The web design was carried out by our hugely talented creative team over a number of weeks and the site was developed on a flexible, easy to use content management system.

The all new Fighters Only site incorporates a dynamic breaking news section, ecommerce functionality for the sale of print magazine subscriptions and Fighters Only merchandise the world over, a dedicated TV section featuring MMA-related videos including fights, interviews and analysis and extensive galleries of the fighters and the world famous Fighters Only Babes!

We wanted to set a new benchmark for MMA websites with a really vibrant, engaging and dynamic website. Fighters Only is renowned for its speedy reaction to MMA news breaking 24/7 around the globe so we needed to ensure they could publish and update news stories as they break, quickly and easily. We have used a content management system which allows easy editing and updating and we have kept ease of use and functionality at the forefront of the whole site design.

A lot of hard work went into the new Fighters Only site as there were very tight deadlines to meet and a number of technical challenges to overcome. Both the client and us are delighted with the results and as you can see from the banner on the screenshot above, we’re now hard at work on Fighters Only’s sister site, Train Hard, Fight Easy.

We are responsible for the web design, development and ongoing search engine optimisation set up and support of Cartridge World’s new UK website (http://www.cartridgeworld.co.uk), which launched this month, and over 200 franchisee microsites (http://www.cartridgeworld.co.uk/store-locator), including development of the back end content management system.

“I’m very excited about this project. The new website was long overdue and it will bring big opportunities for Cartridge World to develop its online presence” says Cartridge World Marketing Communications Manager Lucie Turnbull.

Lee Turner, our MD, said: “We’re very happy Cartridge World chose Fluid to develop their web presence and ongoing strategy. It’s an exciting client to be involved with and we’re already working on some great ideas.”

With the site live, we are concentrating on search engine optimisation for both the main website and the 200 franchisee websites, focusing on local search for the latter.

Young Jack Henderson could well be his own worst enemy.  What started out as a small and well meaning fundraising idea has escalated into an adventure which has consumed his life – as well as those of his parents, Ed & Rose - and turned it into an internet sensation which has charmed thousands.

Jack – armed with his trusty Crayolas and felt tips – set out with an idea: to raise money for the Children’s hospital that cared for his younger brother Noah by drawing whatever visitors to his website requested in return for a charitable donation.  The only restrictions he imposed were the type of rules that you would reasonably expect of a 6 year old: nothing naughty – and in Jack’s words ‘I don’t want to draw anyone dying or being died’.

Their initial target of a raising a humble £100 has been well and truly blown out of the water with the current total on their just giving page (which is still accepting donations!) standing well in excess of £27,000.  Not only this but they have also amassed over 7,000 Facebook fans and nearly 1,000 followers of the Twitter account, diligently and warmly run by his Dad.  You may have seen them in the media recently. Oh, and he now has a book available too.

After completing an amazing 536 drawings, Jack is pooped.  Regular readers of our little blog will know that I enjoy a good doodle myself and I’ve loved checking out Jack’s masterpieces – so I thought I would track down Ed Henderson who has kindly spared us a his time to answer a few probing questions…

So for all the parents out there – just how do you rein in the ego of a 6 year old who has suddenly found himself in the media spotlight?

We made sure we kept him very insulated from too much of the nonsense that can go on. While it is great that everyone wants to congratulate him, being a 6 year old is quite simple, he gets a few people bigging him up, he gets  a big big headed, he gets a few meanies, he gets sad. We had to let him enjoy some of it but made sure that whenever we felt he overstepped the mark, we made sure he knew his standing in the family and the world.

To what extent are you ‘trained’ in web design and social media? Was there a steep learning curve involved in managing a site that suddenly attracted so much attention?

I build websites for a living and have used/advised social media for myself and my clients. On this scale however, no training. When you are at the eye of this social media hurricane it was manic. A couple of times I was so overwhelmed with communication I had to close the Mac and walk away for a while. Its relenting, tough but ultimately rewarding interacting with wellwishers, fans and followers. I wouldn’t have swapped it for the world.

"Gorilla swinging in the lianas in the jungle being chased by a tribe of indigenous people"

A question for Jack this time: who would win in a dancing contest between John Barrowman and Mr Bean?

Mr Bean – because he is a really funny dancer

Did you have a conscious strategy behind your online presence or was it something that grew organically?

We didn’t even have a Facebook page till Day 6 and even then Rose (Jack’s Mum) had to convince me! Jack had a Twitter account since birth (because I am a geek and reserved it for him). After that, “suck it and see” and “make it up as you go” are two phrases that spring to mind.

"Unicorn taking his pet baby elephant for a walk"

Another for Jack – what’s more fun? Getting a Hug from your mum or jumping on your Dad?

