Kev Charlton
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- Jun 14, 11
The Pictoplasma Festival in Berlin this year staged a one-week program of inspiring presentations, lectures, installations and workshops that included The Crim Collective and their exhibition “Mechanicalism”, and I helped get their website up and running in time to help broadcast their work ‘live’.
The site makes good use of large background imagery, which is pulled through from the collective’s Flickr account. The guys were taking pictures throughout the event and uploading them as the exhibition was unfolding so the site was constantly changing and reflecting the status of the event. It was also built to adapt to mobile devices for those checking the site from the exhibition itself.
Crim are a bunch of extremely talented guys, founded by a mate of mine. So do check out their Vimeo, and keep an eye out for future developments on the website!
- Jun 14, 11
It’s a big year for Art around my way. The Hepworth gallery has opened down the road in Wakefield, and this year also sees a year long series of exhibitions celebrating Yorkshire’s artistic heritage, aptly name ‘Art in Yorkshire’.
Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate is a partnership between: Axis (commissioner and content developer), fuse8 (designer and developer) and York Museums Trust (lead museum for the Art in Yorkshire consortium). Leeds Met Gallery contributed to the initial concept through The Culture Company’s Artimelt Academy. The app is funded by Arts Council England and MLA Renaissance Yorkshire.
It’s been an exciting project to work on, and has led to the development of a fantastic framework that can be used for future projects. You can read more in my interview about the app on The Culture Vulture or by viewing the case study on the fuse8 website.
During, the development process we also took a few of the team down to Yorkshire Sculpture Park to take in the surroundings and to brainstorm ideas about how mobile can be used in such environments. It was a very valuable exercise, that led to some great all-round thinking for future projects. Check out a little video we put together:
- Feb 27, 11
I was asked recently by The Drum to write a review of the new iPlayer app for the iPad.
It’s fair to say it’s a great app, and a great way to catch up with some telly, but i was a little disappointed in the amount of advancements made from the existing web version. Fingers crossed the updated versions live up to its potential!You can read my full review on the Drum website.
Please not you have to be logged in to The Drum website to leave or view existing comments.
- Feb 15, 11
The brief was to redesign the website, but the question we asked ourselves was, how can we encourage more user interaction with the charity?
Small charities such as The Migraine Trust are facing extremely difficult times. Survival is all about gaining new supporters and creating engaging content that puts the charity, and it’s message, in front of people on a regular basis.The Migraine Trust came to fuse8 with a set budget which they had raised through a medical grant. We also added to the budget in the form of a charitable donation, cos we’re nice like that. Still, the aim of the project was to redesign a flawed website.
Now, a website providing information about migraines is only going to be able to go so far in persuading visitors to return time and time again, I should know (I’ve been suffering with migraines for over 8 years), so we started to think of ways to increase engagement and spread the word.
A two-pronged solution
We broke this down into two completely separate proposals, which sat alongside the redesign of the website. As an integrated agency fuse8 are always looking to generate ideas that are delivered through different mediums, and as the creative lead on the project I identified the importance early on to create both a tactile ‘offline’ experience and an online tool that would create a lasting experience for those involved.
The tool was an online Migraine Diary (diary.migrainetrust.org). The first thing I was ever told by a doctor when I started to get migraines was to keep a diary, to list symptoms and habits that might help identify a trigger. Me and Martin (@mspownall), our Information Architect, worked closely to research existing tools, of which there was only really 1…and a bad one at that! We then went onto work together on the IA, creating something that was enjoyable to use, as well as medically valid. The end goal was for the user to have all the information they needed to take to the doctor (as a print out) and get relevant advice based on their data.
The diary has been a huge success for the client. Signs up have exceeded all their expectations, and more importantly have ensured that sufferers are coming back to The Migraine Trust time and time again to use a valuable tool.
