We have been working closely with Parkdean since July on a brand new website dedicated to their kids characters Sid & Lizzie.

The website is packed full of activities ranging from postcard senders, pogo stick games and even the ability to keep track of how the Seagulls and Lizards team scores are doing at each of the holiday parks.

Behind the website is a full content management system, allowing the Star Town team to control jokes, scores and the blog.

The Star Town website was one of our largest projects in 2011, and contains some of the most interesting design and development work we have ever produced. We hope you enjoy taking a look around.

Click here to visit the website.

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It wont be too long until we have our feet up in front of the TV watching Home Alone and eating far too many crisps. To keep us busy until then, we have a ton of great projects lined up. Read about what we have been up to below, as well as what we will be working on in December and early 2012.

*Just Launched*

Studacity

We launched Studacity in mid-November. Studacity’s main goal is to help Newcastle upon Tyne’s student population find the very best deals, event and venues. With a focus on quality, Studacity will be offering insight into the best the city has to offer, allowing exclusive access to the best promotions around.
Visit the website by clicking here.

Newcastle Drum Centre

We have been working with the Newcastle Drum Centre on their new website since the summer, and we’re delighted to see it up and running. The website massively improves on the previous version, with emphasis on unique kits and the massive range of items that the centre stocks.
Visit the website by clicking here.

Parkdean Holidays

We recently helped Parkdean launch a new homepage and park homepage design, which reflects the diversity they offer throughout their 24 parks. The new updates sit alongside Parkdean’s new sales brochure, which you can request by clicking here.
Visit the website by clicking here.

The Beacon Directory

The beacon directory is an online system we created which makes it easy for beacon to collect the data they require for their annual supplier directory. Formerly a manual process, the system makes it easy for users to log in, submit content and have it approved or amended by the beacon team.

Zenith People

As part of Zenith People’s Christmas campaign, the team wanted the website’s users to get into a festive spirit. We have created a themed header and a festive game for users to get their own back on those pesky recruitment agents.
Visit the website by clicking here.

*In Progress*

Startown

Startown is one of the most exciting projects we have worked on all year and is packed with bespoke games, activities and content. We’re busy making sure everything looks perfect for launch, but we cant wait to get the project live and onto our website.

Parkdean Holiday Homes

In another project for Parkdean, we will be helping the company redesign their Holiday Homes website in early 2012. We have recently presented visuals and begun deciding on the main functionality of the website. An exciting one for us to start the new year with.

VLS

We have worked with VLS throughout 2011, helping to create a customer-facing area that has transformed the way they interact with their users. Having recently completed another large round of updates, we are in the process of discussing the next stage of work that will take us well into the first quarter of 2012.

Hoochie Coochie

Since opening in August, Hoochie Coochie has established itself as one of Newcastle’s best nightspots. It’s mix of live music and luxurious surroundings has been a hit with music fans of all ages. We have recently been working on some updates to the website, launching a brand new members section, which allows users to become part of Hoochie Coochie and guarantee entry for its most exclusive nights.

Citrus Event Staffing

Although we cant show any of the functionality that lies behind the front-end, the Citrus system has been an ongoing project for us in 2011, with constant additions helping to shape the way the Citrus team work. We have recently been helping the team extend the functionality of their booking system, as well as discussing work for early 2012.

Gainford Care Homes

Gainford Care Homes was established in 1995, and currently runs thirteen care homes in the North of England. We are well into the development stage on the project, and hope to go live sometime in December.

Choccards

We’re working with Choccards on a brand new website to promote their personalised chocolate bars, including a design tool to help you create your own designs. More news on this project in the new year.

HSF Training

We have been commissioned by this leading north east training consultancy to develop a new CMS website for the business, promoting the wide range of health and safety, food safety and first aid courses they deliver across the UK and internationally.

