Pixelwave Website Design Weblog
Latest News from Pixelwave

One of my website design clients have just gone through a bit of a makeover and re-branding exercise, changing their name from Advice Machynlleth to Advice Mid Wales. As you can imagine the impetus behind this exercise is to reflect their growing geographic coverage and the fact that they provide advice and help to people all over Mid Wales, not just within Machynlleth.

Along with the name change there has been a change of logo and therefore lots of changes to their website. Not only the new logo, but a new colour scheme to tie in with the logo, a few design tweaks here and there and lots of changes t the copy. I’ve completed these updates but they won’t go live until tomorrow when they are having an official launch party.

The nice thing is I’ve been invited along to the launch party as well. It’s not very often I get invited to such things and it’s really nice of them to remember their lowly web developer for such things. I may only be a small cog in their organisation but I’m sure their website is the first port of call for many of their clients so my input probably has more of an effect than most people realise. I’m sure my invite to their launch party isn’t in recognition of this, but it’s a pleasure to be invited all the same and I shall indeed be attending.

Pixelwave Web Design has recently started work on a brand new website design for Ystwyth Valley Sawmill, a local, family run business near Aberystwyth.

The proposed website is intended as a promotional tool for the sawmill which supplies products and services to a diverse range of clients throughout the UK. Their clients include the Forestry Commission and C.A.T. (The Centre for Alternative Technology).

The website will provide information on the sawmill and its history. It will outline the products and services they offer and will describe some of the specialist machinery they use to fulfil these. It will also outline their environmental responsibilities as well as providing essential contact details.

I’ve already started work on the design and so far I’m loving it. It’s nice to get my creative juices flowing again. Here’s a sneak preview!

Website Design Preview

I’m pleased to announce that Pixelwave Web Design has recently finished work on a brand new website design for a Welsh Holiday Cottage. The website is intended as a promotional tool for the accommodation, a Self Catering Cottage, in Mid Wales.

When I first started work on the website I knew nothing of the cottage or its whereabouts but after my initial meeting with the owner I realised that it was the very cottage that we had stayed in as a family for my graduation ceremony at Aberystwyth University. This was several years ago back in 1997 but it did mean that I knew the cottage well and was fairly well acquainted with its highlights, and the local attractions. I can therefore personally vouch for its peaceful, tranquil surroundings, comfortable accommodation and friendly welcome. . This of course helped me showcase the property and its unique selling points via its new website.

The new website for the cottage has a professional look and feel with a bright, clean interface that will hopefully appeal to a wide range of people. Due to the setting of the cottage a rural colour scheme was used, which drew inspiration from the hills, woodlands and streams that surround it. An organic, soft design with plenty of local recreational and farming imagery was used. Pixelwave Web Design sourced many of these images and a local photographer (who’s website Pixelwave Design also built) was commissioned for the project. The result is a website that is not only pleasing to the eye but also easy to navigate and welcoming.

Website Design Screenshot

I’ve just finished the Spring edition of the Aberystwyth Beekeepers Association Newsletter. It’s a lot of work writing the content, editing it, sourcing content and images and then desktop publishing it all ready for the members but I quite enjoy it and I’m always pleased with the result.

Best of all, the association members seem to appreciate it as well and always comment on how good it looks and how much better it is than other association newsletters. Creating the newsletter for them may not pay the bills to heat the house but I get a nice warm feeling inside when everyone likes it.

ABKA Newsletter

Whilst adding an image to a recent news post here I saw a gallery of images uploaded to articles over the past few years. I was struck by the way it looked so took a screenshot of it. These are of course all little snippets of designs I have produced over the years so I was bound to like them, but it made me look back through earlier screenshots too which helped provide me with a little chronology of how my designs have changed over the years. Interesting not only from the point of view of the way my aesthetics tastes have changed but also the way technology has driven the change in website design as well.

So here they are – Not every thumbnail is a screenshot of a website design, some are just elements of a design but most are. The most recent are at the top.

Website Design Screenshots

Website Design Screenshots

Website Design Screenshots

Website Design Screenshots

Website Design Screenshots

Pixelwave Web Design is pleased to announce the release of a brand new website for Threat Resolution Limited.

Threat Resolution Ltd is a provider of explosives risk management services for both land and offshore environments. They specialise in

• The mitigation of Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) risks
• The survey and removal of mines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) in an offshore environment, especially in post-conflict areas.

