about an event to feed the needy. I was heading into my studio that night, worried myself about feeding my family.

I feel there are a lot of people we care about here in Toronto quietly suffering, embarrassed by their position who are in or have been very close to poverty.

When you have been one step away from needing a service like the Daily Bread Food Bank, it makes being an organizer that much more satisfying when we hand the giant cheque over at the end of the night.”

Follow Ryan on twitter @ryantaylor

Rob Hyndman

“I’m a part of HoHoTO because there are few other things I can do that will make as much of a difference, for so little effort. HoHoTO is marvellous because with just a bit of effort, we can make an enormous difference in the lives of vulnerable people in our community. I’m involved because it’s our responsibility to make sure that the awesome people at the Daily Bread Food Bank have the tools to do their work. This is our community, these are our neighbours. How can you not help?”

Follow Rob on twitter @rhh

Michael O’Connor Clarke

“HoHoTO represents a really simple equation: you drink, they eat. Considering how absurdly wealthy Toronto is, it’s just plain wrong that so many people in our city don’t have enough to eat. Throwing a big, drunken Holiday party might seem like an odd way to draw attention to this, but it works.”

Follow Michael on twitter @michaelocc

Leila Boujnane

I believe that I can extend a helping hand and make a difference with HoHoTO. Ending hunger in our community starts with a single act of kindness: caring. And year after year, HoHoTO has brought our entire caring community out to lend a hand. You would be insane not to want to be part of such an incredible group!

Follow Leila on twitter @leilaboujnane

HoHoTO is being held December 16th 2010 at The Mod Club (722 College St, Toronto, ON) the tickets go on sale December 1, 2010, but you don’t have to wait till then to get involved. You can click here to access the sponsor page and become one of this years gracious sponsors. There are six levels you can choose from ranging from the Santa level ($10,000.00) to the Candy Cane level ($250.00) or you can start collecting canned goods etc. at your office to donate to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

This event exists because of people like you who take the time to not just think of others but to pass along this message to your entire network be it through Twitter, Facebook, email or even as simple as talking to a stranger on the street. So start following @hohoto or using the #HoHoTO hashtag to spread the word ( or if you are not on Twitter there is a Facebook page ) and Be like the Ghost of Christmas Present to show the Scrooges of the world just what really matters.

…Cheers!

This week Peapod Studios was informed about the acceptance of our proposal to work on the redevelopment and redesign of the Château Des Charmes website.

Chateau Des Charmes Wines.

A Little History

Château des Charmes story began over five generations ago with a family that traces its roots to the Alsace region of France and the vineyards of French Algeria. Thousands of kilometers from its present day vineyards located at Niagara-on-the-Lake.

In these foreign lands, the ancestors of Paul Bosc began a heritage of fine winemaking that would serve the Bosc family for generations to come. This tradition of excellence continues today in the vineyards of Niagara-on-the-Lake where Paul Bosc and his family carry on this rich heritage of meticulous vinification by harmonizing science and art.

A graduate of one of Europe’s finest winemaking schools, the University of Burgundy at Dijon, Paul Bosc came to Canada from France in the 1960′s. He brought the Old World tradition of winemaking to his new home and he grafted that knowledge and tradition to the soils of Niagara.

Renowned British wine writer Hugh Johnson in his book Wine Companion has written:

“Canada was discovered, in fine wine terms, in the 1970′s when old fears and prejudices about which vines could survive were tossed aside. The formidable know-how that had been accumulating in new wine districts around the world provided answers to problems that had seemed insuperable. Paul Bosc became the first to plant a wholly vinifera vineyard. Award winning VQA estate wines include Icewine, late harvest riesling, an impressive range of both white and red varietals as well as méthode traditionnelle sparkling wines.”

We had to try it

Peapod Studios is picky about our clients, we want to work with the best of the best. We seek out companies and projects we can feel good about.

So we headed off to our local LCBO to grab some of the Châteaus offerings. We ended up with the 2005 Old Vine Cabernet- Merlot and the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, St. David’s Bench Vineyard.

Nom nom nom

The Cabernet Merlot was simply exquisite, the more it breathed the more fantastic it became, and the Cabernet Sauvignon reminded us of that summer in Rome.