Related Posts

• What’s Been Going on at Union Room in October
• What’s Been Going on at Union Room in May
• What’s been going on at Union Room in November
• What’s been going on at Union Room in September
• What’s been going on at Union Room in July

The weather might have been a little bit up and down in October, but that hasn’t affected the steady flow of work coming the through the doors of Union Room in the last month or two. We’ve launched some great new projects, take a look below for more information…

*Just Launched*

Sanderson Young

We’ve spoken about this project in a ton of detail in a blog post that we posted earlier this week, you can read that by clicking here. The new website has only been live a number of weeks, but Sanderson Young have already reported a large increase in the number of viewings and inquiries from the website. We will be working closely with the Sanderson Young team to continue improving the companies web presence and helping to improve customer experience as much as possible. Visit the website by clicking here.

Create a Commentary

We were really excited to launch our first iPhone app in September, and working with Match of the Day’s Mark Lawrenson was an added bonus! Create a Commentary is a unique opportunity for football fans of all ages to create their own personalised commentary featuring Mark Lawrenson. Read more about this completely unique app in our Create a Commentary blog post.

Carr & Co Solicitors

We have been working with the team at Carr & Co for a number of months now, launching their new website in September. We will also be working on some search engine optimisation for the new website, so keep an eye on the blog for more news on this. Visit the website by clicking here.

AMD Specialist Coatings

AMD are based in Gateshead, and provide the very best premium powder coating, shot blasting and wet paint coating. We launched the website in early October, working closely with the AMD team on all aspects of the design and content. Visit the website by clicking here.

Parkdean Festive

We have recently completed some festive work for Parkdean Holidays (around 9 weeks to go!) to advertise some of their great Christmas, Twixmas and New Year breaks. Take a look at our bespoke landing page by clicking here.

Emily’s Brownies

Emily’s Brownies are made by a small, family run business in the North East of England and offer some of the most delicious treats you’ll ever have the pleasure of eating. Take a look at the official website of Emily’s Brownies.

*In Progress*

Startown

The Startown website is one of the most exciting projects we have worked on this year. The website is aimed at 4 to 10 year olds, and really enjoyed creating an environment that they can have fun and learn in. We cant show any visuals quite yet, but keep an eye on the blog for more news on this nearer to Christmas.

Parkdean Holiday Homes

Continuing our long relationship with Parkdean, we have recently began work on redesigning their holiday homes website. The website will contain a lot more functionality for the user, as well as a complete design overhaul. We will be posting more about this as we progress through the work.

VLS & CE Electric

We have working on some updates to the VLS customer area, particularly for CE Electric account holders. This new work concentrates on increasing fuel spend efficiency, helping the CE team look at individual transactions and vehicle performance across the fleet.

Studacity

Studacity will be helping Newcastle upon Tyne’s student population find the very best deals, event and venues. With a focus on quality, Studacity will be offering insight into the best the city has to offer, allowing exclusive access to the best promotions around. Sign up to the mailing list at the official Studacity website.

Newcastle Drum

We’re into the development stage of the new Newcastle Drum website, and we cant wait for the centre’s customers to use it. The new website will be a complete shift for the company, concentrating on its core business areas such as beginner drum kits and cymbals.

Gainford Care Homes

Gainford Care Homes was established in 1995, and currently runs thirteen care homes in the North of England. We will be helping Gainford redesign their current website, as well as designing their brand new Bright Stars nursery. Look for the new Gainford website to go live sometime in November.

Derwent Lift Services

Derwent Lift Services have been established for over 30 years, delivering exceptional service across all areas of the lift industry. We have been commissioned by the company to develop a new website promoting the business and its wide service portfolio, raising its profile and improving their engagement with both clients and prospective customers.

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• What’s Been Going on at Union Room in November & December
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• What’s been going on at Union Room in September
• What’s been going on at Union Room in July

In early February, we were approached by Sanderson Young to redesign and redevelop their existing website. The current website had been running for a little over 10 years, and was holding the business back in terms of what they could achieve on the web.

