November 1, 2023
October has been a jam-packed month: we launched three Searcys sites, participated in the Inktober illustration challenge, adopted Tailwind CSS, learnt about the new Google Core Updates, and took a trip to Axminster to see one of our favourite clients – Lyme Bay Winery.
Last month, the Fanatic team ventured to the Old Market Assembly in Bristol for a pottery workshop led by the fantastic Pottymouth team. It was a day filled with laughter, creativity, and hands-on fun as we moulded our own unique mugs. The anticipation built up as we awaited the finished products and the results were indeed a delightful surprise.
It was intriguing to see the variety of styles. Some mugs sported a more artistic flair with bright colours and unique handles, while others showcased a simpler look with no colours and no handles.
These custom-made mugs have now replaced the office mugs and become a part of our daily coffee routine, adding a personal touch to our studio space. Each mug is a small but meaningful reminder of the creativity and camaraderie that fuels our studio.
Last month, our talented designers Annie and Sam embraced the annual illustration challenge of Inktober.
Inktober is an art challenge that takes place throughout October. It encourages artists all over the world to take part by doing one ink drawing a day for all of October. The official site for Inktober publishes a list of prompts a couple of days before October, which serves as inspiration for the illustrations.
Sam and Annie each took a handful of prompts and put their creative spin on them. This is a great opportunity for them to showcase their traditional illustration skills in a variety of ways.
Check out our Instagram account to see more of our Inktober updates!
In the last few months, we’ve launched a series of websites for Searcys. Working with another design agency, we created a bespoke website template that ensures the structure and layout of the sites remain consistent throughout the estate while allowing for significant front-end changes between them.
While each site is still unique, having a shared codebase enables us to add new features quickly, anticipate potential issues, and create a unified content management experience.
As one of our longest-standing client relationships, we continue to work closely with Searcys across a range of Retail, Conference & Events, and Bespoke websites.
The dev team has recently added a new technology to their arsenal to help speed up development, improve responsive design, increase consistency and reduce bloat.
Tailwind CSS is a popular and innovative utility-first CSS framework that has gained immense traction among web developers. Its primary purpose is to streamline and simplify the process of building responsive and highly customisable user interfaces.
So what are the benefits?
For developers, Tailwind CSS offers several compelling benefits:
– Enhanced productivity
– Faster creation of consistent and visually appealing designs without writing custom CSS for every detail
– Modular and reusable Tailwind classes simplify code maintenance and collaboration
– Built-in responsiveness and customisation options for pixel-perfect designs across various screen sizes and platforms
– Eliminates the challenge of naming conventions
From a client’s perspective, Tailwind CSS also brings substantial advantages:
– Quicker project completion due to faster development
– Reduced project costs
– More maintainable websites or applications, ensuring longevity
– Easier design changes, thanks to Tailwind’s adaptable utility classes
– Streamlined development process, improved design flexibility, and enhanced project efficiency, leading to a superior user experience and cost-effective solutions
Google finished rolling out its October 2023 Core Updates and Mary, our SEO & CRO Specialist, took the opportunity to educate the Fanatic team on what this means for us as well as for our clients.
Here is a quick summary of what she covered…
– Core updates aim to improve search quality by promoting good content and demoting poor-quality sites
– Search rankings can fluctuate during these updates, so being patient is important
– Google releases several core updates annually to maintain high-quality search results and prevent manipulation
– Despite the uncertainty they bring, core updates aim to enhance the quality of Google Search
If you want to learn more about these updates, check out our videos, where Mary gives a breakdown of these Core Updates.
We recently visited our long standing client, Lyme Bay Winery, to begin planning for 2024 and to discuss how we can work together to deliver continued business growth. These are exciting times for the Axminster-based winery and we’re delighted to be working with them to promote their excellent range of English wines, fruit wines, meads and ciders. Initiatives include growing the e-commerce side of the business and also developing brand communications. While we were there, we also took the opportunity to purchase some of their excellent products at the ‘Cellar Door’!
Last month, the Digital team celebrated Harley’s promotion from Digital Marketing Executive to Senior Digital Marketing Executive. In the last couple of months, he’s proven to be a great asset to the team, always full of great ideas and eager to help the team. He also continues to be the best Coffee Connoisseur of Fanatic, making us great coffees every day!
Marcello, Senior Developer
Marcello had a ‘rocking’ time at The Winery Dogs’ gig at the Marble Factory in Bristol. The electrifying performance by the American hard rock supergroup was indeed a treat for the rock music aficionado in him.