Steelso vs Real Life

Hot

I love May. It’s my favourite month. Not my favourite time of year. That makes no sense but it’s what i feel. I did actually wash my face in the morning dew today. Maypoles and morris dancing thankfully don’t come past the border.

The weather for the past few days has been unseasonably wonderful. As I look out not a cloud spoils the view. An it’s due to last until the at least the weekend. This weekend is a long weekend here and I’m really hoping that I can hone my quite impressive barbecue skills even more.

Cooking. Made fresh pesto. And roasted pepper houmous. And chicken wings in mustard and tarragon. Sam was happy though her potato salad was a wonder to behold.

Jake won an Apple Award at school. He couldn’t believe his eyes. No one is prouder of him than me.

Ramsay’s got a new book out. Good. Also got this modern classic about the greatest hero of our time. Very good and created here in Glasgow. Nice.

I have more to say. Not enough time.

S

x

New Work. Out There

Happy, happy, happy. Kryotrans’ new website was launched today. It’s been a great project to work on, thanks to Chris at Kryotrans and also to Victoria at 7th Floor for making it a joyous project to work on. Go on.

Web Designer First Meeting

We’re not like the dentist, we don’t have the drill. Mostly we’re sweet and inquisitive like small curious animals. However recently I’ve been asked what a potential new client should think about before having a first meeting with their potential new web design company.

This isn’t a full list, it’s not in any order as such and I’ll probably add to it as I go but here are my initial thoughts.

1. Try and think why you’re looking for a redesign or a new website. Do you feel it is time for a change, has your business moved on but your website stayed still, do you see new ways for the website to help your business or are you just unsure if your website is working for you?

We’re not looking for the answers, we’re here to help. However any insight you can give as to why you’re talking to us that would be great.

2. Take the time to look at your competitor’s websites and see what you like or don’t like about what they are doing on-line. This can be useful in determining what’s working in your market and also help us understand where your market is heading on-line.

3. If possible talk to some of your customers to see what they would like to see on your website. This could be additional information about you or possibly placing some business processes on-line. Customer insight is something we believe strongly in and we’ll probably do some research into your customers but your views will be invaluable.

4. Bring as much of your current marketing material as you even if you are planning to change it. It’s good to see what messages you are currentl;y sending out and what values are important to you. Expect to be challenged on them. We’re not tryig to be annoying, we just want to understand as much as possible and that usually is by asking why and then asking why you didn’t do it an other way. This will help us get to know you and your market better.

5. At a first meeting please, please don’t get too hung up on the design. The design is created by understanding your business, your market and, most importantly, the people you are trying to reach with your website.It’s all about the strategy and planning at this stage. Of course you can look at our web design portfolio however at the moment we’ll focus on getting the direction of the website right rather than if it’s nice in red or blue.

Just 5 wee tips. I have a load more but I think these are the top five that I have. Have I missed anything? Anything that hindsight has taught you or any common practice that you’re using and care to pass on?

Loving it.

Future Good

[TAG]Adobe[/TAG] launched [TAG]Flex 2[/TAG] today and we’re very excited about the potential for creating fantastic, intuitive [TAG]Internet experiences[/TAG]. Marc has been already working with the beta software and created a great little application that we’ll be using for a client shortly. The fruits of that will be displayed as soon as possible.

With Flex looking good and using various [TAG]ajax development[/TAG] tools the future looks bright. What does this fancy chat mean for you? An Internet experience that helps you get to your information faster. It’s all looking good.

Routes to Work South Launches

The new [tag]website design[/tag] for RTWS was been launched today. It’s looking good and it’s been fun too. RTWS are based outside [tag]Glasgow[/tag] in [tag]Cambuslang[/tag]. Thanks to Ian, Fraser and Anne at RTWS for all their help, creativity and thought.

Please feel free to pass on your thoughts on the website, good or bad. We’re tough, we can take it.