Let’s get physical
The second proposal was to create something physical, that would help sufferers share their experience with others.Some people struggle to explain how migraines affect their life, and often these people don’t have supportive partners or family members to open up to. This got me thinking, and I proposed to the client the idea of creating a ‘travelling diary’ campaign, during which they would send out physical diaries to people interested in taking part. These people would write a 1-2 page diary entry explaining their situation and send it back to The Migraine Trust. The website launch acted as an initial driver to gain interest, collating the data of people willing to participate, and the client actually had to employ someone on a part-time volunteer basis to manage the day to day management of sending out diaries.
Once the diary entries have been sent back, the volunteer scans them in and uploads them to the client’s Flickr account, with the images then being shared via facebook and twitter. One of the benefits of the campaign is the ability for the client to send out additional information with the diary, encouraging people taking part to donate or become a regular supporter.
However, the end goal was to create something that people could invest their time in, knowing that ultimately they are helping others feel like they are not alone in their suffering.
A job well done…
The aspect of the project I am most proud of was our determination to do something that really made a difference. It would have been easy for the agency to simply redo the website, but I like to think we made the most of their budget, creating something that has brought the charity closer to it’s supporters and helped spread their message to a wider audience.
- Feb 15, 11
I’ve been a migraine sufferer for over 8 years now, and consider myself extremely lucky to have worked on a project so close to my heart.
The Migraine Trust came to fuse8 after being impressed by the work that we had done on the Meningitis Research Foundation website, which I had also been involved in. The ultimate aim of the project was to improve the user experience on the site, re-organise the navigation and improve both search rankings and donations.
In many ways it was a typical project for me, but being able to identify with the eventual end-users helped massively. I could see straight away that the previous website (link courtesy of The Way Back Machine) was poorly structured, making it extremely hard to find valuable information. There’s nothing more frustrating when you’re researching an illness as not being able to find relevant information, and a well structured navigation is essential. I had vague memories of looking at the site when I first started getting migraines, and can only think that the experience put me off going back for any more information.
I worked closely with Martin Pownall (@mspownall), our Information Architect, on the wireframes and thinking behind the UX and SEO requirements. Being involved heavily from the start also enabled us both to shape the creative approach, not only to the website, but for the diary application and travelling diary campaign that were worked on alongside it (Ed. another blog post coming soon about these!).
The Design Approach
Medical charity websites aren’t exactly known for adventurous designs, but I wanted to create something that, as well as helping people find relevant information, turned out to be a memorable user experience.
A lot of thought and consideration was put into the design, to ensure that the necessary elements stood out. I wanted to create something that didn’t just end up as some nicely designed templates to build into our CMS, the aim was to add detail into interface elements (such as events listings and migraine fact sheets), that would ensure that the site didn’t feel too ‘samey’ as a user browses through different pages and sections. Of course, the site is managed by the client, so it’s impossible to have total control over layout, but the creation of supporting graphics that can be placed within different regions of the page really helps with this.
I also added a ‘dimmer switch‘ which effectively acts as a style-sheet switcher, providing users with an alternative, dimmed down, version of the website. Obviously, it’s rather unlikely that anyone suffering a migraine is going to be browsing the internet during their attack, but a lot of sufferers don’t like browsing sites with high colour contrast as the glare has an impact on their condition.
The site was built using several CSS3 techniques, which was something new to fuse8 at the time. It was interesting being involved in the briefing process to our developers over in Russia, and also refreshing to work with a client who understood that designs don’t need to be exactly the same in every browser.
Feedback
The website has received a hugely positive response from it’s users. Many sufferers have actually taken the time to write to the client to praise the work that has been done, which is extremely pleasing for myself and all involved in the project at fuse8. It’s makes me feel warm inside to have worked on a project which has directly impacted the lives of people like myself, and will hopefully continue to do so. It certainly made a massive difference being able to directly relate to the end-users, and I’m positive that my experiences have led to us creating a site that everyone involved can be proud of.
