We’re hiring: Front End Developer

Full Phat Design provide high quality web sites to a selection of clients across the UK. We require someone that is as passionate about web design and the work they do as we are.

We are looking for an awesome front end developer to join our team. The successful applicant would work from our studio in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire creating stunning web sites both visually and technically. Although this isn’t 100% a web development post an understanding of PHP would be beneficial.

The lucky candidate will need the following…

A solid understanding of HTML5, CSS3 and responsive web design
Be able to carry out PSD to HTML conversions
Knowledge of WordPress & E-commerce platforms
A great taste in Music & Be able to drink copius amounts of tea (not essential but preferred!)

We would be looking for the applicant to start work on web sites as soon as possible so experience is key. Locally based freelances who can work in house would also be considered.

In return we will provide you with…

•   A shiny Adobe CC loaded Mac to work from
•   A competitive salary
•   The opportunity to work from a lively and fun studio on a variety of web projects
•   25 days paid holiday a year

How to apply

To apply please e-mail info@fullphatdesign.co.uk and include your CV and portfolio of work, it’s probably also worth telling us why we should hire you. Please note: no recruitment agencies.

Oxfam Trailtrekker- Done!

I thought I’d post a quick update on my latest charity based adventure, two weeks back I took part in the Oxfam Trailtrekker event in the Yorkshire Dales along with three other fools who thought it would be clever to try and walk 100km without sleep.

After five and a bit months of training in the worst weather conditions this country could throw at us and in some of the most remote locations the day finally came for us to tackle the beast. We eventually finished the course in 31 hours with two members of the team having to drop out with feet like bubble wrap and injured legs.

Check out the web site we produced to see the images from throughout the training and more information on the task, Trailtrekker is such an awesome event though and i would recommend anyone who fancies a challenge to give it a go, I think a Full Phat Design team may have to be compiled for 2014!

All in all the Lets Get Ready To Ramble team raised just over £2000 in online and offline donations which will go to a great cause, Oxfam. A huge Thank you must go to Tineke Floral Designs and Lick That Bowl who kindly donated prizes for our charity beer festival which made a massive contribution to our total along with everyone who sponsored and supported us along the way.

Putting together a website specification

We get a lot of potential clients approaching us and saying “how much would it be for a website?”, although we’re very good at what we do we’ve not quite mastered the mind reading part!!

From past experience writing a specification for a web site is a collaboration between the client and designer/developer and get’s a far better end result as both parties know exactly what’s happening and in which direction it need’s to go.

If we look at this from a different angle, with builders for example, we wouldn’t have them build a extension to our houses without getting everything confirmed before hand and if they put a door in the wrong place it’s not always possible to fix it without major modifications and an increase in price, this is another great thing about having a specification, there’s no nasty surprises in price and function.

So what do we need from a client to get the ball rolling?

We usually get the clients ideas first before we take a look and make our suggestions and write up the final specification, what we usually ask for is the following:

A run down of your business, what you do, the way you do it and the ethos of the company, if you are bright, colourful and fun company such as Innocent your web site will look a lot different to a more corporate looking company such as Regus.
Your target market, who would the web site need to be aimed at?
Is the web site to be an e-commerce site, a brochure site to show off services or maybe a portfolio to show off the work carried out previously?
A run down of the pages you think you would like your website to house (ie home, about us, terms and conditions etc). You may have to tie this in with the details below if certain pages need different functionality.
If you require any special functionality, for example if you would need to be able to edit your own text, add your own products or if you would like your clients to be able to perform tasks on the site such as paying invoices. It’s key to list the functionality you would need as the site owner and the functionality you would like for your clients.
Any of your competitors sites which you think we should take a look at to use as a benchmark and also your comments on the sites given.
What are expectations/aims for the web site, what do you hope it will bring to your business?

Once we have this information gathered we may need to have further discussions but we can then spend some time drawing up a full specification with our ideas on how to build the site and how to get the website seen by potential clients.

Of course if any of the above scares you please don’t hesitate to give us a call or book in a visit to our studio in Mansfield and we’ll talk you through anything you don’t understand.

New logo, new website, phew..

Hello and welcome to our new online abode, we hope you agree it’s both functionally and visually representative of the work we produce on a daily basis.

It’s been nine years (yes nine) since the old FPD box logo was installed by myself when setting up the business and a rebrand was a scary thought but we felt the time was right to do this, we’ve spent the last six months drawing, doodling, scratching and etching to try and get the right logo for the company, and we landed with the new FPD carton concept.

The next stage of the integration of the logo was to get the web site up to date, we’re always so busy working for clients crafting our own site can be tricky and requires a number of late nights, which we’ve done plenty of to get to this stage.

We finished the web site visuals, coded it up, made it responsive and added the content and now here it is. The web site was just half of things that needed to be updated to amalgamate the new brand with the business, we’ve had all the business stationery re-done, all our hoodies and shirts re-done and the studio re-decorated to suit.

We’re just adding all of the work we’ve completed over the past year or so, we hope you enjoy browsing through this and keep checking back as we promise this site will be updated more than any of our previous efforts, it’s got a super Content Management System so we can quickly add what we want, when we want.