Both of them, I like jumping on my Dad becuase its fun and I like getting a hug from Mum because shes warm!

How did the book deal come about?

Someone posted it on their Facebook wall, no idea who. Sara O’Connor spotted it, twas the Heatblast picture.  Sara is a Senior Editor for Hodder Childrens. She called me, I thought it was a windup at first. It progressed from there.

Now that Jack has finished all his drawings and you look back – is there anything that you would have done differently if you had the chance to do it all again?

Jack – Nothing, I loved it all.
Dad & Mum – Closed picture requests a bit earlier than 2 weeks, 536 pics was a lot.

With all the media furore that has surrounded Jack combined with the technical and logistical challenges that surround managing such a popular website, there’s one thing that we really need to know – what does Jack want for Christmas?

Guitar, Space Shuttle (Lego), thats all.

Huge thanks to Ed, Rose and Jack.  Do something nice today and drop them a little donation. Or a really big one if you want to.

At the same time, however, NOT redesigning your website leaves you facing two problems. Firstly, staleness. A site that has looked the same for years will begin to look tired, will be overtaken by competitors in the same niche and will begin to lose pull for its readers and users. Secondly, technology. The speed of development and innovation in web design and development right now is quite frightening. If a company doesn’t keep up they will be failing to provide their users and readers with what they want, whether it’s back end / CMS upgrades or front end page load speeds and interactive elements. People are demanding more and more from websites and they WILL go elsewhere if they can’t find it with you.

The natural conclusion to this is that websites do need to be redesigned and ‘upgraded’. Regardless of whether people like change or not. And they don’t. Witness the outcry when Facebook tweaked their layout or, to a lesser extent, when Twitter launched ‘New Twitter’. The lesson to be learned there is that although there might be an uprising to begin with, with hatred being spewed via every communication channel you can imagine, over time people will get used to things, accept them and, if you’ve really done it right, grow to love them.

To stay ahead of the game you will need to update your site. So how can you make the painful process of a relaunch that little bit less painful? Let’s take Facebook and Twitter as two examples of how to go about it.

Facebook, in their overwhelming dominance, simply come up with and make changes. They don’t tend to justify it until after the event, they don’t enter into much discourse over it and, it seems to me at least, they don’t worry at all that it will drive people away. They do it, they hunker down and weather the storm, then emerge and bask in the sunlight provided by the knowledge they were right all along. So far, they have been right for the most part. It’s one approach to take but it’s a risky one, especially without the power of a Facebook in your niche.

Twitter took a slightly different approach with ‘New Twitter’. They gradually rolled out the new design and functionality to their users and they gave them the option of sticking to the old version (though that will soon be dropped). Why did they do this? No doubt there were technical issues but I think that taking this approach allowed certain users, particularly powerful and influential users, to try it and advocate it to “the masses”, making the transition that little bit easier. This worked fairly well for Twitter, as various polls at the time showed. For entities with a user base the size of Twitter, this is a sensible way of introducing change, but not everyone (ok, hardly anyone) has that, making it a difficult one to implement.

So how about this approach from TechCrunch? Would this work for you?

Having spent several months redesigning their site after their acquisition by AOL, TechCrunch put it live on Monday 11th July and posted a very good blog post from the lead designer explaining the creative process, the changes made and WHY and his personal feelings about it. Nevertheless, TechCrunch knew full well they were going to get hammered by their regular readers, hence the title of the blog post: “Redesigning TechCrunch: We Picked This Logo Just To P*** You Off“.

They were right. They received a torrent of abuse and outrage (literally hundreds and hundreds of negative comments), especially over the newly designed logo. They were clearly well prepared, however. They’ve followed up with several more blog posts:

• The TechCrunch Redesign: A Copy-And-Paste Hatemail Template
• Hitler Also Hates Our Redesign
• “Your Logo Looks Like Tetris!” No, Our Logo IS Tetris

Not to mention subtle mentions of their own redesign, linking back to the original explanation post, in articles on other site redesigns, such as Pandora’s.

The result? From reading comments and ‘judging the mood’ on Twitter et al, there has been a genuine calming of the situation, an increase in advocates of the new design and logo and a warming to the open, honest and often self-deprecating tone TechCrunch have used. No, it hasn’t prevented (often extreme) criticism – nothing could – but it has helped deflect some of it and it has helped win some people over.

So the next time you’re considering a redesign and upgrade of your website but you’re worrying about the reaction of your regular visitors remember this: you can please some of the people all of the time but none of the people all of the time and if they are truly loyal to you they will stick around, even if they kick up a fuss at first. If you’ve done a good job they will eventually even become advocates. Worry less about the reaction and more about the reasons you’re making changes in the first place and who those changes are for.

