Big Words Copywriting Service
In the same way you go to a designer for the look and feel and a web developer to build your website, a copywriting service is there if you have something that needs to be said. Be it on a brochure, a billboard or a website, clear and concise language is important. Big Words have years of experience as copywriters providing concise and relevant copy for corporations, companies and individuals.
Branding and design were provided by Luke Gerner (www.lukegerner.com) and we were lucky enough to work on getting the website, hosting and email sorted out. We're more than happy with the result and know where we'll be going when we run out of ... you know....
Have a great weekend...
Mark
Labels: Copywriting, melbourne, web-design, Web-Design-Melbourne
Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Websites for iPhone
The Apple iPhone is scheduled to launch in Australia in 2008. We're already testing our website development for the iPhone to make sure they work as expected.
The iPhone uses a version of Safari web browser engine, so the iPhone can display web pages in their full glory rather than a bland cut down version that's just made for mobile.
Designing a website that will work great on the iPhone doesn't mean any significant changes to the development process. We've been testing our sites for the iPhone over the last few weeks and incorporated that into our normal development cycle. This means our clients can be sure that their websites will look as great on the iPhone as they do on the desktop.
Labels: iPhone-Australia, Web-Design-Melbourne
Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Gray Nicolls Launch
It's Friday, it's been a big week, and we've got a lot done. All up, I think we've made the internet a better place.
Over the last few weeks we've been working hard on upgrading the Gray Nicolls website. Gray Nicolls Sports distributes, Cricket, Rugby, Netball, Hockey, Squash, Tennis and even Darts equipment to almost 1,000 retailers in Australia and New Zealand through brands like Gray Nicolls, County, Steeden and Gilbert. No one can argue, we love our sport.
This project has been a little different from some of the other work we've done. The design side has been handled by Adam at HD Design, while we've looked after the content management system. Adams a real pro - and the process could not have been smoother.
The site was and still is for the large part in Mambo/Joomla - to be honest, not one of our favourite systems. We've manage to work with and around the system to provide Gray Nicolls an elegant solution for promoting their products and news, while providing a different look and feel for each brand.
It's been a fun and rewarding process! Now on to a well earned beverage.
Have a great weekend,
David
Labels: design, launch, melbourne, web-development
Posted on Friday, October 12, 2007
Facebook for Bands and Artists
We've done work for quite a few musicians over the last few years and it's been interesting to see the change in their approach to the web over that time.
MySpace has given artists an avenue to show off their wares for little or no cost. Facebook is rumoured to be coming to the music space with an offering for bands and artists. They are designing the platform to allow bands and labels to create artists pages, and allow various widgets to be embedded for music promotion, organizing events, and more. The trouble with MySpace is that as far as usability goes - it doesn't get much worse (don't even start me on design).
According to the report by PaidContent, "Among those widgets would be iLike, the most popular app inside Facebook, but will also include iTunes widgets for sampling (to begin with), and eventually buying music through Apple," the report states. "The service will still have the utilitarian sensibilities of the Facebook platform, the sources stress, rather than the more chaotic and flashy platform that MySpace has."
We here have a lot of respect for Facebook at the moment. It has the right mix of functionality, and thought behind it's workflow. The design, although plain, is organised and can't really be ruined by anyone.
The main reason we think Facebook will be a big thing for musicians and artists is the demographic of users. Kids use MySpace (and don't pay for music) and everyone else uses Facebook.
Let's see how it plays out. In the meantime, anyone for a game of Scrabulous?
David
Labels: cleaning-up-myspace, Facebook, MySpace, social-content
Posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007
MySpace Redesign
The advent of social networking sites has meant that businesses now have a whole new way to get in touch with potential clients. In the past, to develop an online 'community' or interest group, the best way to spark discussion was to run a forum, or look for feedback through traditional methods like online forms and emails. These all fell prey to the problems of moderation, checking of comments and constant monitoring. Facebook, MySpace, Digg and the like all bring with them new ways for communities, groups and businesses to encourage participation and share their messages online.
It's been great helping out Tim and the guys at Cliffhanger Climbing Gym first with a new online store and now with a redesign of Cliffhanger's MySpace page. We're looking forward to getting to work on the new site soon, watch this space...
Labels: MySpace, pimp, redesign, web-design, Web-Design-Melbourne
Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Listen Carefully - A series of design experiments
Listen Carefully "... is the culmination of a series of design experiments, and the introduction to an exploration of the designer as the medium, through which media messages are communicated."
We've recently been working with Dan Peterson from Listen Carefully, helping customize a Wordpress blog template. It's great to work in web design on a non-commercial job and we've enjoyed being able to contribute to the Listen Carefully experiment.
In times gone by the humble blog was there for the angry nerd to voice his frustrations, complaints and issues. Nowadays, the blog has a whole stack of things going for it and a wide variety of uses for the individual, company or project ;
- it can be the 'voice' for the group or company it represents
- it's a way to respond and comment on news items or relevant activity out in the world
- use a blog to publish press releases, announce new products or relationships
- take advantage of RSS feeds and have instant updates go out to anyone who's bookmarked your site/blog
- tailor your content by tagging and labeling posts to help your SEO
Listen Carefully is a great example of the benefits that come from publishing work like this on the web. Bringing together 7 designers from Melbourne for the initial stage, now feedback has come from design studios and students all over the world, allowing the experiment to take on an organic element and grow with the people involved. The open communication involved via the blog medium allows for visitors to the site to contribute to the discussion and hence the experiment itself.
Take a look, wander through the site and comment where you see fit. If you want more information on how easy it is to update and run your own blog, feel free to get in touch.
All the best,
Mark
Labels: blog-templates, blogger, design, listen-carefully, melbourne, web-design, wordpress-customisation, wordpress-templates
Posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007