Our Blog
Every week we post something new to our blog – a new employee Q&A, an opinion piece about web design, cool & new things happening in the tech industry, and so much more. We know the web, and we want to share news and helpful tips with you so you can get the most out of your website – even if you don't have a website built by Visionary.
The Positive Power of Social Media
Published on: Tuesday, July 26, 2016
If you've looked at your Facebook feed lately, it's possible you've seen an ugly side of social media. It's sometimes hard to ignore the divide that can be created when current news stirs up debate among the masses, emotions fly and the only noticeable filters are the ones utilized on Instagram. But every once in a while, the powers of social media are used for good and...
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Visionary is hosting Des Moines' first-ever CodePen meetup
Published on: Tuesday, July 12, 2016
If you're a JavaScript junkie, CSS buff, HTML schemer, or are just curious about the CodePen world, you’re going to want to check out Des Moines’ first-ever CodePen meetup on July 27 here at Visionary headquarters. What is CodePen? For those who don’t know, CodePen is part social media platform and part code portfolio. It’s a place you can write JavaScript, CSS and HTML – the three main...
Read ArticleWe Love Our Clients: Variety Iowa
Published on: Tuesday, June 28, 2016
A lot of hard work and heart are put forth by the staff over at Variety Iowa, the charity dedicated to improving the lives of Iowa's own underprivileged, at-risk and special needs children. We sat down for a little Q&A with Megan Grandgeorge, the first-ever director of marketing and public relations at Variety Iowa to hear more about her and what she does for...
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WhatTheFont is That?
Published on: Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Have you ever seen a really well designed poster or website and wondered what font the designer used? This happens to us all the time. So when we heard about WhatTheFont, a free service that identifies various fonts through a tool on myfonts.com, we just had to have one of our designers check it out. We asked Alecia McEachran to give it a go and...
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Unicode is Releasing 72 New Emojis
Published on: Tuesday, June 7, 2016
You'll need to up your emoji game on June 21. That's when the Unicode Consortium, a 501 non-profit organization that coordinates the development of the Unicode standard, will officially publish Unicode 9.0. The new release will include 72 new faces, animals, foods and other random emojis you'll probably only use once (if ever). But hey, searching for ways...
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We Love Our Clients: Fitness by Design
Published on: Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Fitness by Design owner Barb Mendoza can roll with the punches where technology is concerned, even if boxing isn’t one of the classes taught at the studio. Read our Q&A with Barb to learn how she adapts to creating a modern yet personal space for her clients Tell people a little about you and your business: My business is a small fitness studio located near...
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The Key to Keeping Your Passwords Safe (and Secure)
Published on: Monday, May 9, 2016
Do you ever get to the office on a Monday morning, plop down to log in to your computer and realize that your start-of-the-week brain fog is making it utterly impossible to keep your work computer passwords straight from the bazillion others you are supposed to remember? We know what you're thinking... #ButFirstCoffee You're probably also thinking...
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We Love Our Clients: Leaning Tower of Pizza
Published on: Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Kevin Harrington utilizes a hands-on approach to business, where hard work, handshakes and smart digital marketing practices are the keys to success. We recently started working with Leaning Tower of Pizza to refresh their website and develop a digital marketing strategy, which means we've been working side by side with the restaurant's owner, Kevin...
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Making an Animated SVG Checkbox
Published on: Tuesday, April 12, 2016
While watching MSNBC cover the results of the recent political primaries, I noticed the animated graphics used for their scrolling marquee. As winners were projected, a little animated checkbox would appear next to the candidate’s name and photo. It was such a subtle element compared to all the other visuals. But the way the box and check mark drew itself on the screen was captivatingly...
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Ransomeware: Are You Safe?
Published on: Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Have you heard the news about the ransomware attack that crippled MedStar Health, one of the largest healthcare providers in Maryland and Washington, D.C.? The virus reduced their operations to pen and paper efforts after its networks were attacked by the virus, which encrypts files on computer systems and holds the data on them hostage until the victim pays...
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Get to Know: Digital Marketing Specialist Belle Du Chene
Published on: Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Start off by telling everyone about yourself: Even though I’m a native Iowan, I’ve worked and lived in a few big cities, so I’m a complicated mix of metropolitan vigor and small town nice. My father is 90% left-brained and my mother is 90% right, so the mashup explains my widespread and sometimes contradicting skillset. I tend to speak in hashtags, which just confuses everyone...
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How I (Painstakingly) Made My Own Virtual Reality Viewer
Published on: Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Virtual reality. The phrase alone conjures images of visor-like goggle helmets and poorly animated computer graphics. Sure, at one point, the technology seemed like pure science fiction. But the reality of virtual reality is that it’s actually fully developed and being used in a variety of ways today. It’s been predicted that virtual reality will become the new way people watch...
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Get to Know: Project Lead Krista Scheidecker
Published on: Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Start of by telling everyone about yourself: I grew up in northern Iowa and was the sixth person in my family to graduate from Iowa State University. I also married an ISU grad, and we live in West Des Moines. What is your professional background? My degree is in Logistics and Supply Chain, and I spent six years working for a local third-party...
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Get to Know: Software Developer Dakota Reid
Published on: Tuesday, March 1, 2016
What is your professional background? I don't have much of a professional background. When I was in high school I worked for Tasteful Dinners as a food prep. Then I worked at Kemin in the Quality Control lab for two summers. Working at Visionary is the first real job that I have had. What are your hobbies outside of work? I like to play on my...
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What is HTTPS and SSL?
Published on: Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Cyber security tends to be a fleeting topic in the relatively grand plan for a website project. Like insurance, cyber security is something you don’t appreciate until you need it. When data breaches at major corporations are reported seemingly a few times each year, it’s easy to take a step and say those famous last words: It’ll never happen to me. “Of course they were hacked,” you might say....
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