- Nov 21, 10
Around a month ago I was surprised but very chuffed to receive an invite to this years .net awards at Ministry of Sound in London. We subscribe to the magazine at work, and having been given the opportunity to contribute a design to the ‘build off’ feature last year, I was now privileged enough to mix with the likes of Zeldman and Vitaly Friedman.
The lure of a free bar (excluding spirits!) and the .net branded burger van was enough to keep me happy, but there was more. Jack Whitehall, a comedian who I’ve never found all that funny on the telly, was compere for the night, and I have to hold my hands up, he was brilliant. He even managed to make a joke about Lycos! Now there’s a man who knows his audience. The venue was full of web geeks, but all in all it was a chilled out atmosphere enhanced by Whitehall’s humour, the free photobooth outside, and the monitors displaying live tweets about the event. Jack was inevitably heckled using the #netawards hashtag…this world we live in *tut*.The awards themselves went by quite quickly, with Zeldman taking away 3 awful shiny black cubes (I bet he ain’t got those on his mantelpiece), but the winner in my eyes was Ravelry, a community of people who love knitting and crochet, which took home the award for best online community, beating Twitter and Facebook! Brilliant.
The whole thing ended a bit early at 12:30am, but I suppose it was a school night. Hopefully it will be a Friday next year, and that I’ll get another invite!
- Jun 15, 10
It’s been nearly a year since my first allotment post on here, at that stage we’d had our plot for 6 months and were still in the process of clearing the plot. Well, it was quite a good year to be honest, and as well as giving us a steady supply of fresh veg and fruit, it got us and the kids a lots of fresh air and saved us a bloody fortune!
Probably the biggest success stories were the sweetcorn, the onions (which we hung in shed 2), mange-tout and the potatoes. So much so, that we’ve planted even more this year. We’ve also taken on a new plot! The people next door didn’t really make a go of it last year, and in turn didn’t renew their interest, which has made it really easy for us to expand. It’s about half an acre now!
Sounds good yeah? Well, not strictly true. We’ve actually found that the rubble that had supposedly been buried 7 feet down into the ground, was only about 2 feet down, so we’ve spent the last few weeks digging up massive concrete slabs, bits of walls, glass, metal fencing…you name it…even a fully working retractable dog lead! Get in! Still, we’re getting there, and have nearly two good size patches sorted already.
Last year we also experimented with a bit of homemade booze, making elderberry wine, blackcurrant wine, and even some marrow rum (surprisingly drinkable). This year however we’ve gone up a notch and planted some proper grapevines, Cabernet Sauvignon ones, and they’re looking healthy at the mo!
Anyway, a year and a half has passed since we took on the massive task of getting it fully sorted and, well…we’re getting there. It’s a retreat from the stress of work for me, and it’s great that the kids can learn where food comes from whilst having a great time with their friends on the lawn/slide/sandpit etc! Check out the latest pics on my Flickr photostream, the latest of which are below:
- Jun 12, 10
After a half hour brainstorming meeting between me and Simon Wilson over a cup of coffee, and 2 weeks hard slog from the team at fuse8, I can proudly confirm that our fun World Cup website ‘World Cup Stick Up’ has now gone live!
The basic concept is this, you can upload your own picture, pick from one of the set sticker templates (currently Charlton, Keegan, Waddle, Beckham, Beardsley, Seaman and Graham ‘Turnip’ Taylor) and turn yourself into a football sticker. You can then upload your pic to facebook, where it creates your own World Cup Stick Up album. Twitter integration is coming soon.
Despite working on several pitches which have facebook connect at the core of the concept, and some experimentation with our developers, this is our first proper attempt at using it on a site. It’s been a hectic week in which we’ve experimented which the flash and javascript APIs, but we got there in the end, and it really has made a massive difference to the campaign. The vast majority of early visiting traffic has come from facebook, showing that a fun tool, and a snappy bit of copy on each upload can make a huge difference.
