Colts Debut New Website

February 18, 2017

Website Design 1

It began as a school project in the fall of 1998 in an introduction to web design course. Katherine Eichhorn was a Colts member and mellophone player who began marching in the Colt Cadets in 1994 and moved up to the Colts in 1997 before aging out in 2002. This initial version of the Colts website (pictured left) looks simple now, but when it was designed was considered ahead of its time for the drum corps activity. Katherine's father and board member, Randy Eichhorn, purchased the domain name colts.org for the project and allowed the corps to use it.

Website Design 2

As the Internet age continued to expand and become more prevalent around the world, the corps website was updated again (pictured right). However, the capabilities of the Internet were still developing - all forms had to be printed off and mailed or faxed in. While it's not that exciting today, having a fax machine in the early 2000's was still a big deal. This version debuted in 2002, again designed by Katherine as she completed her MIS degree at Iowa State University. Katherine is currently a product and solutions specialist at tickets.com in New York City.

Website Design 3

Throughout this time, Katherine was the only one who was able to update the website - all changes had to be sent to her before they could be uploaded. Around 2002, the ability to post news articles on the website was added, allowing the office staff to post directly to the website. With this change came another redesign of the website, which has been the website used since (pictured left). The design was a collaborative effort between several designers and creators, including Katherine and Jeff MacFarlane. This website redesign provided a major face-lift for the corps, allowing far more options for design and the amount of information that could be posted.

During the Colts 50th anniversary season in 2013, discussions began again about redesigning the Colts website and alumnus Brandon Rogers was engaged to design the framework for the new website. Brandon Rogers was a trumpet and mellophone player starting in 2004 and aging out in 2007. Brandon currently works as a web developer with CloudCraze, a Chicago based company that develops web-based storefronts designed to engage and collaborate with Salesforce. The creation of the website framework was completed in 2015, allowing the office staff to take over and begin transferring all data and files from the old website to the new.

A huge thank you to all who have been a part of the Colts' various websites throughout our time as an organization, but especially to Katherine and Brandon. Without their dedication, creativity and passion, the organization's presence online would not be what it is today.

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