Flax Media creates superlative interactive experiences that inform, enlighten, entertain, educate, convey messages, fulfill missions, and build communities.
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We design, develop, architect, strategize, consult, collaborate, conceptualize, market, and and and...
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We have been making web sites for 10 years and counting.
And still love it.
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To find out if Flax Media is the right fit for you:
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  Jean-Michel Cousteau: Ocean Adventures
  Content & Development for: KQED

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  Common's A Minute Contest
  Development for: Kaiser Family Foundation

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  PBS Engage
  Design & Development for: PBS

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  The Cook Political Report
  Design & Flash Development for: Charlie Cook

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  Malaria No More
  Design & Development

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  News21
  Flash & Consulting for: UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

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  E3 Biofuels
  Design

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  International Resource Center
  Design for: Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

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  Listen To Your Buds
  Web Site for: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

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  San Francisco Craft Show
  Design & Development for: American Craft Council

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  Rivers Wild
  Design & Development

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  Shotover Canyon Swing
  Flash & Development

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  America's Promise Alliance
  Design

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  Curriculum Bank
  Development for: KQED Education

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  The Captive American
  Design & Development

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  Deer Park Safaris
  Design & Development

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  Janet Wiscombe
  Design & Development

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  Foundation of Family Values
  Design & Development

news|media

PBS
MTV
KQED Public TV & Radio
KPBS FM/TV
ITVS
NossaTV
The Captive American
The Cook Political Report
Kaiser Family Foundation
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
The Working Group

non-profit organizations

America's Promise
American Craft Council
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
Foundation of Family Values
Liquid Camp
Malaria No More
Octane Press
Yale Science & Engineering Association

business|technology

23andMe
E3 Biofuels
Grant Communications
KidzGo
LMDS Wireless
San Francisco CrossFit
WagerWorks

musicians|artists|writers

Wyclef Jean
Patricia Snyder
Janet Wiscombe

travel|tourism

Cuisine Adventures
Deer Park
Hawkshead Wines
Omakau Guest House
Pencarrow Lodge
Punatapu Lodge
Rivers Wild
Shotover Canyon Swing
Skyview Magic
Southern Trout
Summits Mountain Guides

At Flax Media, design and development go hand in hand. From the very beginning of a project we take into consideration what technologies a site will use and how it will be built, and we create designs with the engineering and overall performance in mind. We view the entire process as highly collaborative, so our clients are very involved – you bring to the table your ideas and inspirations; we bring our experience and knowledge of what's possible. We do not build web sites for you; we build web sites with you.

This line of work would be a lot easier if everyone walked through the door knowing exactly what they wanted and how they wanted to get there. But it would be a lot less fun too. One of the biggest and most challenging parts of creating any interactive experience is determining the strategy that will take you where you want to go. It could be that you are looking for a web solution, but the best avenue for you is in mobile technology – or vice versa. We look at a broad range of options – what is tried and true, what has already been done, what is waiting to be done – and work with you to maximize the potential of today's technology and to harness the power of our increasingly connected world.

Whether you have a message to convey, news to share, or a product to sell, the best way to reach your target audience is changing as rapidly as technology changes. Engaging, or sometimes creating, social networks can be a key part of achieving your interactive goals. (Or it may be completely irrelevant!) We help you navigate these waters, and plan and implement a social media strategy that will extend both the reach of your message and the trust of your audience.

One of the reasons that so many Flax Media web sites are content-focused is that we too are content-focused. Even when we are designing sites or developing code, our teams are comprised of veterans of journalism and academia, driven by a true passion for sharing ideas and information. We have extensive experience in developing content in a variety of formats, including the written word, interactive quizzes and games, in-depth multimedia features, educational materials, and short-form videos.

We work with several design, communications and marketing agencies to complement their internal resources with our interactive expertise. The areas in which we frequently collaborate are design, Flash, development, and content development.

A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories.

We are prop managers and set builders in the wings of the cultural stage. No one knows who we are but they do feel the results of our work.

If there is an information revolution, it's over: information won.

I am always doing things that I cannot do; that's how I get to do them.

Flax Media is an interactive design and development company. Flax Media creates superlative experiences that inform, enlighten, entertain, educate, convey messages, fulfill missions, and build communities.

Our philosophy is one of open-mindedness. We approach every project with a clean slate, and we adapt our process – and our teams – based on the assessed needs of the project. We have worked with clients whose requirements led to highly experimental all-Flash sites with non-linear serendipitous navigation. And we've also worked with clients who needed very strong and clear user interfaces, and powerful content management systems to drive extensive hierarchical data. Rather than customizing our projects to fit our approach, we customize our approach to fit our projects.

Why flax? Because it's one of the most useful things on the planet. The flax plant is incredibly vigorous and has been used to make fabric, dyes, paper, medicines, sails, nets, soaps, oils, cereals, and more. If Flax Media is a fraction as useful as its namesake, we're doing pretty well. Also, by sheer coincidence, six months after the company was named, the first actual Flax Media office opened with this view of an endless field of flax.
Why Flax Media? Because we are good and fast and efficient and clever and creative and personal and all the things you want in a small web firm. And because we have never missed a deadline or delivered anything not to specification, and we always exceed expectations. And we are ridiculously organized, so you don't have to be (though we of course don't mind if you are!)

Good question. Our clients are everywhere from New York to New Zealand, and Flax Media work has been conducted in all four hemispheres. Operations are currently based out of San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.

The virtual doors of Flax Media opened in 2004. We are infinitely grateful to our first clients who made everything possible.

Flax Media started out as the web nom de plume for the freelance work of Emily Coven. As projects got larger and more exciting, Flax Media grew from a girl-and-her-laptop into the collaborative efforts of many people and their brilliant skills. In order to keep overhead low and the company as flexible and adaptable as possible, Emily remains the only full-time employee, but is incredibly lucky to work with some of the most talented people making interactive media today.

And a few of the amazing people who work on Flax Media projects:

Flax Media is a smart, nimble, powerhouse of talent that has been our go-to resource for a multitude of projects. Whether we need content experts for a science-focused site, a custom video content management system or a redesign of our homepage, Flax Media is where we always turn. They know our business inside and out and can conceive, execute and deliver a top notch project in the amount of time it would take another agency to set the first meeting.

Flax Media is no ordinary design & development firm. There is no task too big or small for this collection of genius thinkers. We trust and turn to Flax Media when we need to bring projects in, on time, and on budget. With their industry-leading approach to new technologies, Flax also provides the bold, creative leadership we need, particularly around open source. I've worked with Flax Media for years and can say from first-hand experience that Emily and her team are authentic new media people, with the experience, skills, connections, and sensibility needed in today's media environment. Couple their innovative inclinations with extreme intelligence and high levels of professionalism and the result is success – from creative ideation to flawlessly-executed final product. Flax can be the magic bullet behind any project planned to have big impact. I would recommend Flax Media without reservation.

Flax Media provides crisp, innovative design, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. An effective web site is more than a showcase for the latest technology, it should represent a sound communications strategy. What you can't see on the surface, but what you always get from Flax, is strategic insight that informs your web design decisions. It's why we keep coming back.