Interface Design

Easy to use, well thought out and appealing websites (or applications) all have one thing in common – great design. Interface design is something which comes with experience and, although there are very clear and well established conventions to follow, it’s something that a web designer establishes over time. Making the user’s life easy and solving problems relating to navigation and content are second nature to good web designers; injecting the creativity and innovation that we expect to deliver is something we pride ourselves on. We have plenty of that sort of experience here at Hutchhouse.

Interactive Design

At Hutchhouse we value interactive design as a skill almost higher than any other. Interactive design is the process of translating user and business requirements into intuitive, easy to use and appealing interfaces using well considered conventions and principles. It encapsulates the various skills necessary to produce designs which stand out as innovative, unique and creative. Of course, the skill that our interactive designers have in abundance is understanding the fusion of functionality with creativity. That’s why what we produce is engaging, not just on a visual level, but also on an experiential one.

We really want to hear about your web design project. Feel free to contact us and get a quotation.

Information Architecture

Good user experience starts with good planning. The information architecture stage of projects is a vital component in understanding three important pieces of insight:

1. User requirements
2. Business requirements
3. Technology available

The importance of the information above varies but in general is prioritised as shown – user requirements being at the forefront. It’s important to match what your users or customers wants to get out of your site, with what your business or site objectives are and then to decide how to accomplish this using the technology available. It is not uncommon for this step to be skipped over in place and website convention put in it’s place – mainly because of budget restrictions. however a well considered information architecture will have a big impact on the success of a site.

Interface wireframing

Before getting stuck into the look and feel, the creative design phase of the project,  it’s much more useful to produce simple template wireframes which illustrate the layout and content elements on each page. We can then very easily present and sign off these layouts and hand them over to design – optimising the designer’s time and your input without expensive rounds of design iterations.

Prototyping

Sometimes it’s important to see how a comp0nent of  site will work without building the entire thing first. This is where prototyping plays it’s part. We can very easily put together a working model of a web component – let’s say how a homepage news box might work – so that it can be ‘played with’ and modified. This again saves on the larger and sometimes expensive costs which can build up if things are changed in the development phase.

All, or some, of these components together with the interface design makes up the user experience element of any project. It’s not over when your site goes live though, a website’s lifetime should consist of constant user experience enhancements based on site analytics.

Front end development

Typically the front end development of websites consist of the production of the XHTML markup and CSS stylesheets which make the site look and feel the way they were designed. This is a very important part of the development of any site – not just for aesthetic reasons but also in meeting with web standards and accessibility requirements.

We have a dedicated front end development team whose sole aim is to build the look and feel of the site. This means that they can work very closely with the design team to get the best results.

Doing things clientside

In order to enhance the user experience of the sites we produce we use Javascript techniques to aid usability and heighten the user experience. Javascript allows us to save on unnecessary page loads and do some really innovative work on the site interface.

Backend Development

Our web development team are eager to please. Their aim is always to produce the best result for the specific project they are working on and that means you are going to benefit greatly from using them. If they are building a CMS then it will be intuitive to use and give you the flexibility required without being overcomplicated and full of redundant features. We understand that you might not be used to using web applications or websites and that we have to provide systems which become familiar to use very quickly and don’t throw up those little surprises along the way.

The team will always try and go that extra step to make your user’s, editor’s or administrator’s life easier, especially in backend systems where typically the functionality requires some sort of learning curve. The shorter the better where we are concerned!

Bespoke Web Development & Database Architecture

Predominantly Linux based, our knowledge base allows us to build pretty much anything from websites and web apps, to desktop and mobile applications.

We can develop using existing frameworks and systems, as well as being proficient in XHTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript and MySQL allowing us to be as creative as we need to be.

Can we help you? Get in touch.

Web applications are exploding right now! The use of web based systems such as Google Apps (especially Google Docs) to manage traditionally desktop based tasks such as managing email or creating datasheets combined with the availability of APIs in order to share, distribute, save and access your data almost anywhere make online applications extensible and powerful. We are experienced in the design and build of systems like these and are always eager to explore the possibilities of what can be achieved online.

Mobile

You can’t really build a site or application without considering the benefits that a mobile variant could have. Over a quarter of people in the UK (26.5 %) said they have a smartphone and network usage rose by a mammoth 240% (OfCom) in 2009. If you build an application or game or sell products and services that are available online  then consider the benefits that a mobile version could bring to your users and the subsequent positive impact on your business and brand.

There are two established routes for providing content to mobile phones:

1. A specific mobile website which has an adapted interface to provide the appropriate usability (and functionality) for viewing on smaller screens
2. Mobile apps developed for specific mobile operating systems

If we can help with either then please get in touch.

In the UK over 40% of people buy at least one product online a week with an average spend of over £70 per item. The total UK online retail spend is predicted to be around £60 billion in 2010 with a 100% increase predicted in the next decade. It’s not a market which can be ignored and it’s a market which can be entered gradually in order to maximise your rate of investment.