The last time we created a self-promo site at fuse8 was at Christmas, with our Powered by Sprouts website. The launch of that site was under similar circumstances, in that there is a crowded marketplace. Replace Christmas, for the World Cup, and as you can imagine there are a lot of agencies and brands doing their own thing. It was imperative this time that we created something that could be updated and tweaked periodically to maximise word of mouth. So, the idea this time was to create different ‘packs’ of stickers, so we can continually update and offer more choice on the site! The great news for non-England fans, is that the next pack is our first ‘Rest of the World’ pack, hopefully containing Maradona, Valderamma, Voller and Gullit! Keep an eye out on the site, and follow World Cup Stick Up on twitter to keep up to date with all updates.
Have fun using the site, and let me know what you think! Always great to get some feedback!
- May 29, 10
Well, after weeks of anticipation the North’s very own World Cup song, Mr Capello, has been released as a free podcast available on iTunes!
The video already has over 5 and a half hits on Youtube and is spreading fast on facebook, all very exciting considering me and the kids are in the video! Check me and my wee boy Fraser out at 1:52 exactly.
For those that don’t know the song was written by brother and performed by his band The Defenders, from Leeds/Bradford. The song was made possible due to a collaboration between Mag If, a production company from Newcastle, and investment from NorthernNet who made available the use of the MABs.
Here’s hoping that it gets some good coverage over the next few weeks! If you could, please help out by downloading for free.
- May 13, 10
It’s world cup time again soon, and with it will no doubt come a shed load of football songs aiming to capture the mood of the nation. But this time it’s slightly different, there is NO official England song.
John Barnes is apparently coming out of retirement to start rapping again, El Tel is doing some schmoozy rat-pack number, but that’s about it. Step forward an initiative setup by NorthernNet to showcase their network of media access bureaus across the North of England.
The Old Chapel Studios in Leeds, home to local bands such as the Kaiser Chiefs and The Pigeon Detectives, were contacted by NorthernNet to find a band interested in recording their very own world cup song to represent the North. Local lads, The Defenders, stepped up to the mark with an instant classic…Mr Capello.
The band are well known to me, as the guitarist and singer is in fact my brother Chris. So it’s exciting to think that it’s going to get some exposure in the coming months. The song has been recorded in a top notch studio, and the video is in production at the moment. As part of this, the production company involved, Magic If, have set up a facebook group that encourages people to record themselves signing along to a snippet of the song.
So if you fancy being in a music video, join the group and follow the instructions!
In the meantime, check out my eldest daughter getting well into it!
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Posts
Nollie Flip Stool
Skate-Home is a new company that combines two passions, skateboarding and interior design. They make original furniture always inspired by the skateboard shape.
Part of a self initiated project by me, Kev Charlton. Minimal album covers. Yeah.
Guess the albums!
J. Seward Johnson - The Awakening (1980)
The Awakening is a 70ft statue of a giant embedded in the earth, originally installed at Hains Point, Washington, D.C. The statue consists of five separate aluminum pieces buried in the ground, giving the impression of a distressed giant attempting to free himself. The artist is known for his large-scale sculptures, however, this piece is considered his most dramatic work.
Billboard Magazine in Brazil had the great idea to propose a contest of guitar solos performed with a urinal. Having the appearance of a guitar, the sound of the urine is converted into a guitar solo to save and share.
A funny and successful idea of AlmapBBDO.
A fish sculpture constructed from discarded plastic bottles rises out of the sand at Botafogo beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 19, 2012. The city is host to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, which runs through June 22.
Be the coolest kid at Long Division in Wakefield this weekend, with this limited edition Players iPhone wallpaper.
Rainbow Installation Art by Gabrielle Dawe. His large scale installation pieces are made out of thread which burst of colours that fades into different hues and opacities. This is done by using copious amounts of string that sometimes measure up to 50 miles in total.
Last week Mohawk announced a major reinvention of their business to “thrive in today’s digital world” and today marks the launch of a snazzy new website designed by Hydrant and developed by Avatar, as well as the introduction of a new identity designed by Pentagram partner Michael Bierut and associate partner Joe Marianek. – BN
Designed by Glad Creative.
