chrismar.sh

web developer, movie lover and tea drinker

Posts Tagged ‘seventeenten’

Goodbye Seventeen Ten, Hello Sense

Monday, January 4th, 2010

So after almost two years of self-employment, I’ve decided it’s time for me to move on. Working for yourself is very rewarding, and I have learnt an enormous amount from doing my own accounts and invoicing, through to client management, IT support and a whole lot more.

However, an opportunity has come up to work at Sense Internet in Leeds, an agency which deals with some big names brands like Rizla, Warburtons and GM.

I’ll be joining as a web developer, doing mostly HTML, CSS and Javascript work, which is the stuff I love to do. It will be a chance for me to develop those skills a lot more, without the added hassle of finding new business and tracking what stage all the projects are at.

I’ll still be available to help my existing clients, some of whom will be transitioning to new agencies, and I will be passing over a lot of the work, including the hosting, to Matt Lacey at Design Standard. He’s a competent chap who I’m sure will look after people just as well as me!

So I start today, and I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead!

High Quality Business Needs High Quality Website: Artisan Project Management

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Artisan Project Management is a joinery, construction and project management company. They take on various projects in the domestic sector from total refurbishments, extensions, kitchens and bathrooms right down to small joinery projects. They’ll even put up shelves for you!

Artisan have a fantastic reputation and their work and client testimonials speak volumes for their quality and workmanship. Artisan wanted an online presence for their company, nothing too complicated but simply a place to find out more about the team, see past projects and read testimonials from past happy clients.

They have so many projects that it was easy for us to find some great images to use on the site. To show the range of Artisan’s work we needed to show people that whether they had a whole house that needed refurbishing, or simply a few hours of DIY, Artisan can provide a fully-managed solution.

We set up an image gallery for potential customers to be able to see some ‘before and after’ shots. Using a lightbox (a screen that overlays the current window to display a new image) we could take people through the whole process of each project, with fantastic results. The quality on display for each of the projects really shows the level of workmanship, and even the shots of projects at their half way stage shows Artisan’s professionalism and care they take on each site.

Another area that is especially important for businesses of this type is recommendations. Nothing speaks more clearly to potential customers than a previous satisfied customer. To maximise the impact of the testimonials, we used scans of several recommendation letters (with their permission, of course!) as well as printed versions. This allows visitors to see the personal recommendations from each satisfied customer.

As an additional benefit, Artisan had made a video testimonial from one of their biggest customers – an entire house renovated in York. This video testimonial is featured on the home page, and gives an extremely strong recommendation for the work they carried out.

The site was launched in December 2008, and has been a useful tool for Sean and Jonny at Artisan Project Management to show clients what they can do.

Resource Accounting – see your ecological footprint

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

With climate change and the environment such a hot topic, the Stockholm Environment Instituute is at the forefront of the latest research into ecological footprints. With hundreds of reports to offer to the public, SEI asked Seventeen Ten to design a site that would allow them to present their research and promote their resource accounting software.

Our approach to the Resource Accounting website was to split their target audience: they estimated that a third are looking for information on the SEI and its aims; a third want information on their software program, REAP; and a third are looking for ecological footprint data, which they collect each year for local authorities across the whole of the UK.

With that in mind, we created a website that, initially would look like a normal information-only site. But by adding special emphasis to the areas that many of their web users are looking for, we were able to create two mini-sites within the main website.

The first was a downloads area, where it is possible to download reports, maps and charts of the ecological footprint for every local authority in the UK. An ecological footprint is a measure of how environmentally friendly you are. The second mini-site was a software site. This section of the site allowed users who have bought software to log in and download manuals, user guides and updates to the software.

More Bang for your Buck!

Monday, September 1st, 2008

Bang Hair, based on Gillygate in York, is a new hairdressers that offers more than just a haircut

With its retro feel and awesome jukebox pumping out the best tunes in York, Bang Hair wanted a website that reflected their look and allowed customers to get a feel for the salon before they even came in to get their hair cut. As well as offering customers information such as a price list and opening hours, Bang Hair wanted people to understand the ethos behind the shop.

With this in mind, we created a site using their existing logo and branding and adding a unique flavour. We built the site on a Content Management System (CMS Made Simple) so Bang Hair would have full control over their price list, photo galleries and could keep all their content fresh and up-to-date.

Luxury Living in the Heart of Cape Town’s Wine Region!

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

La Constance is a luxury villa in Cape Town, South Africa. They needed a simple but classy website so potential guests could see what facilities were available. In addition, we created a bespoke bookings system, which allows users to check availability and enquire about existing bookings.

The brief from the client was to create a site that people would find easy to navigate, and would also give them full control over the content. By using our simple Content Management System (CMS), they no longer have to call their website company when they want to update the details on the site, they simply log in and make the change it themselves!

The ability to monitor bookings was equally important, as the owners were based in South Africa and the UK. Having an online bookings system allowed the client to update the bookings as they came in and to check what bookings have been made, and also allows website users to check whether a certain week is still available.

Australia, Farmers and Windmills

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

John White builds and repairs traditional Australian windmills across New South Wales. He needed a site to promote his business and allow people to see what he could offer.

Built from scratch in a very short timescale, this site was designed to be functional, appealing to the usual client base of the Windmill Engineering Co – namely, farmers and landowners in rural Australia.

Without being too complicated to navigate or fussy about design, I built a simple but effective site, that allowed John to point potential clients to his site so they could see the services he offers.

It’s Business Time

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

So it’s decided. I am going to set off on the tangled pathway of self-employment. I have high hopes but, realistically, I’m not expecting to retire within a year. It’ll be hard work but, with a bit of luck, it will allow me the freedom to do the work I enjoy and to be in control of my own working environment.

The business will be called Seventeen Ten Limited. For those of you who know me, it should be fairly obvious where I got this name from: it’s my birthday (as in 17th October, rather than the year 1710).

The plan is to hire a graphic designer (for the looks) and a back-end developer (for the muscle) and to find a really decent open-source CMS that is adaptable to almost all our needs.

The ethos behind Seventeen Ten will always be quality over quantity: I don’t want to knock out 100 websites a year for £500 each – there’s a market for that quick turnaround/low cost site but I believe that there are also businesses who want to do it right and have a website that looks great, works well and is accessible.

First things first though: the recruitment ad is going in the paper soon, the office search is on, and now that I have a name I need a logo… Probably best to wait until I find a proper graphic designer!