jansblog

Hi,

A quick post about my most recent complete project. It is the redesign and re-build of the Down But Not Out Productions site.

We originally built the DBNO site two years ago. A toe in the water to trial the launch of a new clothing brand for Josh Franceschi, lead singer of You Me At Six (and fellow Gooner). The original site design was bold, brash and very much experimental, as was the brand and the site. With the last two and a half years the brand has grown up, as had the ranges of clothing and accessories; thus a new focus on a clean design and branding were required, along with an updated store with much more to come in the future. The site is now built in wordpress to facilitate the regular blogging requirement of the DBNO guys.

After many discussions and several months I’m pleased to say the site is live (has been for two weeks now), and so far has been well received.

Hope you like it, you can take a ganders and possibly pick up a new tee at: http://downbutnotoutproductions.com/

Hi,

So I have not practiced what I preach. I have not written a blog post since April 4th. Main reason is that I have been so busy, working like mad and lots of things going on away from work. So thanks to all my clients and partners whom I’ve been working with of late. So here are a couple of URLs of some recent work, full folios to follow soon.

Mason Rose: http://masonrose.com/
Working with Inaria, a wordpress development project, lots of functionality to go with the fabulous design work as ever from Inaria.

Zehra Hicks: http://www.zehrahicks.com/
Small wordpress implementation for ex colleague and good friend Zehra Hicks. Please take a look and go buy her fabulous new book, the first of many I’m sure.

I’ll be tweeting and posting about a few new projects later this week when they are ready to go (very close). Lots more in the pipeline that I can’t talk about yet.

Bye.

Hello,

This post is not, for a change, about web design, development or work.

Last night I had the great pleasure of heading up to Shepherds Bush to watch my favourite band of the 80s and early 90s Big Audio Dynamite. I treated by big brother Jason to the tickets, a late birthday present. Jason used to love BAD when we were youngsters and I often stole his casettes and soon enough was  a massive fan. I can distinctly remember listening to No 10 Upping Street on a coach trip across Europe as a teenager. Again and again I would play that tape until the batteries on my walkman ran out.

I was so pleased when I heard the original boys had reformed, having (unlike Jason) never seen the original line up – although I did get to see BAD II once when I was 17 or 18.

So yesterday evening we met for a few early pints and headed up to West London.

Soon we were in the bar inside the Empire having a couple of beers and chatting away about the old days. I was pleased to see a celebrity star at the bar (martine mccutcheon). Not sure if she was there for BAD or for the excellent support band Rotten Hill Gang! I hope both.

Eventually the boys hit the stage with a rousing rendition of Medicine Show. This really kicked off the show, an obvious high point. This was followed by many classics from the first two albumn, along with a couple from Tighten up Vol 88. We both particularly enjoyed The Battle of All Saints Road, Don Letts was clearly enjoying himself.

It was strange to see the crowd, of course mostly men in there 40s, but Jason and I were commented on some younger fans down in the Pit going suitably mental, especially when The Bottom Line blasted out.

After two encores that included one BAD II track it was all over – what a great evening’s entertainment. I sincerely hope this is not the end to BAD – surely with all that talent some kind of album could be on the way? I hope so.

Dynamite!

Right back to work…..

I was in a pub recently (really I was), when a friends’ website became the topic of conversation. He was talking about getting more traffic, raising awareness of his brand etc etc.

I started spouting off many (I would say) standard responses, suggesting he set up a blog and regularly post, send out regular industry specific tweets, try to get his name mentioned or site linked from other industry publications etc etc.

It was only yesterday when I realised that for my generally good advice to friends and clients (fortunately lots are both) I do not actually always practice what I preach. I have not posted a blog since last July.

Mainly because of twitter. I use twitter daily, mostly spouting nonsense. But when I do have a new project to shout about, or some news I tend to tweet immediately. So I am aiming to start writing posts much more regularly from now on. Let’s see how I get on.

Hello,

just an update of some projects that I have been involved with in recent months.

First up Jabbakam working with ibrow.

Jabbakm is a system that allows you to remotely access your IP cameras, and use your cameras as part of a social group. It’s hard to explain in a nutshell, but take a look at the video on the homepage where the system is explained much better than I can.

My role in jabbakam was providing all the HTML templates, this was quite a substantial undertaking.

Then, working for we are:london on the NSPCC.org.uk website re-skin and re-architect project, my role to take the designs and build compliant HTML templates for integration with NSPCC’s content management system. The project also involved further work liaising with client developers to fix iterative integration issues on site.

More recently there has been Cookie Crumbles, working with Inaria.

Cookie Crumbles is an organisation that runs cooking classes , as well as selling all manner of cooking accessories – all specifically for children.

My role in this project was taking the design, building a HTML website along with integrating with a third party e-commerce solution.

Finally, again with Inaria there is the Ann Scott Associates site.

