You may recall, back in March of this year, we announced we'd been asked to design the new Austrade website for the Australian Government. Well, we're pleased to say the job went very well. So well, in fact, that we won the prestigious Site of the Day award over at Awwwards, one of the best CSS showcase sites going around. Very chuffed!

The design brings the Austrade site into line with 'Brand Australia', a four-year, $20 million program announced by the Australian Government in August 2009. The program aims to better position Australia as global citizen, global business partner and world class destination.

Of course, while we're busy patting backs, we should definitely extend a big thanks to our pals at Elcom who built the site… all 18,000+ pages! Great job guys.

showreel_11 from Gary Nicholson on Vimeo.

In case you missed the testimonial here it is again…

I woke up this morning and I prepared for a usual day at the office. My eyes fought to stay awake as I opened my laptop to read the morning news. Then I saw your e-mail. I got nervous and knew this was the moment I had been waiting for. And then, when I saw what you had sent, my head, my body, my nerves woke up simultaneously. I suddenly felt like the design I had come to discover. Fresh, natural and elegant. It was the morning I woke up to the great words and art of Silver Pistol.

The new site

We've now finished design and development, and the site is live. Here's what it looks like.

The old site

And here's what it looked like before…

Yast seriously is awesome… Try it

We use Yast ourselves. In fact, we were long-time users before we were engaged to re-design the site. So this was an exciting job for us. Give it a try and let us know what you think by commenting. (The boys at Yast are always happy to hear feedback.) Go to www.yast.com and sign up for free.

'Brand Australia' is a four-year, $20 million program announced by the Australian Government in August 2009. The program aims to better position Australia as global citizen, global business partner and world class destination.

Watch this space!

About Sefiani

Sefiani is one of Australia's leading public relations and issues management firms. They offer strategic counsel backed by industry expertise, commercial insight and very strong networks.

How this site extends WordPress

We developed a stack of widgets to extend the power of WordPress, including:

• Home page mast-head gallery, editable through CMS
• News slider, editable through CMS
• Pages tree diagram within CMS for easier admin navigation
• Ability to add staff members, clients, case studies and awards through CMS
• Site-wide testimonials, editable through CMS
• Extended menu editor
• Many more

Client feedback

Here are a few comments from Sefiani and from Elizbeth Graetz from Marketry (Sefiani's communications consultant, who engaged us on behalf of Sefiani). Comments like this make our day and remind us of how good we are (yes that was tongue in cheek!)

A huge thank you : )  as we’re getting accolades from clients and contacts around the world. Robyn Sefiani, Managing Director

You guys have certainly gone above and beyond.  Very much appreciated. Please keep in touch and let us know if you need anything from us.  I’ll certainly be referring you fellas on if anyone asks!  And that offer for beer still stands. Roger Christie, Senior Account Manager

Congrats on the Sefiani website going live. Silver Pistol, driven by your expertise and design skill, has delivered on the brief and then some! Elizabeth Graetz, Communications Consultant to Sefiani, Marketry

Know of any other corporate sites using WordPress well?

If you've seen any other corporate sites that are using WordPress well, particularly with strong use of customized widgets, please comment…

My wife Karen and friend Lisa during Queensland flood cleanup

My family volunteered with the cleanup effort

All week we’d been hearing about the ‘amazing Australian spirit’. “Pah!” I thought. “We all help out when we can, no matter what country we’re from.”

But then we (my wife and I) volunteered a day of our time to contribute to the cleanup effort, and we saw what everyone was on about.

Brisbane’s Lord Mayor, Campbell Newman, had put out a call for volunteers, and the response was so great that we had trouble finding work to do!

Every house we knocked at had already been cleared!

On Sunday, we loaded our car with gloves, shovels, gurneys and gum boots, ready to get our hands dirty. But the first Volunteer Centre we went to said they didn’t need us! We assumed they just had their wires crossed; 20,000 homes had been flooded, after all! So we decided to simply drive until we saw a house that needed some help. But every house we knocked at had been cleared!

An army of ants

There were trucks and Bobcats everywhere. And people… Thousands of them! Like and army of ants.