The following case study explains the processes and decisions that were made in the project timescale, and how we helped to re-shape Sanderson Young’s online presence. You can hear what both ourselves and Sanderson Young think about the project, by watching the new website promo on this link.

Background

As we have already mentioned, the Sanderson Young website had been running (albeit with updates) for over 10 years in it’s current form, and had been performing well for the business in that time. However, with the emergence of new technologies and new property websites such as Rightmove and Zoopla, the average user has come to expect a number of standard features across real estate websites, most of which Sanderson Young were missing.

Our main tasks were to bring the design of the website up to date, but more importantly give the users of the Sanderson Young website as much functionality as possible when searching for and viewing a property. We will detail most of this new functionality later in the post, but the main elements of the project were:

• The ability for the user to quickly search for, and view a property.
• The easy management of featured properties on the homepage.
• The ability to search via an interactive map and view properties by their location.
• Rebuild the service directory and make it more useful to the end user.

Alongside these elements, our aim was to improve the general usability of the whole website and allow people to navigate to important information as quickly and easily as possible, as well as making life easier for the Sanderson Young team to manage the website.

Wireframes

Any large projects we undertake involves a wire-framing process. We find that this is absolutely integral to ensuring that the main elements on the page are arranged in the right order, and the client is given the opportunity to look at our ideas without the distraction of fonts, colours or imagery.

This allows us to concentrate fully on layout, and approach the website in the role of a potential user. The wireframe below was one of the first we presented to Sanderson Young, and gave them some options in terms of where important elements would sit.

The wireframes were tweaked several times (much quicker than changing a ‘full’ design) until the team were happy with the overall presentation of the page.

Design

With the wireframes agreed upon, we were in a great position to begin the design work. You can see our initial idea for the homepage below, which loosely matches one of our initial wireframes above:

As you can see from the visual, we still had some decisions to make regarding the design of certain content blocks, which we made progress with over the next couple of versions.

The aim of the design was to convey a high end look, especially with the inclusion of the rare! section on the front page, which Sanderson Young use to advertise their luxury (£700,000+) properties. In terms of typography, we used a mix of Gill Sans (for titles and calls to actions) and Georgia (a classic body font) throughout the website, which we think works well in giving the site that high end feel, but still retaining a modern look.

The colours and patterns used on the site were taken from the Sanderson Young branding, as well a mix of their literature such as sellers packs, seasonal magazines and staff profiles. The sheer amount of items we had available to us made it easy to introduce accent / additional colours throughout the pages of the site.

Development

Although a design refresh was needed, the main driving force behind the new website was the improvements to the website’s functionality, and allowing the user to perform many more tasks whilst using the website. These elements of functionality ranged from back-end elements, making Sanderson Young’s job of maintaining the website easier, through to completely new features that would benefit the user.

Control

The new back-end allows the Sanderson Young team to control properties on the website in a much easier and in-depth way. An example of this being a new control panel which allows the team to quickly edit a properties status (under offer, sold, price, active state etc) without entering the properties, saving countless clicks through the life of the new system.

Featured properties

Sanderson Young offer some of the North East’s most exclusive properties, and wanted to display a selection on their new homepage. The featured properties provide the user with a large call to action, and give Sanderson Young the opportunity to showcase selected homes of their choosing.

Regions

The old website allowed users to search via only one region, this would limit the effectiveness of the search and push people into doing multiple searches across regions / properties. The new structure allows users to complete an advanced search across multiple regions, meaning they never have the need to fulfill more than one search (unless their results aren’t relevant).

Blog

Although the old website had a facility for Sanderson Young to keep users up to date, the many categories were spread across multiple pages and sections, making it hard for users to find what they were looking for. The new WordPress blog utilises categories, allowing the team to publish posts to their relevant sections for quick and easy access.

Interactive floorplans

The current website offered floorplans in their most basic form, allowing users to see the dimensions of a property across its various floors. The new website gives users interactive floorplans, where they can see images for specific rooms, as well as virtual tours for some properties.