“Glad is a new graphic design agency with a simple mission statement; that anyone who chooses to work with us will be Glad™ that they did.”
Posted with Richard Rhodes in mind…
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Projects
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Info
- Summary
I'm a Leeds based designer who:
- Likes nothing more than to solve a problem.
- Is passionate about designing things people enjoy using
- Loves generating ideas that help people.My skills...
Creative direction, UX design, Graphic design, Conceptual thinking, Creative strategy, Art direction, People management, Front end development
A few clients I've been lucky enough to work with recently...
Alton Towers, Soreen, Migraine Trust, Manchester City FC, Leeds Metropolitan University, Storm Watches, Pace, Meningitis Research Foundation.
Experience- Dec 2010 - PresentCreative Director / fuse8
Currently head up the creative team in our Leeds office, working with our UX specialists, designers and development team to create great work for our clients.
The role involves:
Management of multiple projects with a variety of creative output
Strategic creative thinking and presentation to clients/prospects
Leading UX and Creative workshops and developing creative briefs
Providing quality control and guidance on all creative output
Pro-actively pushing the level of quality in both thinking and execution
Generating new business through new ideas and proposals
Working with internal teams to develop client relationship and evolving accountsImportantly, I also get my hands dirty and work up top notch wireframes and photoshop scamps!
- Aug 2009 - Dec 2010Head of Innovation / fuse8
The role was created to help focus on our digital offering and it's external perception, allowing us time to explore new ideas and keep on top of new technology and opportunities.
The role also involved me developing our UX/IA offering internally, focusing on integration between different teams within the agency, and working with the creative team to improve our output and quality of work.
- Sept 2006 - Aug 2009Senior Designer / fuse8
Working as part of a small design team to produce UI/UX design for a variety of clients.
Heavily influential in the eventual transition from a primarily print based design agency towards a purely digital focus, working with the entire team to evolve knowledge, share skills and change the external perception of the agency.
- Jan 2003 - Apr 2006Freelance designer / Grove Website Design
I set up my own freelance web design company, getting some great exposure on the likes of Smashing Magazine and early CSS web design portals.
- 2003 - 2006Designer / the media buzz
Working on email communications for clients such as Orange, Liverpool FC, BMW, Jaguar and Konica Minolta. Gained invaluable experience working in an extremely fast paced environment for a lot of well known brands.
Progressed to play a key role in a new web design team, honing my web design skills and HTML/CSS.
Education-
2001 - 2004De Montfort UniversityBA Hons in Media Studies
Additional Information-
Interests:Football, Punk rock, Hip-hop, Graphic Design, Skateboarding...but mostly just being with my kids and larking around.
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Photos
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Recent Tracks
- No Half Smokin by Blueprint
- Not Looking Down by Nothington
- To Hold On by Nothington
- The Escapist by Nothington
- Where I Stand by Nothington
- St. Andrews Hall by Nothington
- Not Looking Down by Nothington
- To Hold On by Nothington
- The Escapist by Nothington
- Where I Stand by Nothington
DescendentsThe ClashSimon & GarfunkelJimmy Eat WorldLeatherfacePropagandhiChopperSaves The DayDillinger FourScreeching WeaselThe Promise RingNathaniel GreenSamiamCat StevensP.O.SMasked IntruderJawbreakerTeenage BottlerocketThe LemonheadsprotectorsAC/DCKarateDugongDartz!Hot Water MusicThe WeakerthansFace to FaceJets to BrazilStapletonNew End OriginalRancidGeoff FarinaDessaMinor ThreatMilloyChuck RaganjohndoeThe DraftThe Cinematic OrchestraThe BeatlesThe LapseRandyDashboard ConfessionalThe Get Up KidsRefusedDoomtreeThe MenzingersKissLifetimeTexas Is the Reason- 29 plays
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- Hope by Descendents16 plays
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- Cheer by Descendents11 plays
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