Tennessee Gets Animated

Director Leroy Richmond admits that the original Web site for the State of Tennessee General Services Printing department was not very impressive.

"It was very simple, very plain," he says. "And I was sitting there thinking 'How can we get our message out?' "

Richmond insists that the Web is "where everything is going," so he wanted to do more than just give his site a shot in the arm. He also wanted to advertise Web design to his customers. But doing so would require a pretty impressive show. So that's just what Richmond and his team set out to create.

Now, his in-plant's new home in cyberspace (www.state.tn.us/generalserv/ba09p) boasts Macromedia Flash animation, a soundtrack, online job submission, and a platform from which to advertise special deals.

But the on-ramp to the information superhighway was not without its delays. Because the State of Tennessee has its own guidelines for online appearance, Richmond had to get special approval for what he calls a "fresh, new look" for the site.

"We had some latitude with the design," he explains. "So when we had it all together, we took it over to the commissioner and gave them the opportunity to veto it. They made a few wording changes, but they said they were extremely happy with it."

For Richmond, the new Web site represents an attempt to broaden services his facility offers to include not only printing and Web design, but full graphic design services, as well.

"There are still agencies that want to go to the big ad firms," he says. "But we've got nationally recognized designers right here on staff."

Richmond says his shop has won design awards from the National Association of Printing Leadership (NAPL) and the National Association of Government Communicators, among others.

Richmond's focus on graphic design is carefully structured to support the in-plant's core business—printing.

"If it's a Web page that we're doing," he explains, "it's just a hop, skip and a jump to printing brochures."