Uganda Development Services website
UDS are exactly the kind of NGO we set up to work with. Operating in rural Uganda to relieve poverty, they've been making a tangible difference in people's lives for 16 years. Their previous website had been servicing them well for half a decade, but was starting to suffer on both the content and the functional sides; it was time for a change.
Using our own Blanc Tools CMS, built in partnership with Hawkz, we've developed UDS a great looking, flexible and powerful website that'll keep their online presence fresh, current and relevant for many years to come. Blogging, podcasting, page-editing, file managment... it's all there!
CBHA website
We were very excited, back in April, when The Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies appointed us to brand them and build them a website. It's been a challenging brief, with so many stake-holder's to consult and satisfy, but it's been a challenge that we've relished and thoroughly enjoyed. The site's fully content managed, and integrates things like Google Maps to deliver higher-level mapping of data.
We're proud to be playing our part in humanitarian sector, and look forward to helping the CBHA to develop their visibility strategy in the months and years to come.
The site can be found at thecbha.org, go take a look!
New face for the BBC News website
Over its lifetime, the BBC News website has won four BAFTAs, nine Webby awards of various flavours, and some serious love from the online design industry generally. We remember the early 2000's when pretty much every proposal document we produced for an information driven website referenced the BBC site of the time as a shining example as to how the web should be done. Its use of space, early adoption of technology, uncompromising usability hand in hand with quality stylings; it was hard to fault it.
Today, version 4 of the site has been released into the wild. There's some really interesting details in there, but on first impression, it feels a bit, well, floaty. One of the defining features of the last few iterations of the site, has been its amazing use of space. The pages were incredibly rich and dense with content; the new site by contrast welcomes a lot of empty space. And not in that cool Swiss-type sense, but in a kind of 'we were expecting more content in this space than there actually is available' sense.
We look at the BBC News site at least a half-dozen times a day, so we'll give it a going over in the next few days and consolidate our thoughts - for our benefit, if nothing else. What can we learn from the new skin of this revered archetype of solid UI IA design? Time, of course, will tell.
WinPho7 interface development
Heart on sleeve time: We love Apple. We're unapologetic iNerds, we're proud of it, and we'll happy bore you to tears over it as soon as look at you. Let it never be said though, that we can't apreciate innovation and creativity from its competitors...
Towards the end of 2010, Microsoft are telling us that they'll be releasing the next iteration of their smart phone operating system; Windows Phone Series 7. Forgoing the contrived name, Microsoft seam to be doing something their critics have accused them of failing at for the better part of a decade, innovating. Over the last month or so, we've seen a swath of previews and screen-shots trickle out from Redmond, and we have to give it to them, we're excited about a Windows phone for the first time since - well, the first time ever, really.
The latest previews present some quite granular detail around the way the OS will handle users' interactions with email functionality, and the mobile flavours of the Office suite. It's typographic, it's simple, it's fluid, and we're seriously hoping Apple are watching carefully.
Restored website
We've been working for the last month along-side a new charity called Restored. "Restored is an international Christian alliance working to transform relationships and end violence against women." We've developed a rich website, designed to be as flexible as possible in the short-to-medium term, which will be able to absorb what ever they choose to throw at it while they are establishing themselves...
Blacklock Jewellery
Blacklock Jewellery are a family-run business, dating back to 1832. They specialise in bespoke jewellery design, and my goodness, do they do it well! This project has been somewhat epic in its scale, starting with a full branding exercise; progressing through a huge website design and build including a comprehensive CMS and fully-functioned e-commerce framework; right through to asset development involving a small army of content suppliers including 3D artists, photographers, models, stylists and copywriters.
We've thoroughly enjoyed working with the Family Blacklock, and we look forward to many more years of collaboration. Chris Blacklock has also done us the honour of writing a glowing endorsement.
UPDATE: On 14 May, we discovered that the Blacklock Jewellery website (3 months old at that stage) had beenshortlisted for 'E-tailor of the year' by the UK Jewellery Award 2010. A massive achievement that we're very proud of.
Bloom website
Bloom are a brand consultancy based in Clapham, London. They redeveloped their brand through the course of 2009, we've had the privilege of working along-side them to bring it to life online.
Endorsement: Blacklock
“RG&B have helped Blacklock Jewellery come back to life through the creation of a stunning new website that delivers on many levels. From the outset a thorough strategic review was undertaken and brand template created that gives real depth and leverage. What has impressed me the most is that the thought process has not stopped upon completion of the strategic review but has continued and evolved as significant development work has progressed. It is unusual to get such a thorough and complete 360 degree approach to marketing and it is something we are lucky to have had. As a business we could not ask for more and I would recommend RG&B to anyone.”
Chris Blacklock, Blacklock Jewellery
Endorsement: Hawkz
“Through working with Paul Evans and RG&B we’ve found an exceptional creative and project management resource. Through all of the projects we’ve collaborated on over the years, we’ve been consistently impressed with how every project fully meets each clients’ requirements. Through not only visually stunning creative design, but also a rare depth of client understanding and management, we’re fully confident in the successful conception, implementation and delivery of every project. We relish each opportunity to work with RG&B as the results always amaze.
“After working with several design firms in the past, none have managed both the reliability and straight-talking transparency we get with Paul. We’re yet to see one of his clients get stressed! As both a supplier and a client of RG&B, we know we can rely on solid delivery and a seamless management experience. We find RG&B to be our leading asset in client satisfaction and creativity, and look forward to many years of successful collaboration in the future.”
Stephen Hawkes, Development Director, Hawkz
Endorsement: Bloom
“Starting my first web design project was very daunting but you’ve very patiently walked me through all the steps, with clear no-nonsense explanations of how the whole thing works, helping me to visualise everything from initial creative concepts to how easy the ‘self service’ content management system is to use. It’s been a very positive education and you naturally bridge the gap between creative ideas and technical consulting, which is incredibly reassuring.”
Jemma Golby, Business Operations Manager, Bloom
{ONEL!FE}. website
Funkful stylings, check! Online store and event booking, check! Bullet-proof heavy-weight CMS, check! Onelife are a shiny new Christian youth work organisation based in Chorleywood. We've been working with guys at Anoo Design to develop the online side of this stunning new brand.
Tilling Productions website
Tilling Productions are television production company based in Harefield, Middlesex. They produce content for pretty much every major TV channel, as well as raft of other services. We worked with their in-house development team to bring the brand and content to life online.
St. Andrew’s branding & website
St. Andrew’s Chorleywood is what the Anglicans Church refers to as an “uber-church”, and with their scale comes a myriad of problems around communication. Many departments, talking independently to many people groups, through many media streams and multiple touch points, produced my many individuals. It all adds up to a potential tsunami of confusion...
Matthew Macaulay website
Matthew Macaulay is a fresh new singer-songwritiing worship leader from Chorleywood. He was in need of a website to link up with the launch of his first album, As for Me (link opens iTunesMS). It was a really fun, fast paced job; the original album artwork was designed by our friends at anoo, and the development was expertly executed by our other set of friends Hawkz, up in Brummyham. It's a lovely little site built upon a Wordpress back-end, allowing Matthew to administer the site himself, as well as giving him full-on blogging functionality.
Tearfund website
As part of their corporate re-brand, Tearfund approached us to re-design their online presence. The site is built on an extensive, internally built CMS, so the designs needed to marry up a strong new identity with a pre-existing framework. Not an easy task, but one we thoroughly enjoyed and are immensely happy with.
Update
Three years on, Nick Harris who presided over the project at Tearfund has said this about the work we did back in 2007...