That’s what we’re doing right now as we’re working on a complete site redesign here at Fluid…

UPDATE: TechCrunch have added one more blog post which pretty much backs up my closing my point here.

The site, which launched only in December, was designed and built from scratch by our talented teams to Definitive’s exacting requirements. We’re delighted that it has gone down so well with their clients so soon, not to mention Definitive themselves!

Here’s what Definitive Events’s sales director Adrian Evans had to say:

“So far the feedback that we have had from clients could not have been more positive about our new website. In particular clients have commented that the imagery used really excites them and puts them in the right frame of mind for looking at their events and represents our professionalism and the high calibre of events we deliver”.

“It was a bold choice to go for the colour combinations that we did, but this too has been a resounding success. After working with Fluid throughout the process we were particularly pleased with how this aspect has now translated so powerfully to our other collateral such as business cards and stationery.

“You also know that you have done something “right” when you receive positive comments from your peers and competitors…this gives you even more satisfaction.

“My own personal favourite detail on the site is the ‘interactive event clock’ giving all the information you could need on forthcoming sporting events around the globe. I can’t believe that it’s less than two months until the start of another Formula 1 season!

“It is also testament to our ever growing relationship with the team at Fluid and the success of this site that we have now chosen to work with them on the re-launch of our Definitive Events website in the coming months.”

That’s why I was delighted to read a couple of posts relating to web design trends on Mashable and I thought I’d quickly summarise the ones I agreed with here as, although I work in our search engine optimisation team, the ultimate goal for SEOs and web designers alike is conversion, be that into enquiries or sales, and these will all go towards improving those all important conversion rates.

These are the trends Mashable has seen occurring in 2010 that will no doubt become even more important going into 2011 and beyond.

Flash, Bang, Wallop!

Don’t get me wrong, Flash is a fantastic tool for fully interactive sites and applications and can still be used in certain circumstances but as Mashable point out, more and more web designers and developers are moving away from it for on-page video, animation and navigation.

The reason is simple – as the web continues to go mobile, Flash isn’t moving with it. It doesn’t work on the majority of mobile devices and smartphones and on those it supposedly does, it is rarely perfect. HTML 5, CSS3 and Javascript are better options.

The Fluid site often features Flash on its homepage and we’ve seen how bad that can look on mobile devices.

That’s why we have an iPhone optimised version of the site (go and check it out, it’s very nice!).

When you throw in the introduction of Google Instant Preview, which adds screenshots to the search results, and its own inability to display Flash it just makes more sense to move away from it.

Mobile Sites & Smartphone Apps

As previously mentioned, crafting a mobile version of a website is becoming more and more popular. It makes perfect sense to do so too, as mobile traffic is increasing exponentially. There is nothing more frustrating as a customer than visiting a site on your mobile phone and not being able to use it / read it / navigate it.

Creating a small screen friendly site in addition to the browser version will ensure a business doesn’t miss out on mobile traffic and, potentially, sales.

Those with the budget could go one step further and create apps for the iPhone, Blackberry and Android phone users. Mobile traffic is only going to increase so taking advantage of it through web design and app development is logical.

Photography

We’ve all seen the use of generic images like the call centre girl used on websites the world over – to the point of boredom. Spending some cash on photography and artwork will ensure a website is unique in its niche and allow it to convey the character of the company it represents.

However, not all budgets will stretch to this and the far more affordable stock photography is the only avenue open. That doesn’t mean a website has to end up looking like every other one, though. Imaginitive selection and use of stock images can give that unique feel without the cost of commissioned photography. Mashable recommends:

Research your competitors and industry and take note of the images used. You can then find a unique way to represent your product or service.

Avoid being too literal in your choice of imagery as abstract compositions often give a more dramatic and memorable effect.

Don’t always opt for the cheaper low-res image, as pixelated imagery devalues your overall design and looks unprofessional.

Veer away from the bland and predictable and let the images ‘break out of the box’.

Good advice.

Minimalism & Bold Typography

Take a look at some of the most successful sites these days and it’s clear which way web design is going in terms of layout, construction and font choice. First off, most sites these days have dispensed with unnecessary widgets, plug-ins and features that bring nothing to the visitor but perhaps once used to make the website owner feel they were ‘cool’.

There are a number of reasons for this, not least conversion – widgets that have no purpose merely distract the visitor, taking their attention away from the message the site is trying to get across. But page weight (the size of a web page in kilobytes) is now a factor in search engine ranking, so that too is being considered by SEO savvy companies.

