Ethercycle is a small web development firm located in Park Ridge, Illinois. They specialize in responsive design, progressive enhancement, and mobile-first strategies. Their team includes creative director Kurt Elster, software engineer David Jakobik, and lead developer Paul Reda, who have a combined 24 years of experience. Ethercycle works with clients across various industries to build websites, focusing on usability, branding, and technical expertise. They have received positive testimonials praising their design skills, collaboration, and delivering projects on schedule.

1. ethercycle
Capabilities Overview

2. We’re headquartered northwest of Chicago
in Park Ridge’s historic Pickwick eatre building.
We are here.

3. We are a team of in-house web experts plus
a network of trusted on-call digital experts for niche needs.
We are small. Small is good. Small is focused.

4. Our Multidisciplinary Management Team
Kurt Elster, MBA David Jakobik Paul Reda
Co-Founder, Creative Director Co-Founder, Software Engineer Partner, Lead Developer
Kurt Elster is responsible for Having worked with Fortune 500 Paul Reda, Lead Developer, will be
developing original creative design brands such as Sears Craftsman and your project's front-end developer. He
concepts and approaches while HON Furniture, David Jakobik is is familiar with the constraints of
overseeing your project through one of Chicago’s top Web developers. publishing for the Web, as he was the
execution. He will be your immediate As Chief Software Engineer, he will first Web content producer for e
contact and will work closely with oversee all aspects of your site’s Onion's A.V. Club. His experience in
you to ensure that the project is development, testing and quality assurance testing will ensure
delivered to your satisfaction. deployment, as well as personally that your site renders properly in all
develop the framework and major desktop and mobile browsers.
While studying integrated marketing architecture that your site will run on.
at the University of Chicago, Kurt Paul is fascinated by vintage
taught online business development Despite living in Chicago, David is an advertising, Chicago history, and their
at Oakton Community College. He is outdoorsman at heart, with a intersection.
a published photographer and a fondness for camping.
cyclist.
Combined Experience: 24 years

5. Our Approach
With over 1 billion smart devices populating the digital landscape, and more being released daily,
we need to design experiences that extend your brand across all devices and platforms.
Mobile First Responsive Design Progressive Enhancement
Mobile First prioritizes the Responsive web design Designing with progressive
mobile context when enables your site to respond to enhancement involves smartly
creating user experiences. the needs of your users by adding layers of enhancements
Starting with mobile first adapting to the width of the to a strong foundation. is
allows your website to browser or device they're delivers an accessible and
reach more people. displayed on. optimized experience to all
users.
When these three philosophies are combined, we ensure that your site will look its best now, in
the future, and on older systems – regardless of the device used.

6. Areas of Expertise
Strategy
Content
Social
Mobile
Design
Interface
Mobile
User Experience
Development
Application
Back-End
Front-End
Mobile
Support
Hosting
Maintenance
Quality Assurance
Usability Testing

7. Relevant Clients

8. Testimonials
“Working with the Ethercycle team “In 2012 we underwent a full site re- “Ethercycle brought a fresh
was exciting and fun. Building a site design and found Ethercycle to be an perspective to the design process and
from scratch, they really listened to invaluable resource! ey explained really helped flesh out how we should
our goals, our feedback and input layout elements, coached our writing approach our Web presence. ey
with the design. I was impressed style, and guided us through the were up on emerging Web trends and
when they asked to take a tour of our process of selecting imagery. ey helped us integrate the best of social
office to get a feel for the culture and clarified outdated philosophies and media into our site. eir work is
implement the vibe of our office into worked with great patience to keep us fresh, distinctive, and really focuses
the design. on track. I know the Ethercycle team on the core of who we are and how
will be a trusted resource for a long we can best serve our customers and
Ethercycle did a great job of taking time to come.” employees. Ethercycle is a good fit for
our very abstract concepts and turned anybody who is looking for a fresh
them into concrete designs (which
Barb Lyons perspective and creative ideas to
was very helpful). eir cooperative produce a robust website.”
Vice President of Operations,
nature and speedy turnaround time
Walsh Media
was a breath of fresh air.”
Brian Garcea
Managing Partner,
Eric Wilken RG Construction Services
Associate Product Marketing
Manager, VivaKi Nerve Center

9. Featured Projects
Examples of our work in design, development, and strategy

10. chicagobusiness.com Every year, Crain's Chicago Business showcases Chicago's top 40 most talented businesspeople, under 40
40under40 featurette years old.
Working closely with the Crain's team, we designed and developed an engaging featurette that allows
users to interact with the 2012 class of 40 under 40 through a dynamic layout that is both intelligent and
responsive.

11. krautrocks.com Kraut Rocks is a brand awareness campaign to bring sauerkraut to a younger, hipper audience. Hosted by
Top Chef alum Spike Mendelsohn, it's a celebration of kraut.
Working with experiential marketing agency Marketing Werks, we built a shrine to sauerkraut, featuring
coupons, recipes, videos, and a sweepstakes. Foodies can vote for their favorite kraut dish, and even be
entered to win prizes.

12. rgconstruction.com RG Construction is one of the largest wall and ceiling contractors in Chicago and northern Illinois.
ey’re known for high-profile projects throughout Chicago, including the modernization of Midway
Airport, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the recently completed Trump Tower.
Ethercycle rebuilt their website with a modern identity, a mobile-friendly responsive layout, and a
portfolio that can easily sort and display hundreds of high-profile projects.

13. responsivize.com Responsivize is a responsive website template meant to be used as a starting point for new front-end
development projects. We've released it under an open-source MIT license so that anyone can kick-start
their project with the same template we use to build websites that work everywhere. We've baked in our
own best practices, such as responsive images, fluid grid layouts, and even typography tweaked for
readability. By sharing our work, we hope to advance the web's community as a whole.

14. ank you.
ethercycle.com
hello@ethercycle.com
(877) 384-3740
3 S Prospect #12
Park Ridge, IL 60068