I’ve worked on various projects, both large and small for the management staff at Threat Resolution Ltd so was delighted to be offered this contract – repeat business is always good business. They are also always very efficient when it comes to getting me the content for their websites so I knew that it would be a productive and fairly painless task.

Their new website is based on a Content Management System allowing staff at Threat Resolution Ltd. to update the content of the website whenever they wish. As well as the pages explaining what the company does, their core values and experience along with contact details, the website also has a latest news feature and some private pages such as a calendar that are available to Threat Resolution Staff only.

Staff at Threat Resolution have been getting to grips with the easy to use CMS and have already added lots of news items to the site. The website has a professional look and feel that captures the companies personality and will hopefully serve them well for many years to come.

Website Design for Threat Resolution Ltd.

Eight years on and the website that I built for Ecology Matters is beginning to look a little dated. The business owners at Ecology Matters had lots of updates that they wanted made to the content and quite a lot of re-arranging of the structure of the site too, so it was decided that it was time for a complete revamp.

The original website was a static, brochure style site to which I later added a Latest News content management system. Their new website will be completely based around a content management system allowing them to update the content and the structure of the site whenever they wish. This could of course save them money in the long run and now fits better with the staffing structure at Ecology Matters.

There is nothing wrong with their existing website and the colours and branding still fit well with their business so although the website will be re-built from the ground up, the colour scheme and many of the aesthetic changes will be an evolution of their existing site. It will of course look very different with a more airy, modern design, but at the same time I’m hoping to retain the overall feel of the website so that it isn’t too much of a radical change and so that the website will still tie in with any other printed promotional material that they have.

I’ve only just started work on the website redesign, but will hopefully have a new, fully functioning, all-singing, all-dancing modern website for them before too long. It’s good to be working on sites for long-term clients such as these.

Pixelwave Web Design has recently started work on a brand new website for Threat Resolution Ltd.

Their new website will be a Content Management Based website allowing staff members at Threat Resolution to add news articles and update the content of the site whenever they wish through an easy to use online admin panel. The site itself will explain the services offered by Threat Resolution Ltd, outline the companies quality assurance, values and codes of practice, provide latest news and contact details.

Pixelwave Design have worked on projects both large and small for the management staff at Threat Resolution so I’m pleased that they have returned with a news project for me. Repeat business is always good business.

They are usually very efficient at getting the website copy and information to me so hopefully their new website should live in the not too distant future.

I’ve just finished a second revamp of the Machynlleth Advice Centre website. New staff at the centre meant that much of the content of the site required changing with a new emphasis on what they can do and how they can help people in the local community. This led to a re-think of the information architecture of the site and a complete overhaul of the pages and the content of those pages.

The design has remained almost identical to the site I built for them at the beginning of the year but I had to tweak it a little in order to accommodate the new content and had to add a new menu structure. All of the new information is now live on their site and they seem to be pleased with it which is always good to hear.

Advice Machynlleth Website Design

I’m pleased to announce the launch of a brand new website for Geoscience Wales Ltd. designed and produced by Pixelwave Web Design.

Geoscience Wales Website Design

Geoscience Wales Limited is a not-for-profit company based in North Wales that supplies a diverse range of services and products in the petroleum, mineral, geotechnical and sustainable energy sectors.

They approached me earlier in the year asking for a new website. After an initial consultation with one of their members, an evaluation of their previous website and some emails, I produced a proposal document outlining what I thought was the best approach for their new web presence. This was greeeted with great excitment so I soon started building a brand new website for them.

The new website is based around a Content Management System (CMS) which allows staff members at the Geoscience Wales Ltd. offices to add to and update the website whenever they wish. As well as information about the company, the website will contain lists of associate members and information pertaining to forthcoming lectures, meetings and conferences. It is also hoped that they will use it as a tool for sharing news from the world of geoscience. The CMS is easy to use so the site can be updated on a regular basis without the need for specialist knowledge or any additional cost.

The site has been ready to go live for a while but I’ve been waiting for the new content before it was launched. Last week I had a telephone conference with the staff member charged with maintaining the site using the new CMS and talked her through the admin panel. She was amazed at the ease of use and has since started updating the site with new content so it was launched earlier this week.

I’m pleased with the overall look of the site. It is very much a professional website aimed at professionals from an academic or geoscience background. With this in mind I kept the layout simple and to the point without too many flourishes, but still managed to produce what we all think is an attractive, easy to use and authoritative looking website.

I only hope they use the CMS as it was intended and update the site as often as possible so as to make the most of it now that it is live and running.