We’re an established agency with a proven track record in designing and developing web presences for some of the world’s best known brands.
Our focus is on creating sites that inspire, engage and convert – resulting in online experiences that users will love and companies will benefit from. We have both creative and technical abilities, a crucial mix when designing and developing sites.
In all web design projects we consider two key things: your business objectives and the needs of your users. This balanced approach ensures we design a website that engages, inspires and converts.
Our designs take ever-changing needs into consideration, such as the growing number of screen sizes and resolutions that make responsive web design a must. In addition, we take inspiration from design trends, developments in technology, and research on how users browse and consume information on websites.
Ultimately, good web design is about much more than applying brand colours or using great photography – it’s about designing a solution that’s fit for purpose and created in line with your brand, your users’ needs and of course, your goals and objectives. That’s why we follow a proven process, starting with a website workshop, following with the development of sitemaps, content plans and wireframes and finishing with key page designs.
The key difference between design and User Centered Design is that the latter considers your users’ wants and needs at every stage of the design process, from site maps and content plans, to wireframes and final designs. We begin the process by hosting user experience workshops that help us understand your users’ needs, before designing solutions that will support their requirements whilst also being mindful of your goals and objectives. User Centred Design can be used to design not only websites, but apps, user interfaces, intranets, e-commerce solutions or online learning tools also.
Responsive web design isn’t a new principal, but it’s forever changing and developing. The design approach has replaced traditional methods of building a separate desktop and mobile site, replacing it with a design solution that shapes and scales fluidly, according to the device your website visitor uses – whether it be phone, tablet or desktop. Our responsive website design services are delivered using robust testing strategies, whereby we’ll use findings and analytics to make sure your site works at various different sizes, and particularly on the devices your audiences use most commonly.
Wireframing is a key part of a design process. Wireframes act as blue prints for your websites, allowing you to ensure that you have the right content and hierarchy on each page of your website according to your users’ needs and your key objectives. In our experience, delivering designs that have not come from wireframes often cause you to focus too much on design elements like colour or photography, meaning you often miss key details, or don’t spot crucial missing content. By wireframing key pages of your website, you will be able to review it and ensure we have captured everything it needs to deliver results and growth for your business.
For larger projects that would benefit from rigorous testing, either with an internal audience or customers, we can create online prototypes. Using either wireframes or design concepts, we build a prototype that behaves as a website, app or intranet would. Users testing it can click on links, see menu items, and browse through the site. This allows you to get a feel for how the site will function before committing to the final build. We use prototypes for many user research and user testing projects but can also create them for any design and build project as appropriate.
While design creates the look and feel for your website and ensures it is intuitive and engaging, development is equally important, as it ensures your site functions as it should.
We offer both front-end and back-end development in house, and can integrate with a number of CMS platforms, including Umbraco, WordPress, Sharepoint and Sitecore, as per your individual requirements.
Our technical team have vast experience in developing websites for global clients, and our expertise span across a broad range, having built everything from essential brochure sites with additional functionality to e-commerce solutions and sites tailored for clients in the charity sector.
Originally established as a technically-focused agency, our team are skilled and experienced. And with our increasing portfolio of design and creative work, they now work alongside designers, user experience professionals and other creatives to bring websites to life through development.
Front end development brings web designs to life. It is the job of the front end developer to ensure the site has the right spacing, sizing, interactions and navigations to allow the user to seamlessly and effortlessly browse your site, find the right information and take action – whether that be to contact you, download something or make a purchase. Our front end developers will enhance the user's journey without losing sight of your business goals
Back end development ensures your site functions as you require. Building a solid back-end is a crucial part of creating a site that is robust and fit for purpose. If you require something that is technically complex, we can build bespoke and tailored functionality. Or if it’s something simple, we’ll ensure it’s built to specification. We have in-house .NET and .PHP developers, meaning we can be flexible and build according to your needs.
We can integrate with a number of systems as per your requirements to improve or enhance your website’s functionality. This includes e-commerce platforms, content management systems, recruitment systems and more. While scoping your website, we will assess the need for systems integration and can discuss options with you in more detail to ensure we provide the right solution. In addition, we can also use API’s, wireframes and plug-ins during development to add features and functionality as required.
We use rigorous testing methods to ensure your site is ready and built to specification ahead of launch. This includes proofing, internal testing, user acceptance testing (UAT) and load testing. For each project, we create a testing strategy to ensure the site is tested according to requirements, specifications and functionality. In addition, our digital marketing team also work pre-launch to ensure you do not lose rankings or authority and that all traffic going to your old site is re-directed appropriately.
Content Management Systems give you the control and flexibility to manage and edit your sites content as and when you require. We can build your site on the right CMS to give you this capability.
As each system brings different benefits, we take a brief-led approach, recommending the CMS we feel is most appropriate for you. We would aim to do this at the early discovery stages of the project, taking time to understanding your audiences, requirements and marketing approaches. Systems include Umbraco, WordPress, Sharepoint and Sitecore – and we also have partners who can help deliver specialist solutions.
If you’re looking for a simple brochure website that offers your users a seamless experience and positively promotes your brand, products or services, WordPress can often be the ideal choice. With a number of additional plugins and features at our fingertips, the WordPress CMS can be extremely flexible and economical, as well as being extremely user friendly. Being open source, there are also no license fees.
Many of our larger, international clients favour Sharepoint for large builds or intranet solutions. Therefore we help our clients improve and update their web presences using the Microsoft owned CMS. For sites and intranets with search functionality, Sharepoint also offers a fast, reliable in-site search solution. Furthermore, the platform integrates with Office 365 and offers a completely scalable infrastructure.
Magento is a open-source and agile CMS that offers huge flexibility and opportunities for commerce sites. It allows great scalability, with the options for multisite and multilingual solutions. Magento also offers enhanced security, making it ideal for those looking to capture and store data within their website. The biggest brands in the world loves Magento.
Sitecore offers impressive functionality and enhanced marketing features. Sitecore allows the creation of reusable website components that can be stored ready for use at any time, meaning you can rapidly scale and grow your site. An internal SEO module allows you to optimise content for search engines and personalisation options allow you to amplify user experience and drive conversions.
