Something Interesting

This blog has moved

Steve — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:53:52 +0000

Hi,

This blog has now been moved to our main site at http://www.somethinginteresting.co.uk

Please update your bookmarks etc.

Thanks,

Something Interesting

Finally, some colour on the walls

Steve — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:00:24 +0000

We’ve been in our new office for 5 weeks now and have started getting new furniture and other bits and bobs together.

Yesterday we got our prints back from the printers, they are so lovely we thought we would share them with you.

The artwork was created in house by J-P and our new best friends at Southsea Gallery (http://www.southseagallery.co.uk/) printed and framed them excellently.

More stuff to follow….

The second new website in a week

Steve — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:47:49 +0000

We recently launched a new website for Compare 4 Property. The site offers providers working in the property industry the chance to advertise their services and is an invaluable search tool for users looking for anything property related, from a plumber to complete checklists on buying and renovating a property.

Compare 4 Property screenshot

Here’s what the client said…

“ The finished site allows us and the users to do all the things from the original spec but the guys at Something Interesting have added loads of helpful extra features, they really did go above and beyond to make our site a great user experience.

We would not hesitate in recommending Something Interesting to anyone who wishes to give their web presence more impact. We look forward to working with the guys in a support capacity for hopefully many years to come. ”

Matt McAllen and Andy McAllen, Directors of Compare 4 Property

Visit the Compare 4 Property website here

New site launch for Nabru

Steve — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:46:58 +0000

A new year starts and we launch a brand new website for our latest client, Nabru self assembly sofas.

We contacted Nabru after one of the guys in the office purchased one of their fantastic sofas. After a few discussions we got down to work on the site, using our tried and testing website development process.

Screenshot of the new Nabru website

Since the launch of the new site, Nabru has already enjoyed a 25% increase on sales compared to this time last year – not bad considering the site has only been live for 6 days.

Something Interesting are now working on promoting and marketing the Nabru website through various digital channels.

Visit the Nabru website

What to do when someone steals your design

Steve — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:24:17 +0000

Over the weekend, one of our friends Ed Gain, pointed out a website with amazing similarities to our site. I had a quick look and what do you know, they are very similar indeed.

Now I’m not saying that this person / company stole our design (we’ve got so litigious as a country I wouldn’t be that stupid), I’m guessing it was just an amazing coincidence.

Anyway, this brings about the opportunity to do a post on what to do when someone does steal your design (not that I’m saying this person / company has). Most of this is taken from a great article written by the excellent Cameron Chapman for the equally excellent Smashing Magazine.

First things first

Make a coffee, go for a walk, have a laugh about it BUT DO NOT GET MAD! So many of life’s biggest mistakes have been made from rash, knee jerk reactions so take a deep breath and do the following:

Gather evidence
Get together all the information you need, this could include screenshots (as many as possible), contact details for the site in question, check out Nominet (or do a global whois) to see when the domain was registered, do a traceroute to see where the domain is hosted, check when you first put your design live and made it publicly available and make a note of how you came to notice the questionable site.
Send a courteous message to them
There is no point ruffling feathers, it may be an honest mistake and they may be silly enough to think that taking your design is all ok. I would recommend that you contact them in writing, whether by email or letter. If you are sending an email it might be worth adding a delivery and read receipt to the email. If you are sending a letter, you could send it recorded delivery.
At the end of the day this may not stand up in a court (if it goes that far) but it is all useful information to keep.
Your message should point out that their design and yours are very similar and may be in breach of copyright. You could also ask that they take their site down whilst this is resolved.
Please remember I am no legal expert
Wait for a response.
If you don’t hear back you can contact their ISP and point out the issue – their ISP may take down their website for you, although from experience ISPs aren’t quick to do this unless some governmental body has requested it.
Make it public
If you don’t hear anything back then make it public. You could write a blog post, submit it to sites, send an email out to all your customers about it etc. As the Smashing Magazine article suggests you could get a lot of backing from others out there – no designer, no matter what field they work in, likes to see any other designers hard work ripped off.

For more information take a look at this great article.

Since writing this we have contacted the company in question and they have taken down their website with an apology – the matter is now closed.

The message we received from the offending person was:

I am very sorry that the 2 sites are similar. I am just a freelancer looking for work and really just made the xxxxxxx xxxxx site as an example site of my work. It is influeneced by your site and others , and i appollogise for the obvious simillarities. I will take it down for now whilst i make sufficient alterations.

We have blurred out the company name and details in the images but have still put the images up to show everyone just how blatant some people can be. To reemphasize, we consider this matter closed, we all make mistakes!

The New Office

Steve — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:16:20 +0000

The builders have done a fantastic job on the new office and it is looking great. The walls have come down and the flooring is in place, all we need to do now is get it painted and move in…

We should be in by the end of the month – if everything goes according to plan!

Guildhall goes all Twitter

Steve — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:55:06 +0000

The Portsmouth Guildhall asked us to design them a little backdrop to their Twitter account. Quite a simple design but we hope to update it as time goes by….

Check out the Portsmouth Guildhall Twitter page just here

We’re recruiting an online marketing specialist

Steve — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:23:44 +0000

Over the last 18 months, Something Interesting has grown rapidly and now works with a number of interesting clients. We are now looking to expand on our online marketing offering, providing a range of marketing services to existing and new customers.

The ideal candidate will have had some commercial experience managing search engine optimisation campaigns and is keen to learn and expand their knowledge in a friendly and relaxed environment where a collaborative approach is key.

Although the role is primarily focused on natural search and PPC, you will also be involved in Email marketing campaigns, Affiliate marketing and other advertising options like Facebook.

You will be working closely with our team of developers and designers to generate more quality traffic to a wide range of websites. The ideal candidate will be results driven, analytical and keen to learn and grow with the company.

More information can be found on our jobs page.

Christmas Opening Times

Steve — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:04:18 +0000

Our Christmas opening hours are as follows:

Friday 18th Dec – Closed
24th Dec – Closed at 12pm
25th & 28th Dec – Closed
31st Dec Closed at 12pm

Back in the office on 4th January.

Have a great Christmas and New Year!

Steve’s Mo – Update

Steve — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:21:10 +0000

Donations are now closed. Thank you to everyone who donated to the Mo – Steve managed to raise a total of £290 for The Prostrate Cancer Charity.

Steve is growing a Mo for Movember , you can keep up to date with the painfully slow growth of his Mo right here.

UPDATE 30th November – Only a couple of days left in which to donated to The Prostate Cancer Charity for my Mo efforts.

If you can spare a couple of quid, please donate to Steve’s Mo here. Don’t forget Something Interesting will match all sponsorship up to £250!

Day 30 of Movember – The Last Day

Having grown quite attached to the Mo, I’m not looking forward to shaving it all off tomorrow. However, it is time to go!

For all those who may choose to grow a tash, I recommend using conditioner and toothbrush to brush it with. Still on the hunt for a little Poirot type sleeping bag…

Day 16 of Movember

Getting a little itchy now, wandering whether I should be using Head and Shoulders Conditioner on it or not? Any suggestions to softening up a Mo would be greatly appreciated.

Day 13 of Movember

Getting quite accustomed to the Mo now, think I might even keep it at the end of the month.

Day 9 of Movember

Have chosen a style (just) of the new Mo.Taken some inspiration from Andy Goode but modified it slightly.

Day 5 of Movember

Still pushing on whilst looking quite ridiculous really.

Day 3 of Movember

A very very slow start, enjoying not picking up the razor though.