These Are The Voyages…

I’ve been back on the UIE website looking over their fantastic content and this wee article on [tag]vision statements[/tag] caught my eye. It’s timely as we’re in the last stages of developing our objectives for [tag]biscuitmedia[/tag] for the next year and we’re excited about what that holds.

Tomorrow we’re [tag]objective setting[/tag] and looking to start putting the chin rubbing into action. When we’re happy I’ll post what we’re doing up on the blog to share the insight and understanding of what we are, what we stand for and what [tag]experience[/tag] we’re all gunning for here.

Your [tag]feedback[/tag] will be more than welcomed.

Design Matters?

We’re currently pitching for a contract that needs to be easily recognised in [tag]search engines[/tag] (a whole other area of ranting for me, anyway…). When talking to the prospective client they stated that it didn’t have to look good, it just had to “do the job”.

An interesting conversation then started between myself and the client about how [tag]good web design[/tag] could help with the whole “job”, that good web design is important in creating the experience for visitors that help them feel comfortable in doing the ultimate goal, be that to enquire on a service, buy a product, etc.

That’s not to say that design is all. [tag]Content has to be king[/tag] but if the mix of design, content, purpose, clear navigation, easy to understand objectives and anything else you’d like to think of isn’t balanced then the website can’t be all that it can be. For me design only works for three pages then it must be backed up with content otherwise the [tag]design[/tag] is hollow and becomes frustrating.
It was a spirited and positive debate, the client just wanted it to “work”. We do too, it’s just that we want all the elements in place to create the best experience that we can.

What do you think? Do overly designed websites put you off? Does a design influence your thinking as to the website being good or bad? Are you looking for a website that “does the job” or are you looking for more?

Just to make clear, the client is cool with me posting this, we don’t have the job yet and it was a really interesting discussion. We both were just wondering what a wider audience would think.

Hungover

Had a bit of a biscuit night out in Glasgow’s fashionable Babbity Bowsers. It was very, very drunken and I’m feeling slightly jaded today….

Still it’s been a great week. We managed to get the contract for the redesign for Syncro, an current client. Which is all good.

John Amabile’s website is looking good and we’re at the tail end of the RTW/RTWS websites.

Marc, for it is he, is getting into the Taylor Clarke 360 project and about to dive into Flex 2 for a wee project I have in mind.

On top of all that we’re getting the objectives sorted for the next year, all good, exciting stuff.

This weekend sees the start of the Westend Festival which will be laugh. The kids and I are going to the festivities and with the weather set to be great it looks like it’ll be a great day oot. If I don’t have a bit of rubber stuck up my nose. That’s all the rage.

And I’m off to see Angel’s Share on Monday too. It’s culture.

I could really do with a wee nap, bless.

House Keeping

We’ve been tidying up a few things on the biscuitmedia website such as changing the home page, adding news and adding clients to the client list.

As well as that we’ve been adding blog pages to website reflecting that we’ve new members on the team. Their blogs can be viewed on my blog roll (hate that term) to the left.

And I updated my blog too. Spring in the air and all that. The weather here in Glasgow has been amazing and couldn’t ask to be in a better place.

We’re crazy here at work, we’ve been pitching for some very, very cool new work as well as working on finishing some stuff. Marc and I have been coming to creative blows in the specification of a new application for a new client. It’s all good.

Hopefully we’ll be able to show you all the cool stuff we’ve been doing soon.

Tomorrow I’m off to a networking event in Glasgow. It’s the first one I’ve been to in about  a year and I’m looking forward to it. I’ve got a good wee networking lunch next week too. It’s part of my spring resolutions to get back into all that caper.

Off home.

Like Building Websites? In Glasgow?

We’re looking to employ page builder here at biscuitmedia. The job is to support the design process in taking the designs then making them into websites. Use of Adobe tools (inc. the Macromedia Studio Suites) is vital as well as a sound knowledge of CSS.

Plenty of scope to do your own thing here at biscuitmedia over time. A great chance to learn things and to be involved with a great team doing great, creative work for clients who want the best. Interested?

Drop me a line at stewart@biscuitmedia.com and I’ll send over a full role profile.