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We’re now cooking with LiteSpeed for our premium web hosting clients.

We couldn’t believe it ourselves but when we tested out LiteSpeed we were seeing , a speed increase of x6 times faster than our standard Apache / PHP server on our really mission intensive high speed sites.

So if you’re still running your site off a bog-standard web server take a look at a couple of our bigger sites to see what we’re talking about, then contact us to find out how we can really boost your website hosting.

Sites running at LiteSpeed:

www.explorers.org

www.investessex.co.uk

And check out the system stats here (if you don’t believe us !) :

http://litespeedtech.com/litespeed-vs-apache.html

New map launched for Invest Essex using MapBox,Expression Engine, TileMill and Open Street Map API.

View it in our portfolio

We’re looking for a Creative Front End Developer with JS/ Jquery/HTM/CSS skills as standard.

A creative thinker who can build as well as innovate.

Mobile knowledge also required.

Must work well in teams, you’ll work closely with our designers and developers and a knowledge of motion graphics is also essential.

Online portfolios to matt@pixelwork.com

STRICTLY NO AGENCIES…. Absolutely none, zero, nada etc… Don’t call us we’ll call you (if you’re outstanding digital creative in the local area then we’d like to think you’ll have found us yourself)…

And if you are from a recruitment agency and you’re still thinking of calling, please read the paragraph above again…

Synopsis

HTML/CSS/JS and AWESOME design ability

Job Description

Have you got what we’re looking for ?

We are looking for an outstanding digital designer who will be responsible for generating and developing design concepts on projects and leading them through completion with our studio team.

We are looking for people with outstanding creative design skills,  and the ability to excel with any design challenge.

We are a tight knit team, but you will still need to be self-motivated and have a pride in your work to ensure the projects flow through the agency structure effortlessly  - not too much to ask is it?

• Amazing design skills that will blow us away
• Ability to design across platforms and channels (websites, email, social media, mobile, tablets and wristband communicators (you never know!)
• Isn’t afraid of big brands but is equally as happy helping little brands to grow
• Has a strong understanding of social media and how to harness it to deliver outstanding client solutions
• Has hundreds of ideas tucked away for a rainy day
• Isn’t looking for the ‘big agency experience’ but wants to be part of a small crack team
• Knows the meaning of the word DEADLINE
• Isn’t afraid of standing up in front of clients and presenting concepts, ideas and most importantly won’t start crying when they criticise your work (it has been known)
• Can work well in a close knit team and is a great communicator
• Strong organizational skills and impeccable attention to detail
• Ability to handle multiple assignments while meeting strict deadlines
• Excellent typographical and design skills
• Solid understanding of the development environment
• Solid knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite applications and other industry tools
• Solid knowledge of HTML/CSS/JS and Standards Based site development and how to push them to their limits

Please send CV and online portfolio.

We’re hiring again..

We’re on the look out for some great new team members :

An account manager, digital designer and IX/UA guy/girl as a start. But don’t let that stop you applying.

If you’re looking for a job at a growing creative agency then please apply, we’re always on the lookout for good, talented people.

More information is available on our new careers page.

As our team have grown in the past couple of months it’s given us an insight into what we’re doing as a company and how we’re moving forward and tackling new projects.

This insight has hit us with the sudden realisation (albeit the wheels have been in motion for some time) that our core business is changing and evolving and so our overall brand positioning needs to be re-assessed, re-interpreted and re-structured.

So in the next couple of months you’re going to see a whole new Pixelwork, a new brand, a new website, new services and a new offer (alongside our core services).

All will make more sense as we bring everything together. Watch this space.

Our first site launch of 2013 is a newly designed site for Swiss based investment firm B Capital.

Having worked with B Capital for many years this new site represents a significant upgrade in technology and interface design. A detailed case study will follow.

In the meantime have a look around the site.

Another week, another website build launched for Open Door Thurrock. Time we put together a few more case studies on our latest web projects, but we just haven’t had the time.

Some more projects to be launched soon for some great new clients as well.

www.opendoorthurrock.co.uk

Just in time for Christmas today  we launched the all new website for Sugar Ray’s.

After months of planning, design and development we’re now up and running. This site is a considerable change away from their previous site, not only did we manage the design and build we also moved to a brand new dedicated server solution customised around the store application.

Pay them a visit and stock up on your Christmas gifts…www.sugarrays.co.uk

1. Check your Speling

Kind of an obvious one but you’d be surprised how many emails we see, even with spelling mistakes in the titles of articles. Double and triple check your spelling. (Yes, we’re well aware of what we’ve done in the title….)

2. Check yer Grammar

“The water in Majorca, don’t taste like what it oughta”. Avoid ‘matey’ language , try and keep it friendly, personable but not too ‘over friendly’ – it just comes across as patronising. Stick to your brands ‘tone of voice’.

3. Beware of using capitals out of context

You may think your product is the “Most Important in the World” but using caps where there aren’t any just becomes VERY ANNOYING !

4. Don’t cram everything in to the content

Link to your site, that way you can track clicks and see which of your articles people are really interested in reading.

5. Build for multiple devices, platforms and screens

It used to be that you would build one email and that was enough for the various browsers. Now not only do we have email clients and web browsers all with different rendering engines but now we have a multitude of different devices and platforms to test for (iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 8, the list goes on). Fortunately now you can build once and deploy everywhere with different design style sheets depending upon the target device. And forget about great background designs, until MS stops using Word to render in Outlook they just aren’t guaranteed to work.

6. Contact details

Put in your contact details somewhere  - not everyone wants to email you, make sure there’s a phone number somewhere on the email.

7. Test on all platforms and clients

Test, test and then test again.You’re infiltrating my in-box, the last bastion of my attention span – make sure your email looks great, and incorporates all of the above. We use a combination of apps to test our emails on everything under the sun. Heres a screenshot of the results of our last campaign below:

8. Social media

Add in your Social Media links, your content may entice readers in wanting to follow you. You never know. Let them share your content too by adding in sharing buttons.

9. link to an online version

Sometimes all your testing will fall over and on the latest Fisher price LeapPad client your email will look awful. So link out to an online version somewhere. Also keep an archive of previous campaigns, it all helps.

10. Add in a top 10 list…..

Readers like to get simple tips that are quick and easy to digest. If you clicked through from our email, you can see it works ! They are also great for SEO on your site.