Service directory

The service directory gives users an index of businesses that anyone looking to buy or rent a house, could find interesting. The old directory was very linear in design, and lacked a search facility for users who knew what they were looking for. We took the existing database and built the new directory from the ground up, making it easier than ever for users to find services for their new home.

Conclusion

We’re delighted with the final product, and initial feedback / statistics from Sanderson Young show a sharp increase in viewing arrangements, website traffic and user interaction across the full website.

We’re looking forward to continuing work on the website, helping Sanderson Young cement their place as one of the North East’s leading estate agencies.

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Over the past few months we have been mentioning an iPhone app that we have been working on with Bespoke Radio. We haven’t been able to speak about the what the app is, or who is involved, until now.

We are delighted to announce the launch of the world’s first personalised commentary app, featuring Match of the Day’s Mark Lawrenson and BBC Newcastle’s Mick Lowes. The app allows the user to build your own three minute football commentary, allowing you to choose:

• Which team you play for
• Which team you play against
• Which ground you’re playing at
• Your First Name
• Your Surname
• Your Age
• Your Sex
• A Personal Attribute
• How you score the goal

The options lead to literally billions of possibly commentaries – each of them different.

The finishing touches are being applied to the app, and we hope to submit it to the app store sometime in the next week or so. The official launch party for the app will be held at Shearer’s Bar in Newcastle on the 30th of August. There will be the world premier of the app followed by a Talk In with Mick Lowes and Mark Lawrenson and your chance to meet the BBC Newcastle NUFC commentator and Match of the Day summariser afterwards.

You can seen some screenshots below, as well as the chance to hear some commentary from the app. For more information you can visit www.createacommentary.com.

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July has seen us working in a number of sectors, including eCommerce, estate agency, vehicle leasing, law and kids entertainment. As always, we are working on a number of projects, some of which recently went live. Take a look below for more information.

*Launched*

A1 Blinds

A1 Blinds are one of the largest blinds manufacturers and suppliers in the UK, and came to Union Room needing the company’s first ever eCommerce website. We have been working with A1 Blinds for the last couple of months, adding in some completely bespoke functionality such as the ability to instantly get a quote on a specific size / length of blind.

Visit the website.

Peter Fall

Based in Newcastle, Peter is a past president of the royal institution of chartered surveyors, and current fellow of the RICS. Working alongside Projector (who created the branding), we designed and built his website, working closely with Peter at all times.

Visit the website.

Families Talking

The Families Talking website provides practical information for adults and children, experiencing problems and distress as a result of family breakdown, separation or divorce.

Visit the website.

*In Progress*

Sanderson Young

The new Sanderson Young website is almost ready to go live. In the last week or so, we have been busy ensuring that the site is feeding the various external websites and apps etc that have been set up in the past. We’re confident that the new website will improve the way Sanderson Young do business online, and will be a big hit with its users.

Bespoke Radio iPhone app

We’ve been mentioning this for a couple of months now, and are on course for a mid-August launch. We still cant say too much about it, but you can read a sneak preview over on Bespoke Radio’s blog. We’ll be publishing a blog post as soon as we can reveal the details on this.

VLS

We have been working on some great new functionality for the VLS admin panel, which allows their users to access information about fuel usage in certain areas.

Bowloom

Bowloom supply and install high-end carpets in the London area, and are working with us to produce a new website that will show off the fantastic and detailed work they do on a daily basis.

Carr & Co Solicitors

We are nearing the completion of the new website for Blyth, Gosforth and Morpeth-based Carr & Co solicitors. The full website has been built using WordPress, allowing full control over the content and imagery used throughout each page.

OSE European

We have been working with OSE European on a number of projects, ranging from SEO to website updates. We will be helping OSE expand the website over the coming months, and helping push awareness of their new offices in Belgium.

