blog archive.

We're very pleased to unleash our new site on the awaiting public - it's been a long time coming but now the much needed revamp is complete.

We've been busy bees in our studio of late which has meant that putting those final finishing touches to our own site has been put off on a few occasions.

We'd love to hear what you think about the new site - so any and all comments are welcome.  We'll arbitrarily pick our favourite from those made over the next couple of weeks and send the lucky winner a bottle of champagne.  Their comment will also feature in next month's edition of Focus On.

With bases and distribution channels across Europe, Sharp are already established as a strong presence, known particularly for their advanced design and production techniques, and as innovative leaders in the recycled packaging sector.

The website – now translated fully in German, French and Spanish – will be invaluable to their sales force, presenting both products and branding in an easily accessible way.

Each translation can be viewed easily by website visitors using flag icons at the head of each page, while content and website administration is all controlled from a central login area.

Read more about our relationship with Sharp Interpack here.
 

We'd like to support our friends at Sustrans in this years Change Your World campaign.

This year they are hoping that thousands of people will take part and leave their car behind during the first week of July (29 June – 4 July) in favour of walking, cycling, public transport, car-sharing or not making the journey at all.

If everyone gave up just one car journey a week, together we’d take 10% of car traffic off our roads, giving us healthier journeys, cleaner air and quieter streets.

If you’d like to give it a go yourself, visit:  http://www.changeyourworld.org.uk now to make your pledge and for a chance to win some great prizes.

If you would like to help put the word out about the campaign (which would be great!) there is a toolkit available to download from: http:///www.changeyourworld.org.uk/toolkit

People are more aware of and pay more attention to website usability than the whole user experience. Usability ensures that your audience are able to use the site and 'act' as you wish them to i.e. make purchases, sign up to subscriptions, download a brochure, donate etc. It also reduces points where people get stuck or frustrated so that after using the site they walk away with a positive perception of the brand.

However people tend to pay less attention to the whole user experience which includes your interaction with the user after they have left the site such as email communications, follow up calls, and dealing with enquiries, which all continue to influence your customer's perceptions of your brand.

By looking at the whole user experience as if you are a new or an existing visitor it will give you a clear idea of where your communications or processes could potentially be letting you down.

As well as using International standards for web user interfaces such as ISO 9241, we'll use our own experiences of developing websites and work closely with you to look at the bigger picture for your organisation.

If you would like us to carry out an audit of your site usability and the user experience then send me an email and we can discuss the process further.

The new, vibrant website has been launched as a resource to help parents and young people find play areas throughout Bristol.

The website includes an interactive map of the city highlighting the location of the play areas, which can also be found by using the advanced search facility.

We've built Go Places to Play on behalf of Bristol City Council, one of the 30 Local Authorities to be awarded Play Pathfinder status - new funds from central government made available to help create and improve play areas throughout the city. We're hoping that local people and visitors to Bristol will use the website to find the best places for their children to play. 

Find out more about Go Places to Play

They came to us for advice and guidance on completely revamping their existing site and overall look and feel for the organisation.

We're really going to brighten things up and due to the nature of the organisation create a highly accessible website with some interactive features so that their service users can gain advice and feedback via the site.

WECIL have had a sneaky peak at the new design and they're very happy with the results.

Website due to be launched mid July.

Rather impressed by the Google Wave demo, launched just before the weekend.  The product promises to revolutionise communication, and it very well may prove to do just that!

Elements we like:

• Real-time typing, together with the contextual spellcheck.  No more enigmatic pen shuffling nonsense - participants will see the message appear in the wave as soon as it is created. 

• Drag and drop features - where anything on your desktop, file or previous wave can be dragged into a new one, and edited by anyone connected to the wave.  

• The potential for collaboration.  This just takes Google Docs to an entirely different level! 

• Playback allows you to catch up on how the wave developed, following sequential additions from the whole group, or individual participants. This also facilitates accountability as each wave can be audited (inspired by version control).

Mashable have written a decent review of the initial presentation, and have even managed to gain developer access to the alpha version.  Both pieces make good reading.

Wave looks like a gigantic leap forward in terms of web development, with the race to create the first apps already well under way.  

Google Wave