FRONT

Manning Up: Your Project Crew

Web projects are hard work and never plain sailing. They all hit choppy waters and storm fronts at some point. So when the winds whip up, who do you need on deck to help you successfully reach your destination?

Planning a Website that Works for You

If you’re going to renovate, create a space that solves problems and performs, not one that’s pretty but pointless

Introducing the Front Project Planner

A successful project starts with a well thought out project brief.

This is why we developed the Front Project Planner – to share our experience and help you set strong foundations to achieve your goals.

The Goldilocks Approach to Responsive Design

With over 4 billion mobile devices in use around the world, mobile browsing is rising fast. We can no longer assume that our sites will be viewed on a desktop monitor with an average resolution. Perhaps we never could.

New Adventures in Web Design - The Highlights

What a fantastic day at the New Adventures conference last week: fun crowd, great diggs and first-class speakers who made our brains teem with ideas.

The Front team plus 600+ web designers joined Simon Collison in the Albert Hall for his first industry conference. One of the world’s great web designers, Simon curated a one-day schedule that would challenge even the most seasoned organiser: 10 talks and two live Q&A panel debates in eight hours.

Brilliant Ideas for Business

We are at a time when competing to be a cost leader is a losing game. Winning through number of features or technical brevity is also an increasingly risky route to take. The world is getting smaller and the concept of geography is become irrelevant in many markets.

So amongst all this doom and gloom, where will our competitive advantage come from in the future?

We’re sponsoring New Adventures in Web Design!

We’re really pleased to announce that we’ll be sponsoring the New Adventures in Web Design conference in Nottingham on the 20th January 2011.

Build – that difficult second album

This month, for the second year running, Belfast was host to a web design conference with world class speakers that included Liz Danzico, Dan Cederholm and Frank Chimero. With a line up like this, organiser Andy McMillan and Build were once again destined for glory and it produced even better results than I expected.

Award Winning Website Design

The Front studio is currently celebrating wins for our clients the Abbey Theatre and Island Lolly, while enjoying industry recognition for our design capabilities at the IDI Design Awards, Irish Web Awards and the .Net Awards.

For a studio that doesn’t normally enter awards, we appear to be doing rather well.

Running the Dublin Marathon for MS. Can you help?

On October 25th, just before 9am, I will be lining up on Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin with approximately 10,000 other people getting ready to start the Dublin Marathon. We will all be there for different reasons. Some will be there to push their personal limits, some as part of a series of marathons.  Personally, I’m trying to raise money for the MS Society by pushing myself to run the 26 miles 385 yards. Please make a donation if you can help.

Us vs The Elements - User Experience Book Club 3

Another month, another book club.  The star of the show was The Elements of User Experience –by Jesse James Garrett, a co-founder of world famous user experience consultancy Adaptive Path.  Thanks to everyone who attended again and for the insight, analysis and general chit-chat.

Front speaking at Invest NI design for business event

Jamie and I will be delivering a digital design workshop at Invest NI’s design for business event on Tuesday 12th October at the Stormont Hotel, Belfast.  As a commercial design studio, Front has a long history of helping firms use design to achieve business outcomes and we’re looking forward to sharing these experiences with you.

Belfast’s Second Pecha Kucha Night

If you didn’t make it down to the Black Box for Pecha Kucha last night then you missed out on a great nights craíc with an eclectic lineup of creative folk. The theme for the night was curiosity.

What is the role of design at Front?

Most people agree that design is important to a company’s success.  The Design Council, for example, aims to “place design at the heart of growth and renewal in Britain”.  Design can be compelling, alluring and thought-provoking.  But what exactly is the role of design at Front and why does this matter?

Design Thinking for Non-Designers

Insights from Marty Neumeier at dConstruct, Brighton 2010.

User Experience Bookclub

Last night Front played host to the Belfast User Experience (UX) Bookclub, where a few folks interested in user experience design got together to chat about John Maeda’s ‘Laws of Simplicity’ over pizza and beer.

Congratulations Jamie & Lisa!

All of us here at Front would like to congratulate Jamie (aka my big bro!) & Lisa Dunn Neely who were married today at an awesome ceremony in Belfast.

Website Launch: Leckey Design

We’re thrilled to have launched a brand new website for Leckey Design . Leckey are an inspiring company who design and manufacture positioning and mobility equipment for people with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and other special needs.

Hello Brighton - dConstruct 2010

I’ve just returned from a journey to the not-so-sandy shores of Brighton this past Friday for the sixth annual dConstruct conference, along with five other fronties.

We got to hear talks from some of the industry’s most respected designers, journalists and creative thinkers on how to make the most of the web, design thinking and future trends.

Front nominated for Design Agency of the Year

We’re really thrilled to be short-listed for Design Agency of the Year in the prestigious .Net Magazine awards, amongst some awesome folks and the best talent on the web.