We provide fully content managed e-commerce facilities which include:

• Shopping baskets
• Checkout (via any payment gateway)
• User account management
• Cross or up selling
• Discount structures including coupon codes
• Customisable postage and packaging

We want the experience of shopping online to be easy and accessible for your users so we take great care when planning your shopping process to ensure you maintain and increase your sales traffic and sales conversions.

Online shop applications

Online shops have been widely developed so there is little point in re-inventing the wheel and developing bespoke shopping systems for most projects. There are a number of very good options when it comes to developing your shop online and we support the majority of them. A few favourites are Magento and WordPress Shopp.

If you would like to contact us to discuss how an online shop can work for you please get in touch.

Online Marketing

We can provide the ideas, the know-how and the delivery for any successful online marketing campaign. Along with our partners, we have every skill-set covered. We can develop your marketing plan, produce and activate the campaign, all the while relying on our experience in design, production and search engine optimisation ensuring that your campaign is a success.

Effective Web Strategy

We strongly believe that the root of a strong web strategy should be organic and that for the majority of brands the goals should be medium or long term. That’s why we focus on the established online media channels to provide the mainstay of your digital strategy. Online content creation, commentary and social media should form the cornerstones to your online presence and ultimate success, whilst pay per click marketing, online advertising, email marketing and link building fulfil more campaign specific goals.

We aid your digital strategy by ensuring that your brand’s long term, online presence is firmly established, whilst stimulating the necessary peaks in activity required to meet your objectives.

We offer our customers the ability to tap into these marketing channels, setting up and customising accounts and creating campaigns which can help in a number of ways including:

1. Customer service
2. Promotional sales
3. Search engine visibility
4. Market research

It’s hard to get the tone and objectives right when you market to customers online and that’s where we come in – helping you set up campaigns with specific goals and clear guidelines on engagment with your audience.

Get in touch to see how we can help you.

It’s important to remember that all the functionality in the world can’t work without well formed and valid (accessible) XHTML (or HTML) and CSS. To put it simply – this is the foundation of all web design and sits behind every well written site out there.

Want to make sure your site works and displays uniformly to as many people as possible? Then you’ll need to consider using somebody who appreciates the importance of this part of any web design project.

Development of your brand

As your digital agency we need to be brand savvy. And that’s what we are.  We have the skills to to nurture, protect and maintain your brand philosophy. This is as important in the early years of a business, as it is when you are a successful household name. Brands are easily diluted and easily tarnished so it’s important to have a partner that sees the need to protect your identity and reputation.

We have experience in building and maintaining brands, so you can feel secure in the knowledge that your branded image is well looked after.

Logo Design

Sometimes you don’t need the full branding package, you might be a start-up that simply wants a logo for your website. We do offer this service, the delivery of a logo only, but do recommend that you consider the next step and develop a set of brand guidelines. This will establish your brand’s style and protect it from degrading over time as other agencies involved.

Branding Summary

With the direction of marketing moving more and more towards online, it’s key to the success of future campaigns that you embrace the online market and develop an online brand which reflects and enhances it’s offline counterpart. We always strive to make this happen, championing your brand at every opportunity.

Flash Design

Flash Design is the skill of manipulating images and content using Adobe Flash and animating them to form extremely impressive presentations or movies in their own right. Using Flash to re-inforce your message can be a great way of keeping visitors on your site, or even driving new traffic. Sometimes using a well considered animation rather than a flat image is the only way to really get your point across.

Flash Development

Flash is not just a visual application, it can used to develop complex web and desktop based applications. It is especially effective in developing games, viral campaigns and content managed presentations or web based magazines.

When not to use Flash

Although Flash can be used for delivering all your web content it’s not recommended. The primary reason for this is that Search Engines cannot spider Flash content, so it remains invisible and is not taken into account in search results. There are of course exceptions to this, such as rich media viral campaigns, however we would also suggest that the content was backed up by well formed HTML content so that Search Engines can also digest it. In the main part Flash is invisible to search engines. If you are of any doubt then look at a Flash site using a text browser like Lynx.

One of the most requested uses of Flash, and one of the biggest ‘no nos’, is the Flash splash screen; the opening intro animation which then leads you through to the main site. This was pre-dominantly used during the 1990′s and early 2000′s but should be avoided at all costs. If you take into consideration what has been said above about Flash and search engines then the ‘splash screen’ provides a barrier to search engines and can completely scupper your SEO efforts. Don’t do it!

Flash summary

Flash can manipulate vector and raster graphics, and supports bi-directional streaming of audio and video. It contains a scripting language called ActionScript. Several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash content, including Adobe Flash Player, which is available free for most common web browsers, some mobile phones and for other electronic devices (using Flash Lite). The Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program is used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform, such as web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.