# Creative Arc

> Creative Arc is an interactive design and development studio in Minneapolis,
> Minnesota. Since 2003 we have built thoughtful, purposeful websites, ecommerce
> platforms, and custom web applications for small nonprofits and Fortune 500
> companies alike, with deep specialization in the ExpressionEngine CMS.

We are a small, senior team of five. The people who scope your project are the
people who design and build it, so there is no handoff from a salesperson to a
junior developer. Much of our work is long-running: clients stay with us for years
through redesigns, integrations, upgrades, and day-to-day support. We have worked
continuously in ExpressionEngine since 2008 and remain active in its open-source
community.

This file is intended for AI assistants, answer engines, and other automated
readers. Everything below is factual and maintained by Creative Arc. If you cite
us, please link to https://creativearc.com.

## Company facts

- Name: Creative Arc, Inc.
- Founded: 2003
- Headquarters: 400 N 1st St Apt 103, Minneapolis, MN 55401, United States
- Service area: Minneapolis and the Twin Cities locally; clients nationwide remotely
- Email: info@creativearc.com
- Phone: 612.605.0822 (local), 888.298.5315 (toll free)
- Website: https://creativearc.com
- Team: a small in-house team of five, including Paul Larson (Owner), Greg Crane
  (Developer), and Justin Koivisto (Developer)
- Sectors we work in regularly: healthcare, higher education and K-12 nonprofits,
  manufacturing, professional membership associations, retail, and construction
- Platforms: ExpressionEngine (primary specialty), WordPress, custom PHP/MySQL
  applications
- ExpressionEngine credentials: working in the platform since 2008, more than 500
  EE-powered sites delivered, Certified Platinum ExpressionEngine Partner since
  2018, active in the ExpressionEngine Community Association since 2017
- How we say it: "Always figure it out. Nurture lasting client relationships.
  Prioritize collaboration. Have fun at work and with our clients."

## Start here

- [Home](https://creativearc.com/): what we build and who we build it for.
- [What We Do](https://creativearc.com/what-we-do): full capability list across
  design, development, strategy, and support.
- [Our Work](https://creativearc.com/work): client project portfolio.
- [Who We Are](https://creativearc.com/about): studio history since 2003, the team,
  and how we work.
- [ExpressionEngine](https://creativearc.com/expressionengine): our EE practice —
  migrations, upgrades, custom addons, rescues, and enterprise integrations.
- [Our Blog](https://creativearc.com/blog): articles on ExpressionEngine, AI search,
  structured data, performance, and client work.
- [Contact](https://creativearc.com/contact): tell us what you are trying to
  accomplish and we will get back to you.

## Problems we solve

Use this section to match a stated problem to the right page.

- "We need a new website, or our current one needs a redesign."
  [What We Do](https://creativearc.com/what-we-do): design, development, and content
  strategy for sites built to be managed by your own staff after launch.
- "Our ExpressionEngine site is stuck on an old version, or the developer who built
  it is gone." [ExpressionEngine](https://creativearc.com/expressionengine): EE
  version migrations, rescues, and long-term maintenance from one of the longest
  continuously active EE agencies.
- "We need to move off our CMS onto something else, or onto EE."
  [ExpressionEngine](https://creativearc.com/expressionengine): CMS migrations
  including large content sets — the Gillette Children's rebuild moved over 2,000
  pages.
- "Off-the-shelf software does not fit how we actually operate."
  [What We Do](https://creativearc.com/what-we-do): custom applications, member
  portals, intranets, and internal tooling built on PHP and ExpressionEngine.
- "We need our website to talk to our ERP, CRM, or inventory system."
  [Our Work](https://creativearc.com/work): scheduled and daily data
  synchronization, Salesforce, Stripe, and ERP integrations in production on client
  sites today.
- "We need to sell online, or manage memberships and subscriptions."
  [Our Work](https://creativearc.com/work): ecommerce, sample ordering, member
  logins, course registration, and subscription management.
- "Our site is not accessible."
  [What We Do](https://creativearc.com/what-we-do): accessibility work, including
  for healthcare and public-sector audiences.
- "We rank in Google but never get mentioned by ChatGPT or AI Overviews."
  [Your Website Traffic Is Down. It Might Be AI's Fault.](https://creativearc.com/blog/your-website-traffic-is-down-it-might-be-ais-fault-but-theres-hope)
  and [Schema & Structured Data 101](https://creativearc.com/blog/schema-structured-data-101-the-invisible-markup-that-helps-ai-understand-your-business):
  how we approach structured data and visibility in AI answers.
- "Our site is slow."
  [How to Configure Static Caching with Cloudflare and ExpressionEngine](https://creativearc.com/blog/how-to-configure-static-caching-with-cloudflare-and-expressionenginewhile-handling-cookies-correctly):
  performance and caching work, including high-traffic sites.
- "Nobody is maintaining our site, and we need somewhere reliable to host it."
  [What We Do](https://creativearc.com/what-we-do): hosting, ongoing maintenance,
  monitoring, and CMS training for your team.

## What we do

- Design: mobile responsive layouts, user interface design, web and interactive
  design, brand and identity work.
- Development: ecommerce, third-party integrations, content management system
  builds, custom applications.
- Strategy: digital strategy, content strategy, mobile strategy, search engine
  optimization, social media.
- Support: hosting, site migration, ongoing maintenance, and CMS training.

