January saw the launch of the new website for the Michelin Star restaurant The Pony and Trap. Featuring a full Content Management System this new website is a huge improvement on the last site in both appearance and technology. The new site allows the restaurant to show daily menus, incorporate Josh Eggleton’s blog and provide up to date information about the restaurant. By using adaptive layouts and new technology we were able to optimise the site to work across a range of devices including mobile phones, ipads and of course your desktop. Check out their site here.

Great to see the new version of the globalblackswan website launched last month. The site for the business transformation experts features an evolution of the previous site’s look and feel.  The new site is more crisp, minimal and has a more organised feel. The improvements on the site are more than skin deep, Foundry34 sat and worked with the client extensively on working out a new navigation structure and how they could allow users to jump quickly to information and cross-relate articles and services. One of the key improvements is using the depth of content, expert articles, news and media to focus of the company’s solution groups. What started life as a huge sitemap in our studio spread across two desks has now come to life and is already a huge improvement of the previous site.  Once again it’s great to work with a client who actively embraces new technology, so from Twitter feeds to CSS3 we have been able to experiment with new ways of designing and developing while keeping a strict eye on the client’s objectives. Check out their website here

Amazing how a few journeys stuck on a motorway in the snow can dampen the memories of playing in the snow as a kid but the snow last year almost did it. So when we saw the snow coming down over the weekend  you just got that feeling of – here we go again. With team members in Aberdeen and the Lake District over the weekend it’s almost surprising that we are here and intact on a Monday.  Notwithstanding almost having to abandon the car and make it on foot there is something about a snowman at the end of your journey that make you smile. We can’t claim the glory on this one but a genius effort in the lakes- complete with individual wooden teeth- show offs.

We have just had the packaging back from Mushroom and Co the ethical children’s toy retailer and have to say we are very pleased with the results. Foundry34 have been working on a complete rebrand for the company over the last few months and developed a wide range of branded material and digital work, including brand identity, packaging, presentation materials, advertising and ecommerce store. They have just returned from several trade shows and we think the 100% natural rubber, hand painted toys are going to go down very well. We will be getting more images of the work onto our folio pages over the coming weeks.

Seems like a bit weird to be designing Christmas promotional items in the middle of spring but just finalised some of the promo work for The Holiday Inn in Jesmond Newcastle. Christmas Party anyone?

Foundry34 recently attended the Innovate to Success conference organised by GlobalBlackSwan and hosted by Alistair Campbell. As well as the launch of the TDNA application which has been a major project for us over the last 8 months there were some really interesting speakers from very successful companies including Proctor and Gamble, Rio Tinto and Duke Corporate Education. The conference really got us thinking about the role of innovation at Foundry34. Without going into a major intellectual diatribe about the role of innovation in the digital sector, it is obviously an issue we deal with daily. If you aren’t growing, developing and adjusting every day you will soon be left behind. Around 80% of the work we do now wouldn’t have been possible 5 years ago. We are not in a sector that can develop a product then sell it largely unchanged for the next 20 years. The challenge for us as a business is how we can maintain depth of knowledge with such a fast changing landscape and obviously keep our clients informed and at the forefront without being in cycles of perpetual change and adjustment. Our major role becomes about making sense and bringing clarity to technologies and modes of operating that can see alien and confusing even for the most astute of companies. Foundry34 becomes about being able to innovate and problem solve in rapid fashion behind the scenes but to be able to work with clients and provide solutions for their businesses that are relevant and often using cutting edge technology but ones which can be ,managed and integrated into their business models and processes.