We are delighted to be able to tell you about a very exciting project which has been keeping us busy for the last six months or so.

In the summer of 2012 we were approached by a start-up business with a vision for a new way of delivering business coaching and consultancy. Using a technique called ‘sociodrama’, their idea involved the use of gaming technology to create metaphorical representations of real-world scenarios in a virtual landscape – a radically different approach to any other coaching product in the marketplace. They were looking for a company to help them build the software platform that would make this vision a reality and our long-standing track-record in developing 3D virtual environments and managing virtual events naturally brought them to our door.

 But it wasn’t just our specialist knowledge in this area that we were able to bring to the project. They also needed a name and an identity so our branding team set to work on this whilst our web team began building the business a website.

Meanwhile our technical development team were busy building and testing the commercial software platform, a process which took nearly half a year before the product was ready for it’s first commercial release in February 2013.

With the application quickly gaining recognition in the coaching and consultancy arena we are continuing development and every release sees the addition of new features. As ProReal grows as a business we are there to support them. And, as testament to their faith in us, Dom Raban, our MD, now sits on their Board of Advisors.  

Read more about ProReal in our case study.

In 2010 the Department of Education announced a plan to establish around 500 National Teaching Schools by 2014. Based on the successful Teaching Hospitals model the aim of the programme is to give outstanding schools a leading role in teachers’ training and professional development, as well as contributing to the raising of standards through school-to-school support. Schools which pass the stringent acceptance criteria then form alliances with other schools to deliver in-school learning programmes.

One such alliance is ‘Everyone Learning’, a partnership of 15 schools led by Hawthorns Community School in Ashton, Manchester. Having received their designation as a National Teaching Schools Alliance on 1st April last year they approached us and asked us to work on a brand identity, website, social media page branding and an e-newsletter template.

The brandmark features a lowercase ‘e’ encircled by three figures holding hands. The non-hierachical relationship between the figures symbolises the spirit of sharing and cooperation that the Alliance embodies.

The website serves as a ‘shop front’ for the partnership and a place where ideas can be shared between partners and students. The responsive design means that the site’s layout adapts to the size of browser window on which it is displayed. This means that people viewing on a mobile, tablet or desktop will each see a different site layout optimised for that particular device.

You can visit the site at: www.everyonelearning.co.uk

When our friends Down at the Social (see previous post) asked us to build a facebook app for a Guiness World Record attempt we were delighted to get involved. The campaign’s aim was to break the record for the largest toy construction lesson in the world!

The campaign was for Legoland Discovery Centres worldwide and involved 10 centres across 5 time zones. We built a facebook app to enable users across the globe to vote on which model should be built for the Guinness challenge. The app auto-detected the user’s language and displayed the correct language tab on load. A single cms collated entries from all territories.

The most popular model according to user votes was a festive train. 23,534 lego bricks and 287 children later we can happily report that the trains were built and the record was broken!

If you’re a regular reader of our news pages you may remember that back in early 2011 we designed a website for Down at the Social, a startup PR company formed by ex-Brazen Account Director Daisy Whitehouse.

Following a very successful year and a half, a number of new client wins and a change in the management structure DatS decided it was time for a brand refresh and a revamp of their site so naturally they came to us.

View the ‘bigger and better’ site here: www.downatthesocial.co.uk

When we were contacted by Damson Audio to develop a new website for them we jumped at the chance – not least because we loved their product range of high quality bluetooth speakers aimed at smartphone owners who want top quality audio output.

We’ve developed a full e-commerce site with some cool design features, like the expandable footer bar which hugs the bottom of your browser window. The site is currently available in five language variants with more expected to be added soon.

We can thoroughly recommend the speakers too – we’ve got a pair in our pool room!

You can visit the site at: www.damsonaudio.com

Since winning a three-way pitch back in February we’ve been keen to tell you about our work developing a new website for Hull’s annual celebration of arts and music, Freedom Festival. The festival, now in its fifth year, takes place over the weekend of 6th – 9th September and features a diverse programme of arts events as well as an eclectic musical lineup which includes Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Spiritualized and Kid British.

Our site features a responsive design which uses CSS to reflow the site layout according to the device on which the site is viewed. This creates an optimal viewing experience for the user, presenting device specific designs for desktop, mobile and tablet.

STOP PRESS: we’ve just heard (9th September) that the festival enjoyed its best year ever with over 75,000 visitors and a number of sell-out shows!

You can visit the site at: www.freedomfestival.co.uk