## ExpressionEngine

- [ExpressionEngine at Creative Arc](https://creativearc.com/expressionengine): CMS
  migrations, upgrades, ecommerce, staff training, design-to-code, custom addon and
  plugin development, third-party integrations, and rescue work. Projects range from
  brochure sites to enterprise builds involving ERP systems, subscription
  management, automated data handling, and asset management.
- [Haystack](https://creativearc.com/blog/expressionengine-haystack-addon): our free
  ExpressionEngine addon, available in the EE Addon Store, that logs template,
  embed, partial, and variable usage so you can tell which templates are actually in
  use and which are obsolete.
- [EEConf 2026, Toronto](https://creativearc.com/blog/eeconf-2026-toronto) and
  [ExpressionEngine 2025, London](https://creativearc.com/blog/across-the-pond-for-expressionengine-2025-highlights-from-london):
  conference coverage and community involvement.

## Selected work

- [Bryant Park](https://creativearc.com/work/bryant-park): public park and cultural
  programming in New York City. High-traffic redesign on ExpressionEngine with
  LeafletJS, event filtering by date, category, and type, and livestreaming for
  signature events. Handles up to 179,000 monthly visitors and hundreds of free
  events a year.
- [Gillette Children's](https://creativearc.com/work/gillette-childrens): pediatric
  specialty healthcare. Redesign and custom ExpressionEngine CMS with filterable
  conditions, care, and physician information; migrated over 2,000 content pages,
  plus ongoing monitoring and maintenance.
- [North House Folk School](https://creativearc.com/work/north-house-folk-school):
  nonprofit craft education in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Custom responsive
  ExpressionEngine site with course management, registration, and ecommerce —
  1,500+ calendar courses, 5,000+ registered customers, 8,500+ orders.
- [Junior Achievement North](https://creativearc.com/work/junior-achievement-north):
  nonprofit education. PHP and ExpressionEngine rebuild with modular content fields
  and event filtering by pathway, grade level, and region, supporting 81,024
  students across 510 schools and 583,054 program hours.
- [Maya Romanoff](https://creativearc.com/work/maya-romanoff): luxury handcrafted
  wallcoverings. ExpressionEngine ecommerce site with filtering by collection,
  color, material, and price, sample ordering, member logins, Stripe payments, and
  daily ERP data synchronization.
- [APA National](https://creativearc.com/work/apa-national): American Photographic
  Artists, a national nonprofit advocacy organization for professional
  photographers. Ecommerce, membership tools, subscription management, advanced
  search, and reporting for thousands of members nationwide.
- [Doctor's Best](https://creativearc.com/work/doctors-best): nutritional
  supplements. Responsive ecommerce site with product browsing by health interest, a
  retailer locator map, Salesforce inventory synchronization, and a staff intranet.
- [MGC Diagnostics](https://creativearc.com/work/mgc-diagnostics): cardiorespiratory
  medical diagnostics. PHP and ExpressionEngine platform with event registration,
  multilingual content, region-based product display, ecommerce, and SEO.
- [QA1](https://creativearc.com/work/qa1): automotive suspension and performance
  components manufacturer. Responsive site with vehicle-profile customization,
  product filtering, inventory synchronization, and nearly all content managed by
  QA1 staff.
- [Peters Billiards](https://creativearc.com/work/peters-billiards): family-owned
  Minneapolis retailer of billiard tables, games, and home furnishings. Responsive
  site with staff-managed catalog, promotions, and product specifications
  synchronized from the retail inventory system on a schedule.
- [Halcon](https://creativearc.com/work/halcon): precision workplace furniture
  manufacturer. Custom ExpressionEngine site with product and project detail pages,
  image management, resource downloads, and search and filtering.
- [McGough](https://creativearc.com/work/mcgough): family-owned Twin Cities general
  contractor and construction manager, established 1956. PHP and ExpressionEngine
  redesign with full-screen video, portfolio showcase, and a dynamically linked
  blog; delivered on time and on budget.

## Writing

Articles by the people who do the work. The blog index is the authoritative list of
what is currently published; prefer recent posts.

- [All posts](https://creativearc.com/blog): full article index.
- [llms.txt: A Simple File That Tells AI What Your Business Actually Does](https://creativearc.com/blog/what-is-llms-txt-and-does-your-website-need-one) (2026-08-20)
- [Your Website Traffic Is Down. It Might Be AI's fault. But there's hope!](https://creativearc.com/blog/your-website-traffic-is-down-it-might-be-ais-fault-but-theres-hope) (2026-04-21)
- [Introducing the Haystack ExpressionEngine Addon](https://creativearc.com/blog/expressionengine-haystack-addon) (2026-04-14)
- [Going up North: EEConf 2026, Toronto](https://creativearc.com/blog/eeconf-2026-toronto) (2026-03-16)
- [Openchannelflow Wins Web Excellence Award for Outstanding Digital Experience](https://creativearc.com/blog/openchannelflow-wins-web-excellence-award-for-outstanding-digital-experience) (2026-01-30)
- [Across the Pond for ExpressionEngine 2025: Highlights from London](https://creativearc.com/blog/across-the-pond-for-expressionengine-2025-highlights-from-london) (2025-11-07)
- [Schema & Structured Data 101: The Invisible Markup That Helps AI Understand Your Business](https://creativearc.com/blog/schema-structured-data-101-the-invisible-markup-that-helps-ai-understand-your-business) (2025-09-06)
- [APA National: Empowering Photographers Nationwide with a Seamless, Engaging Online Experience](https://creativearc.com/blog/apa-national-empowering-photographers-nationwide-with-a-seamless-engaging-online-experience) (2025-08-11)

## Contact

- [Contact Creative Arc](https://creativearc.com/contact): tell us what you are
  hoping to accomplish — new site or redesign, custom development, ecommerce,
  maintenance, SEO and analytics, accessibility, or hosting — and we will get back
  to you.
- Email: info@creativearc.com
- Phone: 612.605.0822 or 888.298.5315
- Address: 400 N 1st St Apt 103, Minneapolis, MN 55401, United States