Eventually we caught up with the action, and managed to get our gloves dirty, loading a few trucks. But the sheer scale of the human labour available meant that within 2 hours, we were once again struggling to find houses in need.

Some of the volunteers during Queensland flood cleanup

More than just labour

My pal in Brisbane (Simon) had been hit by the floods. They’d lost everything but a few treasured items. But he was still very upbeat and smiling, because he’d had help from all over the place — not just with the cleanup.
He had flood cover (insurance) with Suncorp, and they’d given him $5,000 instantly to go out and buy some essentials. He was already living in a rental. He’d been given beds and linen by the local church. His pal had given him a car. His bank had put his home loan on hold for 3 months. Even Foxtel put his account on hold for 6 months. And all this was sorted in 2 days, with no questions, no red tape. WOW!

I couldn’t believe my ears. This wouldn’t have happened in the UK (where I’m from).

Putting it in perspective

While chatting to Simon, he told us about another friend who helped him during the cleanup. This friend’s wife had been taken to hospital just before the flood, and sadly had passed away. Simon said his losses were nothing compared to this.

I’m lucky enough to be back to my normal life

It seems very strange to go back to my normal life after witnessing what’s happening for hundreds of thousands of my neighbours. These things will stick with me forever.

Well done everyone involved!

How you can help

Don’t get me wrong. This is far from over for the people of Queensland. The cleanup may be near done in my local area, but there’s still a huge need for builders and tradespeople, and the cleanup has only just begun in other parts of Queensland. Also, not everyone was as lucky as my pal Simon, with a good insurance company and good friends.

Please give generously through one of the official sites below:

1. Donate: If you can spare a few dollars to contribute towards the flood relief, please donate through the Queensland Government’s official Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal website.
2. Volunteer: Queensland still needs volunteers, as there’s a ton of work still to be done. Click here to volunteer.

I woke up this morning and I prepared for a usual day at the office. My eyes fought to stay awake as I opened my laptop to read the morning news. Then I saw your e-mail. I got nervous and knew this was the moment I had been waiting for. And then, when I saw what you had sent, my head, my body, my nerves woke up simultaneously. I suddenly felt like the design I had come to discover. Fresh, natural and elegant. It was the morning I woke up to the great words and art of Silver Pistol.

Anyway, that's all. We're chuffed, and we wanted to share.

What testimonial blew you away?

You can share too. Please comment with the one testimonial that really blew you away.

Below are some sneak peaks at the work we've been doing, jobs we’ve won and work that’s live.

Sandbar

Logo, Website, Stationery, Menus, Signage, Apparel. The only thing we didn’t do for this new restaurant on the Sunshine Coast was cook anything!

Richard, the owner, wrote the following about the work produced:

You’re a fu*king geniuses!.. but honestly I couldn’t be happier with everything you've done. It's a masterpiece and the feedback from everyone to date has been brilliant. To top of all that, you crack me up which has helped to keep me vaugely sane through out this whole process.

Audi

Web design and development for the Audi Centre Melbourne, working though our pals at Engaging Partners.

Cali Made Me

A new website promoting artists in California. This is just a sneak peak and won’t be live till February next year… quite a build on our hands.

Sefiani

Late September we won a pitch to design and build the new Sefiani website. They are a switched on team of corporate communication strategists based in Sydney. We’ve already started designing and, at the risk of sounding arrogant, the designs are looking hot!

Cloud Networks Australia

Logo, Website, Business Cards even worked on the Business case development, we did everything! Client was stoked to say the least. Damon Joseph (Cloud Networks Director) wrote:

If you want the best, you’ve found it. You would be lucky to find a better outfit than Silver Pistol. The combination of copywriter – Glenn, designer- Ian and coder- Paul is a definite mix for success. Each can more than hold their own in their craft of choice but where the true web magic happens is when they work together. Very easy to work with, laid back guys, I found they relate well and that’s why I will continue to use their services. It’s just easy. One size does not fit all in www-land and they truly have the unique creative streak required to thrive in this industry and deliver the best possible results! You want more? Give me a call!

Tell us what you think

Got any feedback? Add a comment to let us know what you think.