• do more with less. use plenty of digital.

  • design for mobile first

  • it's about connecting people

where art meets math™

Sparks Milling Digital Where Art Meets Math

We create websites, data systems and multimedia content for agencies, business owners, directors, managers, design teams and committees. Click your title to see how we can help your next project.

Think of us as ground support for your flight operations.

With you, the bigger the creative playground the better. Branding concepts, ad campaigns, messages that knock one's socks off. This stuff makes your day. So how can a digital company add value?

By deeply understanding the right brain / left brain landscape: knowing the energy and creativity it takes to bring a concept to life, while working with a passion for details and execution. Our background in creative is quite strong: photography, sound, video and graphics. Our background in IT is quite strong: wireless mobile data, software development and web design. We'll carry your brilliant ideas into "the math" that runs the web (or whatever screen you're viewing). We'll convert your digital strategy into digital reality; all the while keeping everything in tune, in time and on key.

The philosophy of easy: we'll figure it out and get the job done.

1's And 0's. It all comes down to those two numbers (and some machine language, but who's counting). The world of IT projects used to be very separate from the world of creative projects. Not anymore. Now, a digital creative project is an IT project.

What makes us unique is that we've got significant expertise in both creative and IT; with a long list of clients. We're a crossover act. We've been living in both worlds for a long time and it's our value add. We'll help write a strategy and plan, then take on your website projects, help your Google search results, organize your media assets and other collateral materials, measure results, report and project manage the whole ball 'o wax. It's how we get an outstanding job done for you; served hot on a plate, with fries.

We'll integrate your design into code. Faithfully.

You've invested huge time in meetings, concept, strategy, winning the job and building out psd, ai, indd or other files. Now you need it produced into a responsive website, or web app, or other presentation. We know creative and we know how you feel.

Attention to detail. Without it, what is life? We know you want your design the way you want it. Fonts and line breaks, edges and colors, drop caps, backgrounds, etcetera. Sometimes it happens that an aspect of a visual design is not possible or practical in code, and we'll be gentle if we have to break that news. Then we'll help with a great alternative solution. We'll methodically craft your vision into HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript and provide the best fallback possible for those among us not using current browsers. We'll help with launch and go live and then voila! There you'll be... you and your shiny new project appearing on device screens large and small, all around the world.

We're the reliable, experienced vendor you want for your organization.

There's more to it than meets the eye. In this industry, it's easy to underestimate the task at hand, because digital projects can get very complex, very fast. Sort of like a bull ride at the rodeo: calm at the gate, but lot's to manage once the action starts.

We love planning and quality assurance and return on investment. Sometimes it's a great first step to hire us for consulting. We'll review existing materials and give an opinion. We can build prototypes or wireframes or engineering drawings to prove concepts. We can write strategy, tactics and budgets, and then help implement when the time comes. We'll emphasize that taking the time to plan and prototype may add some time and cost up front, but will save time and cost later on. Your committee needs facts and analysis to make the best decisions for your organization. We can deliver.

Convergence may just be the 8th wonder of the world. A universe coming together, instead of apart. Especially in the field of digital production, where creative and technology mix. It's the place where art meets math™. It's our place.

On the math side, we plan, design, build and maintain custom data apps, mobile apps, responsive web sites, static web sites and data-based sites like Content Management Systems (CMS) and E-commerce shopping carts.

When you're ready to expand your website capabilities, we have a certified Google AdWords professional on board to help you analyze and optimize your site.

On the art side, we create professional multimedia content including graphics, photos, videos, and sound; because all that multimedia stuff is necessary for mobile apps, websites and presentations.

In-between, we do a fantastic job with ad-hoc projects like PowerPoint, Keynote and iBook. We're in our 16th year of business, highly organized, great project managers and we wrap all our jobs in a blanket of quality assurance.

how we make _it

experience

industry | service | not for profit

ADVERTISING & MARKETING

AGRICULTURE

FINANCIAL

LOGISTICS & WAREHOUSING

MANUFACTURING

MEDICAL & HOSPITAL

MUSIC PRODUCTION & RETAIL

NFP & CHARITABLE

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

QUALITY ASSURANCE

SALES PROMOTION

math skills

programming | development | database

HTML5

CSS3

JAVASCRIPT & jQUERY (etc.)

ASP.NET & ASP.NET MVC

PHP

C#

VB.NET

VBA for OFFICE APPS

MS SQL SERVER

MySQL

MS ACCESS

art skills

still | motion | sound | decks

PHOTOSHOP

ILLUSTRATOR

INDESIGN

FINAL CUT

AFTER EFFECTS

PREMIERE

PROTOOLS HD

SIBELIUS NOTATION

KEYNOTE

POWERPOINT

iBOOK & PREZI

we create websites, data systems and multimedia content

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  • "Our site is 100% improved from this time last year!!"
    Michelle Smith, Executive Director: The National Garden Clubs
  • "Honest, reliable, talent."
    Jack Thorwegen, CEO & Founder: Zipatoni, Boomerss and The Proof Agency
  • "You did a very good job and we all appreciate this very much."
    Michael Jermyn, Chief Revenue Officer: Outbid.com
  • "Jesus Jim, you really take your **** seriously."
    Caleb Sheppard, Partner: Rio Creative

all brain examples

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engine_room

Sparks Milling Digital Creative Engineering

Cheri McLaughlin, President

Cheri is an enthusiastic MSU grad with a degree in both finance and information systems who crafted a successful career as a St. Louis banker specializing in trust administration, financial planning and wealth management. Her passion for growing things has brought her to the wheel of our ship. Making a seamless transition from banking into digital communications, Cheri is now a Google certified AdWords professional, reads Ad Age in the morning and knows her way through a digital project.

Jim McLaughlin, Executive Producer

Jim founded the company in 1997 as a custom software shop specializing in client/server database programs (apps) and mobile wireless systems (mobile apps). Jim’s background includes music, art, photography, software design & development, programming, project management, quality assurance, account management and a few rounds of mechanical engineering. Mix that with a long history as business owner and supplier to companies like McDonnell Douglas Aircraft, Archer Daniels Midland, AB-InBev and Nestle Purina and you've got the right guy to lead your digital project.

Mike Hoenig, Technical Director

Mike is an established IT Manager and Application Architect. He’s a certified professional and has been part of our operation since we started back in the stone-age '90's. With a big background working on large-scale IT projects, Mike designs and develops apps and stays focused on quality assurance while gracefully handling layers of data, logic and presentation.

Grab the right wrench.
We're managers, engineers and builders. There's lots of folks who can code an HTML page. Most often, the job requires more. What's typically needed is a supplier who's half workshop and half consulting firm; with a great business-sense and ability to pull all the loose ends together. A partner who can make a plan, establish a budget and schedule, execute the work and deliver as expected. Seems simple enough, eh?

We can work turn-key to handle an entire project from start to finish. Or, pick and choose a-la-carte menu style if you just need our help to add capacity, or handle a specific task like setting up a Google AdWords account, building a shopping cart, or editing / post-production for your latest video.

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Get in Touch

Sparks Milling Digital and Option Technologies Celebrating 16 Years in Business

Founded in 1997 as Option Technologies, we grew into a nationally recognized supplier of wireless mobile data systems and custom database software applications.

Now celebrating our 16th year in biz, we have a strong background creating data systems, mobile technology, websites and multimedia. We’ve re-branded and evolved into a boutique shop; blending our history of creative and tech skills to serve clients who need high quality digital project work. We create websites, data systems and multimedia content.

Sparks Milling Digital

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