Bprint

We are almost ready to move to the development stage of the new Bprint website, and we’re excited to help the company stand out in a crowded sector. We are looking to implement some new technology with the site, so it should be a really interesting one when it goes live.

Skills Bridge

SkillsBridge, set up by North East Enterprise Bond (NEEB), is a five-year programme that delivers bespoke, sustainable skills to the voluntary and community sector by tapping into expertise from the private and public sectors. SkillsBridge brings support to organisations by matching up proven experts from the private sector to mentor organisations that would benefit from assistance in the voluntary and community sector.

We’re working closely with their team in creating new designs for the charity’s website, as well as supporting with ongoing search engine optimisation.

*Coming Up*

Newcastle Drum Centre

The Newcastle Drum Centre are a long term client of ours, and we have been working with the team on design, development, SEO and email marketing for over 18 months now. In the next couple of months, we will be beginning work on a completely new website, which will be more focused on their target audience.

Startown TV

The Startown website is going to be based around two of Parkdean’s kids characters, Sid & Lizzie. We’re very excited for this project, as we rarely get the chance to work on digital media aimed solely at kids. We are in the wireframing stage for the project at the moment, so keep an eye on our dribbble account for any images we release.

White Acres

White Acres is Cornwall’s premier fishing destination, and we’re delighted to be designing their very first bespoke website. We will also be redesigning the popular News Reel blog, making it even easier for regular readers to find the content they’re looking for.

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• What’s Been Going on at Union Room in October
• What’s Been Going on at Union Room in May
• What’s been going on at Union Room in November
• What’s been going on at Union Room in September

June has seen us work with clients in a range of sectors, including estate agents, insurance, leisure and designer clothing. We are well into the development of a number of projects, as well as recently launching some interesting projects for Hoochie Coochie, Rise Lettings and My Best Insurance Quote.

*Recently Launched*

Hoochie Coochie

We’ve been working on the new Hoochie Coochie website since May, and launched the website at the end of June. Hoochie Coochie is a brand new live venue and luxury bar situated on Pilgrim Street in Newcastle upon Tyne, in the former premises of Blue Coyote.

The bar promises to attract some of Jazz, Soul and Funk’s biggest acts in one of the most unique and intimate settings anywhere in the country. They already have names like Kenny Thomas, Marcell and the Truth and the Brand New Heavies lined up to play, putting the venue firmly on the map.

The website has a bespoke content management system which makes it easy to add new events and keep track of ticket sales. Keep an eye on the website for news on new acts and the quite frankly outrageous amount of spirits they have on offer.

Visit the website.

Rise Lettings

The Rise Lettings website has been live since early June, and has already had a big impact on the way they do business online. As well as a completely revamped design, the website gives the Rise team an easy to add, edit and delete properties from their database, as well as adding in map functionality to the site to allow their users to find properties even easier than before.

Visit the website.

My Best Insurance Quote

We launched the new version of the My Best Insurance Quote website in June, the second version of the website since we started working with the company last year. The latest version of the website offers a full range of insurance, and gives the internal team full content management over the website via WordPress.

Visit the website.

*In Progress*

Report Book

Union Room have been developing a system for schools, that allow the easy reporting, grading and commenting of individual school reports. We are currently rolling out beta versions of the software to select schools, and will be looking to launch the full version of the system towards the end of the year.

We recently developed a detailed holding page for the website, which you can see at www.reportbook.co.uk.

Sanderson Young

We are entering the final phase of development for the new Sanderson Young website, and are currently porting over the data from the existing website. We’ll be publishing a full case study when it is up and running.

Top Secret iPhone App

OK, it’s not that top secret, but we can’t give the full details of the app quite yet. We’re building it on behalf of Jamie Wilkinson of Bespoke Radio, and we’re confident it’s going to be a big hit with football fans all over the country. We’re hoping this will be in the app store sometime in August, and we’ll be publishing details of this as soon as possible.

Projector

We previewed the new Projector website back in August via dribbble, and we’re still as excited about it as we were then.

