In the beginning
Not so long ago, our very own Andy stumbled across a Twitter post written by the accredited photographer Damien Lovegrove of Lovegrove Consulting. Damien was looking to find a good web design team to develop a suitable online platform for his Evolve group of wedding photographers. Of course we were quick to respond, and jumped at the chance to work with such a talented photographer.
Damien received many applications and recommendations; he then preceded to shortlist a final group of six web design teams.
Following a few twitter and email conversations, a date was set for Dave and I (Sharon) to pitch the idea of a customisable WordPress solution to Damien himself. Admittedly we were a little nervous, but soon channelled our creative enthusiasm and quickly became excited about the pitch. Dave worked hard on the presentation while I read a little more about Damien and his impressive career.
The Pitch
The day of the pitch was indeed an early start, 5.30am to be precise! We left Nottingham and began the 3 hours journey to Fir Tree Farm, located in the small town of Nailsea, Somerset. The setting was stunning! A beautiful court yard peppered with stones and water features, leading to a converted coach house set amongst the Somerset countryside.
On entering the Lovegrove Consulting reception we were instantly welcomed by Blaise & Julie. It was clear to see the pure talent this establishment had to offer – it would be fair to say we were blown away by the art photography that graced the walls. The team radiated warmth and professionalism and offered us a much needed coffee after that long drive!
We were escorted to a room and prepared to pitch our ideas to Damien. While we waited we admired some of the spectacular works presented in huge leather bound portfolios by Damien and his team.
Damien entered the room and immediately oozed charisma and creative energy. His passion for photography, people and the arts was promptly conveyed and so we set about delivering our pitch. We knew our photography portfolio was relatively non-existent, but continued to introduce ourselves, the team, past work and what we do. As well as listening, Damien passionately shared his thoughts and ideas. His knowledge of using web platforms to market products and services was plain to see. I was thrilled to discover Damien’s appreciation for usability and the user experience while Dave picked up on his understanding of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
When it came to us presenting the ideal content managed solution for wedding photographers, Damien suddenly announced the Floppy Chicken concept. We were soon captivated by the idea as Damien fully explained the Floppy Chicken goals and aspirations. He awarded the Floppy Chicken project to Angel SEO and said ‘Let’s make this happen’!
From that moment, The Angel team have worked closely with Damien to design and deliver the perfect platform for Floppy Chicken. You can read what Damien has to say about us here how to design a website.
The Floppy Chicken Concept
floppychicken.com will focus on beautiful art created by talented photographers, a stylish online art gallery. The site will also be a place of inspirational art. Floppy Chicken will be aimed at professional photographers, people with a keen interest in photography, appreciation for art, and anyone interested in buying high quality photography prints.
The Project Process
The project initiated through Basecamp. We use this resource for most web projects as its perfect for collaboration and simple project management. We got to work on assembling the team and the discovery phase.
During the discovery phase my teammate (Ryan) and I worked on some user needs/stories and created 5 personas and scenario maps. We locked ourselves in a room with some post it notes, a white board, pens, primitive use cases, identified user characteristics and a head full of ideas and set to work. We love this bit and feel it’s essential to understand users and their needs.
After a few hours we had a great set of user personas, scenario and tasks to hand. We then compiled an informative kick off document describing our interpretation of the floppy chicken concept, goals & objectives, design and architecture, audience and users, estimated timeline and proposed basic system.
The next stage was the design and build phase. The system was designed in parallel with the UX and look and feel. This method works well within a short time frame – it also helps if your client is prepared to collaborate and feedback. Basecamp played an integral role here in keeping everyone informed and up to date – I salute you basecamp!
During this phase we produced high level site maps, use cases, system diagrams, wireframes, user journeys and information flows based on user needs (personas and scenario maps) and business goals. Our talented designer Sean then created the awesome visuals to accommodate the above. Andy worked his magic on the WordPress theme and backend customisation while Matt worked on the bespoke JQUERY gallery. The two gents are now in the process of knitting everything together and making the different elements talk to each other (that’s my official techie speak :)).
We’re now nearing the end of this phase and the team are really pleased with the development. We realise we are lucky to have Damien as a client as his creative feedback is invaluable. The extent of collaboration between a web design team and a client solely depends on the project, their knowledge, and readiness to input and feedback.
We can’t wait for www.floppychicken.com to spread its wings in February and look forward to a long term working relationship with Damien and his team.