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12 Jul 2012

Jack Tighe New Site | The Energy Cell

Another success story for The Energy Cell team with the launch of the new Jack Tighe website! 

The site we’ve created is designed to reflect the company’s high standards of service and solutions online, strongly branded & professional, clearly representing Jack Tighe Ltd as one of the UK’s market leaders in their field of expertise.

The old site was built in Flash, which didn’t give the business the flexibility they needed to update, edit and add information to the site:

Jack Tighe | The Energy Cell

The new site has an easy to use Content Management System, giving the company a site that can be self-maintained to minimise ongoing support costs and enable easy, quick updates of the site including pages, text and images. The site also clearly promotes their key service areas; coating, blast cleaning and painting and commercial decorating, as well as their environmental solutions.

With strong calls to action, the new solution contains a wealth of informative content to reflect the range of solutions, the years of expertise and experience in the industry and the personal service and advice provided by Jack Tighe Ltd with attractive, eye catching images that encourage visitors to explore the site and find out more.

We also designed the site to cater for the different persona of visitors who could be existing customers, new prospects such as procurement offices and decision makers from target markets within Government, Rail, Petrochemical, Retail and Marine.

If you have your own redesign project or any other project you’d like to discuss, just get in touch in the team!

 

3 Jul 2012

From food, to fashion, to furniture, many of Britain’s biggest brands and businesses are capitalising on the boom in national pride by adding a red, white and blue twist to their marketing campaigns.

Energy Cell | Brands of Britain

With the recent Diamond Jubilee and upcoming summer of festivities, it’s impossible to miss the veritable explosion of Union Jacks on the marketing and advertising scene. Now, as the Queen’s Jubilee tour comes to its end, the excess of bunting and royal themed gimmicks are starting to die down – but the emphasis on the summer of sport is still going strong.

Embracing this sense of Britishness in your marketing efforts can be a great way of celebrating what your company is bringing to the mix – whether that’s a summer sale, a new product range or simply your longstanding heritage as a British business.

Before considering tying your marketing in with this sense of national pride, evaluate whether or not your business lends itself to this type of campaign. If your business has a strong background, then summer 2012 is a great opportunity to celebrate with the rest of the country. If being British is not at the heart of your business, it’s probably not the right direction for your marketing efforts – and may make you look like you’re jumping on the bandwagon.

A vintage slant can tap into a sense of nostalgia, a subtly placed flag can gently remind customers of your history and experience and, if skillfully executed, a full-blown campaign can really get your brand noticed. In a time of economic recession, a chance for British celebration is always going to be well received but before contemplating relating any of your campaigns to London 2012, be fully aware of the rules surrounding the use of Olympic reference in advertising*.

Consumer-facing businesses are more likely to benefit than B2B, but a British twist can add real value to any brand if implemented properly – so as with any promotional marketing or new campaign direction, it’s always advisable to get the professionals involved. For some specialist advice, just get in touch with a member of the team here at The Energy Cell – we’ll be able to help move your business in the right direction.

*All of the official names, phrases, trade marks, logos and designs related to the 2012 Games and the Olympic and Paralympic Movements (collectively referred to as the ‘Games’ Marks’) are protected by law in a variety of ways. For more details visit: http://www.london2012.com/about-us/our-brand/using-the-brand/

 

13 Jun 2012

‘Founded in September 2006, Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to Web designers and developers. Our aim is to inform our readers about the latest trends and techniques in Web development. We try to persuade you not with the quantity but with the quality of the information we present.’

Smashing Magazine is a well-known online magazine with a reputation for informative and interesting content – and here at The Energy Cell, we love the articles so much… we had to write about it!

As a magazine with over 4 million monthly users, its one of the most successful magazines for creative professionals – but is equally as valuable for anyone with a passion for design and technology, with endless articles covering coding, design, mobile, graphics, UX design and wordpress.

