June 2, 2021
Summer is finally here! We’re so happy to see the sun, and are
looking forward to seeing each other in person again – not just over
Zoom!
It’s been another busy month for Fanatic, with new clients joining us, new websites being set live and some more team changes happening. We sadly said bye to our tech expert Katie, but welcomed Amos as our new part-time developer (read his Q&A below).
In other news, the brief has gone out for our annual Fanatic T-Shirt Competition, where all team members are invited to create a design around the 2021 theme of ‘Summer Vibes’ which will then be printed on t-shirts for everyone to wear. Look out for the winning design in next month’s Scrapbook!
We were tasked with both creating a brand and website for Rockborne, a new group company of Harnham aimed at recruiting the future generation of Data & Analytics experts. We created a brand that was both professional and appealing to the younger demographic.
We did a lot of work to ensure the brand was accessible and engaging. The website was designed to be dynamic, responsive and a catalyst for getting new graduates to sign up for the Rockborne graduate course.
How have you found life at Fanatic so far?
From day one there has always been plenty to do. The work environment is very busy but it is run in an impressively organised and efficient way. The various teams and management work together very well. There is also a genuine respect shown towards clients and a strong desire to produce quality work for them.
What were you doing before Fanatic and what made you get into Development?
I have spent the last 17 years or so working as a freelance web developer. Before that I worked for a web development company which also doubled as an internet cafe! I’ve always had a desire to write computer programs and jumped straight into it as soon as home computers became readily available back in the early 80s.
What made you choose Fanatic?
Fanatic has a good team spirit and a great repertoire of clients. It has been around for a long time, showing that it is a proven and stable company with clients that trust and rely on it. All signs of a well run company.
What have you enjoyed most so far?
The diversity of the tasks. Fanatic develop using many different technologies and it’s great pushing the boundaries of my knowledge in these different areas.
What are you looking forward to learning more about?
The Fanatic development team seem to be very open-minded when it comes to investigating new platforms and technologies, especially in the CMS area. I’m looking forward to experimenting with these new technologies.
What’s an interesting fact about you?
There isn’t really anything that interesting about me. I’m viewed as a bit of a geek to be honest. One passion I have is trying to understand how self awareness works by breaking mental processes down into data and logical functionality and viewing the brain as if it were a computer. Closely linked to machine learning.
This piece of work began almost a year ago when we embarked on a project to help Heat modernise their site without having to design a new one. Heat’s branding and website had been created by the Fanatic team a few years ago but we felt like it needed a little lift, specifically the option to use more imagery. Our strategy was to create a brand new flexible page template, that would be used across the site and would only be a small project to design and create.
After a competitor audit and analysis, our Digital and Design teams worked closely with Heat to design a brand new page template with a number of row options. The emphasis was on keeping the brand colours and feel, but allowing us to make the pages all look unique and showcase their team members and awards.
This project was put on hold during the pandemic but in the last few weeks we’ve been working hard to create a whole new section of the site to drive Heat’s internal recruitment strategy. These pages flow really smoothly, creating a professional feel and an easy user journey. The flexibility offered by this new page template has also allowed us to update other sections of the site, such as their resource hub.
Over April and May, thousands of designers got involved in 36 Days of Type, a project that encourages artists and illustrators to create a design for each letter and number of the Latin alphabet. Our talented Design team stepped up to the plate and showcased an incredibly innovative and imaginative range of digital and hand drawings each day.
See the full collection on our Instagram.
Sam, Thomas & Ian - Design Team
