Having just graduated from the University of Texas (hook ‘em!) and with the final days of classes already under my belt, the past few weeks have been full of reflecting and looking back over the past semester. I can hardly believe that just a few months ago I was starting here at HMG, taking the reigns from their previous rockstar intern, Emily.  I feel like I’ve accomplished a TON and learned so much here, and I’m very grateful to have been part of the team this semester.
To wrap-up my time here, I wanted to share a few highlights from my experience as an intern and some of the projects that I’m most proud of.
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Hello! I’m Ryan Gardner – the new Social Media and Marketing Intern at HMG Creative. I’m currently a senior Advertising & Business Foundations student at The University of Texas at Austin, graduating this May.

I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and then moved outside of Dallas about ten years ago. Living in the suburbs made me very interested in living in a city, so I packed up for school in fall 2012 and headed to Austin, gravitating toward the music scene here. I can’t imagine a better city to go to college in. In my spare time, I’m frequently at concerts, still exploring the city with friends, or relaxing indoors at BookPeople or Whole Foods.

In December I wrapped up a Graphic Design Internship at It’s Time Texas, an Austin non-profit focusing on promoting health and fitness. Previously, I’ve held internships in PR, marketing, social media, and graphic design. Once the holidays ended, I wanted to switch over to the marketing agency environment, making the position at HMG a perfect fit for me.

This semester, I’m looking forward to running the social media accounts, connecting with clients and publications, and writing. It’s only day one, but I’m excited for all the upcoming opportunities here! To learn more about me, feel free to connect with me on Twitter at @RyanGardnerC or by email at [email protected].

[UT image via consultyourcommunity.org]

This year there will be over 600 sessions at SXSW Interactive. The majority of the sessions were picked via users on the SXSW PanelPicker, with more than 3,000 ideas entered. The result is a variety of influential speakers in categories such as Art, Science, and Inspiration, Branding and Marketing, Content and Distribution, Fashion, Gaming, and Sports – and that’s just a short list. While there are many speakers we would love to hear, we’ve narrowed down a list of 5.

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SXSW is a lot of fun, but it can also be very exhausting, loud, and busy. Sometimes we all need a break from the festival to re-charge. To help out, we have a list of 10 things to do outside of SXSW while in Austin.

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April in Austin is one of the nicest months of the year. The weather is just perfect, making it a great time to go kayaking, hiking, biking, or cruising around the city with your windows down. Spring has officially set in, and to help you kick it off in the best way possible, we have a list of five fun things to do this month!

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Most companies reach a point in their business lifetime when their web presence no longer accurately reflects their goals or identity. This can happen for a number of reasons – after early stages of quick growth and self-discovery, or even after having been around long enough to outgrow a site that had been with them from the beginning. No matter the time or reason, approaching this risk and overlooking it can be extremely detrimental for business, as a company’s online presence largely dictates the way they are viewed to prospective clients, and the world at-large.

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Being a team of creatives, it’s probably not surprising that we seek to find inspiration in any medium we can. The Internet and social media make that all too easy, especially with platforms like Instagram that bundle amazing content from all over the world into one place. Here’s the rundown on 10 of our favorite Instagram accounts to follow:

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Back in April we met Dr. Lisa Gorn, the developer of Glucology and part owner of garcinia cambogia, an all-natural blood sugar dietary supplement. She came to HMG Creative adjustable dumbbells with the need for a complete online web presence with e-commerce capabilities that could handle the various purchase options Glucology offers. Dr. Gorn also needed a platform to communicate with her audience and keep them up-to-date with product news and related information. Reliability, responsiveness, and ease-of-use were additional critical factors we took into consideration when planning her new website design.
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We’ve talked before on here about how much we love WordPress, and it’s definitely no secret. One of the reasons we’ve mentioned is that it’s an open-source platform, meaning that at any given time there are numerous developers fixing it and making improvements to it across the world. With so much constant attention and many new features being added, updates are released periodically making these enhancements available to the entire WordPress community.

Take advantage of these! We know it can seem overwhelming to alter the site that you’ve built, installed plug-ins and themes for, and is running smoothly, but there’s a danger to skipping these updates and benefits you’ll miss out on if you don’t.

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This article was originally posted on Austinot.com

Austin is known for being one of the best cities for singles, making it a city full of first dates and hopefully many others afterward. Beyond the singles dating scene, anyone in a relationship has probably experienced how easy it is to get caught in a routine of go-to date night spots.

Whether you’re craving something new with your current SO (significant other) or looking for an impressive first date idea, here are a few local suggestions that break the typical dinner-and-drinks mold.

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