That’s one kind of minimalism, the other is the liberal use of whitespace (it doesn’t have to actually be white, of course!). Uncluttered, product and / or service focused designs are the way many companies are going and you can see why. Coupled with strong, bold typography and stunning images and artwork, a generous amount of whitespace keeps a vistor’s eye trained on where it should be and not wandering off elsewhere. Here’s a brilliant example:

They are Sofa. They make software and do design. That is all. Brilliant.

HTML5 & CSS3

They may not be web standards just yet but they will be and with all the major browsers now compatible with them, there’s no excuse not to start designing and developing websites using HTML5 and CSS3 features now. Even better, those mobile devices I talked about earlier all support the new features too, so there’s no need to worry about  compatibility there either.

I wouldn’t advocate going all out on these just yet, but a bit of experimentation won’t cause problems and why not start learning now in advance of HTML5 and CSS3 full adoption?

Conclusion

So there you have it – reduced use of Flash, increased smartphone compatibility, unique and inventive use of photography and artwork, clean, low page weight but bold designs and early but cautious adoption of up and coming web standards are the present and the future, at least for 2011.

HUGE credit to Mashable for the inspiration and information for this post. What web design trends have you been tracking and adopting?

The De-Luxe team wanted something a bit different for their web presence which was to function as an online business card of sorts, with some very minimal content.

The result the team at Fluid produced is a virtual window display, that quickly shows visitors the attitude of the business and allows De-Luxe to add in new graphical elements at key points through the retail year to capture their clients imagination.

A huge personal bug bear of mine with Facebook is that the pages can sometimes look really dull and drab despite there being some awesome content on it. I put the challenge to the Fluid Creativity team to see what we could do to jazz up our company ‘Like’ page and this is what we came up with.

We have opened a can of worms with this one, we now have loads of great ideas for more exciting tabs for Fluid and for our clients. Holla if you like it…. we would love to hear what you think below.

Websites have recently taken a slice of homemade pie, embracing old techniques, textures and influences from print processes to create truly unique examples, all while using modern examples of css and html.

We will look at a few examples of what to spot in 2010 and hopefully influence you for 2011.

Textures

Paper textures are very popular and enables a website to have depth and a warm inviting feeling. Websites using this technique have the fun effect, which is why it is more commonly used on ecommerce and info websites.

The easiest way to introduce texture is with actual resources, handmade and not digitally created. This way you really get an authentic feel of rustic charm!

Letterpress has come back in a big way thanks to css3 techniques that allow the nicer browsers to render text with drop shadows, done correctly and you can really get the wow effect. Together with hand drawn elements it’s a winning combination!

Retro & Vintage

Retro is the new contemporary, it’s a fact, and there are many websites popping up that can carry a good ole fashioned design and cheek to match. The style and class it brings with it lends well to kitchy subjects or product showcases.

Think beautiful typography, retro patterns and muted colours for a perfect retro or vintage look.

Bright and Loud

Nothing says fun and exciting more than a colour way that ticks all the boxes. It’s like sucking a sour sweet and hitting the centre; it’s a nice surprise.

With bright comes loud, and they sit so well together. Break out promotions; stickers and explosions of colour sit nicely with blocks of flat colour or a balancing background all to give focus to the areas that really matter.

Will you be bold enough to try this trend?

Wonderful Grids

Grids are back, and in a big way! (to be fair, we should have been using them all along..) More and more we are seeing websites that fall into beautiful thirds or adhere to grids so military, a pixel out and the whole illusion can be ruined (well in IE anyways). Grids are being used more so in design orientated websites, such as agencies, ecommerce and brochure websites.

We love that designers are thinking about space and using grids more strictly. We even think its kind of you to use consistent spacing giving developers a nice time during the build process. But remember, curve balls are always nice, even in the strictest of grids. (Sorry developers)

Interactive Elements

Flash hasn’t quite disappeared yet, and we shouldn’t discount it before seeing the clever additions it can give to websites in 2010. Yes, we can now create interactive websites that use JavaScript or clever css techniques that in term can be search friendly and accessible, but we haven’t quite mastered the same effect flash can have on a users interactivity – and that warm feeling inside.

Nifty rollovers, impact promotions, the ideas are truly endless, and as technology grows, so do our ideas and what we can do with flash. We have no idea how flash will appear in the future of modern web design, but lets love it while its here.

Mobile Versions & Apps

Apps, apps, apps. Lets face it, the iphone has made a huge impact over the past few years and apps have blown up in a big way. You can get an app for almost everything, and we mean everything. But, in another way, companies have jumped on the idea that people are using iphones more than their computers, so having a mobile version of their website makes complete sense.

Need to check your twitter, or your facebook? You could use the app if you have an iphone, but if you are using another device, websites like twitter and facebook have mobile versions which cuts down on screen size, load time and sometimes features, which means browsing becomes fast and easy! Who doesn’t love fast and easy??