The new website will completely change the way Projector approaches their online presence, with a more heavy approach to case studies, blogging and social media. We’re aiming for a mid-July launch, so keep an eye on Projector’s twitter account for the latest news.

Young Mercantile

We recently started work on an exciting new designer menswear brand, working alongside Projector to create their branding and website. We’re still in the very early stages of the project, but we are looking forward to seeing what we can come up with with such an interesting and exciting concept.

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• What’s Been Going on at Union Room in 2011
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• New Members of Union Room & Projector

May has been another busy month at Union Room, with a real mix of different projects taking place. As well as getting some new clients on board, we have completed some great work for existing clients such as Parkdean, Bespoke Radio and the Newcastle Drum Centre.

Bespoke Radio iPhone App

We are well into the design and development of an iPhone app for Jamie Wilkinson of Bespoke Radio. The app very much keeps in line with the audio-related topic of Jamie’s past projects, with the added glamour of a couple of well known football personalities. We’re hoping to get this in the app store in the coming weeks.

Hoochie Coochie

Anyone strolling down Pilgrim Street in Newcastle may have noticed the changing face of the old Blue Coyote premises. This is the new home of an exciting live music venue, due to open sometime in the late Summer of this year. We have been busy working with the people behind the venue to create an online system where they can inform users of the new acts confirmed to play, as well as the fantastic range of drinks on offer. We should be launching this soon.

Sanderson Young

The new Sanderson Young website is one of our biggest projects of the year so far, consisting of multiple systems within one website. We’re nearing the launch date and are just putting the finishing touches to some of these systems. We cant wait for the website to go live and continue to help Sanderson Young  improving their already stellar reputation.

Starting Drums

We work closely with the Newcastle Drum Centre on a number of projects each and every month, ranging from creative work through to search engine optimisation. One of the larger projects we have been working on is Starting Drums, which gives users a great place to learn about the art of drumming and the kit you’ll need to get going.

View the Starting Drums website.

Surfer’s Paradise

We launched Surfer’s Paradise last month after working with the team at Parkdean on the project since the turn of the year. Surfer’s Paradise gives surfers and families a great chance to pitch on the doorstep of one of the UK’s best surfing locations and beaches. The website contains a full booking system, allowing users to secure their pitch for the first time in the site’s history.

Visit the Surfer’s Paradise website.

White Acres

In another Parkdean project, we are in the early stages of redesigning the company’s White Acres website. White Acres is Cornwall’s premier fishing location, and is home to one of the most active fishing blogs in the UK, the News Reel. We’ll be giving the website a major overhaul.

Picture Canning North

We have worked closely with Picture Canning on client projects, and also some of our own, so we were delighted to be given the chance to look at their new website. We had some fantastic imagery to work with, and we’re very happy with the final look of the website.

Visit the Picture Canning North website.

Citrus Event Staffing

We launched the new Citrus system in April, and the website has completely changed the way the business works. The system has also been a big hit with users, with over 2,500 of them registering on the website in the short time it has been up and running. We will be building additional functionality into the system over the course of the year.

Visit the Citrus Event Staffing website.

OSE Euro

We recently worked with OSE Euro on some initial search engine optimisation work. We will hopefully be working with the OSE team on some additional work in the near future.

Rise Lettings

The new Rise Lettings website is almost ready to go live. The new website adds a ton of additional functionality to their existing website, including a new content management system and maps integration. Keep an eye on the blog for this going live very soon.

Covered4

We cant say too much about this project at the moment, but it’s set to be one of the most complex systems we’ve ever created, using some really interesting new technology.

As always, keep an eye on our twitter, blog and dribbble account for the latest news on what we’re up to.

Related Posts

• What’s Been Going on at Union Room in November & December
• What’s Been Going on at Union Room in October
• What’s been going on at Union Room in November
• What’s been going on at Union Room in September
• What’s been going on at Union Room in July