My role in this project was working with the designs and integrating with WordPress, along with all the associated HTML.

As you can see lots of varied and interesting projects… More soon…

Hi,

I have finally got round to creating an iphone specific css for this website. Please visit me on your iphone to see, or alternatively take a look at the images below from your traditional (?!?) web browser.

bye

jan

Hi,

I have finally got round to updating my very much out of date portfolio, there are a few new websites up there for you to have a look at. It’s been a busy few months and I have not put all my work up, but a few selected items. Please have a read, and visit the sites if you have time.

Very recently I have finished work on The Property Mill. Many thanks to TPM for the work, and wishing you every success in your new venture.

Also I have very recently completed the commerce site for Kitemco. Again more information in my portfolio and again thanks to Kitemco for the project, really pleased with both of these.

I’m currently working on another ecommerce integration and build for my friends at inaria. I am soon going to be staring another project with inaria also, a wordpress integration.

Also, next week should see me begining yet another wordpress integration and build for my friends at pinkgreencreative. It’s our first project together, and I hope the first of many more.

thats all for now, bye.

Jan

hi,

firstly I need to find some time in my busy diary to update my portfolio, if you have popped on here to see some new work – i’m sorry… I will update shortly.

The end of March has just passed, and with it my second full year as a limited business. Although business was not as good as the previous year, it was very close (only short a few quid of billing), which considering the current economic crisis and how slow work was last summer (comparitive to the previous year) I was very happy.

Last night I was graced with the presence of my old coding partner, Gavin Agamemnos; back from his travels across Asia. It was lovely to catch up with Gav, sink a few beers and talk of the old days at Corporate Edge/Likemind. Gav is back and considering his future. Gav, good luck whatever you do and speak soon.

Right, best crack on and wonder how Arsenal will fair on Tuesday evening in Camp Nou. Fingers Crossed.!

Hello,

It’s been some time since my last post, so Happy 2010.

I realised earlier this month that it’s three years since I left my full-time employment at Corporate Edge (now likemind) and started up my own business. Today is the third year anniversary. (Well at least it feels like today as I finished on the last Friday of January 2007).

I have to say it’s been an amazing three years, both professionally and personally – fun, hard, rewarding and brilliant.

So a quick thanks to all the companies and individuals who have worked with me in that time, long may our relationships continue.

I’ve had a busy few months since my last post.

One project I am proud of is down but not out productions a very different project from my normal. This is an online store, blog and website for the clothing brand created by youmeatsix’s front-man Josh Franceschi.

Working on a website like this was a fun and interesting experience. This is just phase one of the site, so keep an eye for future updates, new clothing and accessories.

I also have another project for this client in the pipeline right now, so more information on that soon.

I’ve also undertaken a large update to the dataquestuk site.

I have built another wordpress site, this time for the UK Film Council – a site about raising awareness on green issues in the Film making industry.

I worked with AKGConsulting on this site, cheers guys. Check out Greenfilm.info

I have also worked on my first expression engine project, the build and backend for brightspark. This site is basically a libary of videos created by brightspark. The site allows the client to fully administer the site’s content and video libraries. (You have to sign up to see more than the three videos on the homepage). I will be adding a further level to the site shortly, a client specific extranet.

I’ve also been doing lots of other bits and pieces including some work for my friends at ibrow and some work with my old crew at likemind.

Well I’m off to dream about an iPad…

hello,

I know it’s been ages since I have posted anything. It’s been a manic few months, and I have just not had time to post anything.

Yesterday, I moved home and so also office. I am tapping this away in my temporary office in the new house. It says something when the first thing you have to unpack is your computers and hard drives. Still we are (kind of) set up and rolling, so I can keep all of my clients happy – and I’m pleased to say that at the moment I am very very busy.

Since September when I last posted, I have worked on several project both directly, and as part of collaborations. Unfortunately I can’t speak about all of them here yet, but here are some names and companies I have been working for and with.

I’ve been working with my friends at Corporate Edge Branding on a number of online treatments for new brands, including animated idents – thanks guys.

An interesting project for my friends in Germany, hello ibrow -working on version 2 of this project right now.

Also worked with the lovely weare:london on new templates for the new NSPCC website (amongst other things), thanks gang.

I’ve also been doing lots of email marketing work for my friends at Uffindell West, many thanks.

I’ve also worked on a number of smaller websites, including ignitefire and the website for Agency Bell, cheers tony and samantha.

Currently, like I said working on a lovely project with ibrow. I’m also working on version 2 of dataquests’ website (launching next week – if I can get all the work done this weekend)! and another exciting new project that will also launch shortly. I will write a specific post about this next week – as its something a little different for me.

Future work is also lined up for the rest of the year, and several irons in several fires for 2010.

Thanks

Jan

p.s. good luck Peter Cameron on your new life in Vietnam – please follow peters exploits at http://blog.runawaypancake.co.uk/