In the summer of 2012 we were approached by a start-up business with a vision for a new way of delivering business coaching and consultancy. Using a technique called ‘sociodrama’, their idea involved the use of gaming technology to create metaphorical representations of real-world scenarios in a virtual landscape – a radically different approach to any other coaching product in the marketplace. They were looking for a company to help them build the software platform that would make this vision a reality and our long-standing track-record in developing 3D virtual environments and managing virtual events naturally brought them to our door.

 But it wasn’t just our specialist knowledge in this area that we were able to bring to the project. They also needed a name and an identity so our branding team set to work on this whilst our web team began building the business a website.

Meanwhile our technical development team were busy building and testing the commercial software platform, a process which took nearly half a year before the product was ready for it’s first commercial release in February 2013.

With the application quickly gaining recognition in the coaching and consultancy arena we are continuing development and every release sees the addition of new features. As ProReal grows as a business we are there to support them. And, as testament to their faith in us, Dom Raban, our MD, now sits on their Board of Advisors.  

Read more about ProReal in our case study.

One such alliance is ‘Everyone Learning’, a partnership of 15 schools led by Hawthorns Community School in Ashton, Manchester. Having received their designation as a National Teaching Schools Alliance on 1st April last year they approached us and asked us to work on a brand identity, website, social media page branding and an e-newsletter template.

The brandmark features a lowercase ‘e’ encircled by three figures holding hands. The non-hierachical relationship between the figures symbolises the spirit of sharing and cooperation that the Alliance embodies.

The website serves as a ‘shop front’ for the partnership and a place where ideas can be shared between partners and students. The responsive design means that the site’s layout adapts to the size of browser window on which it is displayed. This means that people viewing on a mobile, tablet or desktop will each see a different site layout optimised for that particular device.

You can visit the site at: www.everyonelearning.co.uk

The campaign was for Legoland Discovery Centres worldwide and involved 10 centres across 5 time zones. We built a facebook app to enable users across the globe to vote on which model should be built for the Guinness challenge. The app auto-detected the user’s language and displayed the correct language tab on load. A single cms collated entries from all territories.

The most popular model according to user votes was a festive train. 23,534 lego bricks and 287 children later we can happily report that the trains were built and the record was broken!

Following a very successful year and a half, a number of new client wins and a change in the management structure DatS decided it was time for a brand refresh and a revamp of their site so naturally they came to us.

View the ‘bigger and better’ site here: www.downatthesocial.co.uk

We’ve developed a full e-commerce site with some cool design features, like the expandable footer bar which hugs the bottom of your browser window. The site is currently available in five language variants with more expected to be added soon.

We can thoroughly recommend the speakers too – we’ve got a pair in our pool room!

You can visit the site at: www.damsonaudio.com

Our site features a responsive design which uses CSS to reflow the site layout according to the device on which the site is viewed. This creates an optimal viewing experience for the user, presenting device specific designs for desktop, mobile and tablet.

STOP PRESS: we’ve just heard (9th September) that the festival enjoyed its best year ever with over 75,000 visitors and a number of sell-out shows!

You can visit the site at: www.freedomfestival.co.uk

The game, which owes more than a nod to the popular ‘Whack-a-Mole’ arcade game, encourages players to click on (or tap on touch screen devices) a series of festival-goer archetypes as they pop up from their burrows, in front of the Creamfields stage. Points are earned with every successful direct hit on a festival-goer. High scores are entered on a Leaderboard and are rewarded with a series of festival-related prizes. Using Facebook’s social sharing features scores are auto-posted to player’s walls encouraging friends-of-friends to engage with the game.

The game has been created using the canvas element of HTML5 which allows the use of Javascript to create animations rather than using third-party software like Flash. This enables the game to be played, without a plugin, across multiple javascript enabled browsers on devices including the iPhone and iPad (which don’t support Flash).

Creamfields have over 300,000 ‘likes’ on their facebook page so this is a great opportunity for us to demonstrate the value of using game mechanics to engage with your fan base. By using our own bespoke ‘Competition Engine’ to store game entries we are also able to provide our client with detailed analytics in an easy to understand user-interface.

You can play the game here

Connected TVs (or ‘smart TVs’ as they are also known) are televisions which have an internet connection, allowing multimedia content to be delivered directly to your TV. They are becoming more and more common in homes worldwide – nearly 40% of TVs sold this year will be Internet enabled and that’s predicted to rise to 80% by 2016.

We’re very excited to be working closely with the UK’s most innovative broadcaster to deliver these experimental prototypes, which are designed to explore the creative and technological possibilities that this exciting new platform holds. The prototypes are not available to view publicly but you can read more about them below:

Grand Designs application

Cookery application

Paralympics application

Pressing the red button on the TV remote gives access to the environment, which can be investigated at will whilst simultaneously watching the TV show. Viewers can enter rooms, look at building details and explore the construction site. Interactive ‘hotspots’ allow the viewer to find out more information about products and materials used in the building.

A map indicates the viewer’s current location within the model whilst a video window shows the broadcast stream. These interface elements can be hidden to create a fully immersive full-screen experience.

Traditional broadcast output often uses 3D models to show environments or objects. However these simulations provide a pre-determined point-of-view and even in a 360º fly-through the perspective is fixed by the render of the model and not the will of the viewer. Also the constraints of the programme format often mean that the model will only appear on screen briefly. Our project creates an immersive and engaging experience by enabling the viewer to explore the 3D environment at will at any point during the course of the programme.

Read about our other Channel 4 connected TV prototypes here:

Cookery application

Paralympics application

The application can be accessed at any point during the TV show by pressing the red button on the remote control. An application home screen shows recipes, ingredients and personalities featured in the show. Each recipe featured in the programme is available to view (with an option to email the recipe to the viewer’s email account). Recipe ingredients each have an individual product page with more detailed information.

By selecting ‘shop’ from the recipe or ingredient screens the viewer can see availability and prices for the ingredients at four online supermarkets. Here they can make recipe substitutions for recommended alternative ingredients when they are either unavailable or too expensive. Ingredients they already have at home can be deleted from the list. Once they’ve assembled their shopping list and chosen their provider they can then add the ingredients to their online shop.

Read about our other Connected TV prototypes here:

Grand Designs application

Paralympics application