Strict guidelines about the articles that are published means Smashing Magazine ensures readers are presented with only high quality content; so whether you’re interested in the more technical stuff, or simply looking for fresh ideas and inspiration on areas such as copywriting, typography, navigation, user experience and much more, you’re practically guaranteed to find useful and entertaining articles on topics that interest you! Check it out – we bet you’ll love it just as much as we do.

 

31 May 2012

With the British sunshine finally making a tentative appearance and our passion for cutting edge web design ever burning …we thought we’d take a look into some of the best-designed and most engaging tourist sites from across the globe! Here are just some of the favourites hand-picked by different members of the team…

New Zealand

Our favourite site by far, the user experience of New Zealand’s tourism site goes way beyond expectations, with a highly original, fresh and engaging approach to showing what New Zealand has to offer. And we have to say… we’d love to go!

Brittany

A thorough and easy to navigate site with excellent photography, nice icons and a bright and cheerful colour palette, the Brittany tourism site goes the extra mile to show that they have something for everyone.

Hawaii

The Hawaiian Islands site is definitely one the friendliest: with the tagline ‘The People of Hawaii would like to share their islands with you’ and its tropical design, you almost feel like you’re on holiday already!  One of the great things about this site is the option to create an account, so you can make your own personal itinerary and ensure you don’t miss out on anything Hawaii has to offer.

Spain

Simple and sophisticated, with modern photography and no unnecessary clutter, Spain’s site has a personal and intimate feel. The homepage invites the reader to ‘Conoce’ or ‘Know’ Spain, with a simple to use navigation and frequently updated invitations to visit events, specific regions and enter competitions to win trips to Spain.

Tennessee

With a retro scrapbook feel, the tourism site for Tennessee is always current, focusing on upcoming events and social network links.  The architecture of the Things To Do section is one of the best we’ve seen, allowing you to view by type of activity, seasonal attractions and visitor type… so you’re guaranteed to find something of interest!

Furthermore, Tennessee’s spring vacation site, based around a variety of outdoor activities, is brilliantly designed and executed with a bold use of colourful graphics and photography.  The site is fun, energetic and really shouts adventure – so even if you’re not a fishing fanatic, you can still enjoy the experience of the site.

Developing fantastic looking, functional and future-proof websites is what we’re all about here at The Energy Cell, so we enjoy exploring the best of what’s out there on the World Wide Web as much as visiting the world’s best tourist hotspots. So, if you have your own favourites, please comment and share them with the team! And if you’re looking to embark on a web design project of your own, just get in touch to see what we can do for you… we’re always happy to share our expertise!

 

16 May 2012

‘We help you easily discover new and interesting stuff on the Web. Tell us what you like, and we’ll introduce you to amazing web pages, videos, photos and more that you wouldn’t have found on your own.’

On the lookout for interesting websites to tickle your fancy? If you haven’t discovered StumbleUpon yet, then find out what it can discover for you! Founded in 2001, StumbleUpon is a discovery engine (now also available as an iPhone and iPad application) that takes you on an intriguing journey around the web, allowing you to discover sites you may have never heard of but are guaranteed to intrigue and inspire you.

Once you sign up for your free account, you can select from a wide variety of categories which relate to your interests: ranging from Poker, to Painting, to Postmodernism and everything in between. Once you have picked out your favourite topics, simple stumble away! You can choose to stumble a particular channel, all your channels or if you don’t want to stumble by interest, you can simply browse news stories, photos or videos.You can then like or dislike the pages you are presented with, giving StumbleUpon a clearer idea of exactly the kind of sites you do and don’t want to see. Easy!

Connect your StumbleUpon account with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google to share and comment on the sites that strike your interest, and follow other Stumblers whose interests are of a similar nature to your own. So, whether you are on the hunt for inspiration, entertainment, tip and hints, or simply want to fill a quiet Sunday afternoon,  check out StumbleUpon and you may stumble upon something special!

 

 

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