We were hooked, The wine is fantastic, and the scenery and chance to visit and work with a company that is in arguably in the most gorgeous place in Canada. A family run business that returns its wealth to the community and environment. All the things we love and appreciate and aim for being ourselves.

“In the belief that quality and value go hand-in-hand, we at Château des Charmes have been dedicated to producing world-class wines in Canada by growing only the finest grape varieties.”

-The Bosc Family

Photo credit: whatsonmyplate

Peapod Architecture and Design Process

When Peapod Studios begins creating a website, we’re not just simply collecting a few key pieces of information and moving directly into the build process.

There is a great deal of discovery and strategy that goes into creating the final products we deliver. We start with several sessions of discovery, where we set the basic goals and criteria we’d like the clients site to meet.

Then we develop several individualized personas of who the key users and stakeholders of the site will be. Personalizing a users experience dealing with a website is a key part of ensuring success. We develop several pathways throughout the site, for them to easily obtain the information they desire or have come for while navigating the site.

Architecture and Strategy Documentation

Architecture Document

We take all of this information and use it to develop our Architecture and Strategy document. This will serve as a resource for both our developers and the client to refer to as we move forward to the point where we can begin the preliminary site mapping and wire-framing of the eventual site build.

WireFrames

wireframe

Once we have established the web sites core functionality and layout only then can we move into creating the initial rounds of designs, a process we call skinning. Initially we like to provide the client with three distinct rounds of creative, allowing the client to have several choices in the future direction of the design.

Design Begins

first mocks

Taking the clients feedback from the intial three mockups we can begin to build out more honed designs based on their feedback. This is not a perfect science, sometimes a client will go through more than one round of creative, although sometimes we nail it from the get go.

Design Sign Off

Final Design

WIth all the elements in place, we finally have the basis for build.

The documentation we have from the preliminary steps allows the developers to work knowing the ins and outs of the final structure, and gives them an extensive library to refer to. Art direction is minimized as most of the design lives within the styles created in the skinning stage.

Asigra.com

Kidney Stories of Hope.

We were thrilled when Argyle Communications asked us to help out with The Kidney Foundation of Canada’s Kidney Story of Hope campaign that aligns with March, which is Kidney Health Month across Canada.

What’s Your Kidney Story of Hope?

March is Kidney Health Month across Canada. Kidney Health Month offers a special opportunity to educate all Canadians about potential risk factors for kidney disease and important steps for prevention. It’s also the time of year to encourage financial support to help improve quality of life for current and future patients.

Based on your positive feedback on last year’s Kidney Stories of Hope campaign, the Kidney Foundation and campaign partner Shire Canada are pleased to once again offer you an opportunity to help raise funds and have a chance to receive a cash prize in return!

Here’s what we came up with.

kidney logo

first kidney image

third kidney image

fourth kidney image

Freshbooks Makes Us Look Professional Every Day, So We Decided to Return the Favour.

Freshbooks makes us look professional every day. We’ve been customers since early 2007, and have no reason or inkling to ever move away from their awesome time-tracking and billing services. They save us several hours a week, and days a month. If you want to know how valuable your time is, try doing your invoicing for one month with FreshBooks, we promise you wont ever want to go back to your crusty old system.

So when Michael McDerment called and asked us to add a little spit and polish to his presentation at the Future of Web Apps Conference, we absolutely jumped at the chance.

Mike giving his talk
Photocredit: Alex Designs

Presentation Slide

FreshBooks Believes…

Running a business is hard enough. We believe financial record keeping should be easy, fast, (and perhaps even fun), but still detailed enough to satisfy your accountant.

Billing should be simple. You can send an invoice a few seconds after creating your account no matter what level of experience you have.

Your data deserves to be safe, secure, and accessible to you. We also believe you own your data, we do not. Your data will be easy to export any time you want it.

Every customer should look like a Fortune 500 company, based on the image sent by invoices, bills, or other accounting communications, no matter what size the company is.

Thank You.

So a giant “Thank You” to the FreshBooks Management Team for putting your external face to the world in our hands, if only for a brief moment.

We were happy to return the favour.