I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
May 1, 2012 at 8:40 am
Publicpolicy.ie launches today. 22 minutes ago in fact. This is the result of a few months hard work by a handpicked team of talented people and typifies the kind of quality that Brightspark’s website broking approach can deliver. I believe that the best websites are produced by breaking up the tasks into their component parts. Let the designers design. Let coders code. Don’t dare use the same designer for print as you would for web! And work with talented people who will make you look good. That’s the approach I’ve been working with for years and this latest site Publicpolicy.ie is a great example of what happens when you get good people on the job – and the client trusts you. That last bit is very important. In my experience, it’s only the most confident in their knowledge people that can admit to not knowing how to doing something and are smart enough to get good advice and use it. (You will notice no dropdown nav bars in here, and content that is user focused from the start… board pics are there, but in second place where they should be).
Publicpolicy is a great initiative, funded by (my heroes) Atlantic Philantrophies. If you’ve never read this book, buy it today and read it over the bank holiday weekend, it’s inspiring. Publicpolicy exists because in Ireland we don’t get access to a lot of unbiased information:
- We get Government pushed information, which has an agenda
- We have the Media, whose job it is to create spin
- Now we have objective unbiased, agenda-free presentation of facts – publicpolicy.ie
The Board of the think tank are an illustrious group of thinkers.
I was asked to present and keep them informed of progress, and I was genuinely excited to be going in to a group of people, some of whose words I studied back in college, and talking to them as a professional with knowledge. I can safely say, hand on heart, that this was an enjoyable project from start to finish, with no difficulties, or conflict along the way. A joy!
The team I put together who all deserve credit are:
- Started out back before Christmas by getting in Darkhorse to help us choose a name. Without them we’d still be called the Irish Fiscal Policy Research Centre, which just doesn’t have the same ring to it as publicpolicy.ie
- We got Koh on the case to create the visual identity and all the graphic design.
- Bohoe who photographed the Board on a cold winter’s day.
- Modus won the web design tender and were a pleasure to work with. No job too big or small. A tendency to delight with the ease in which they facilitated my last minute requests and desires.
- Raic Productions as ever, the most professional and brilliant editors – they’re the ones to thank for the videos.
- And me on the rest. Architecture. Content. Project Management. Email Marketing. And training – we had a session on social media to see if it is ‘for us’. And the team at Publicpolicy are all clued up in how to manage this baby and keep her looking beautiful.
We know the site works and achieves its goals. Go on over and check it out – choose one of the content areas that interests you and have a little browse. This weekend, when you’re in the pub or at a barbeque, you will find yourself contributing to the debates on water / property tax / the state this country is in, with an informed voice. People will stop what they’re doing and turn around to look at you – Angelus style.
As with anything we’ve been working on for so long – we are dying to hear what you think of it. Please feel free to comment here below. Or contact me on Twitter (@maryrose), or comment on the vids.
If You Want To Know What Drugs Do
February 5, 2010 at 9:00 pm
If you think that drugs is about having a quick line of coke in slick bar somewhere, wiping your runny nose as you down your vodka. Or dancing all night with your hands in the air, in love with strangers around you who tomorrow will not be your friends. Then read on.
I’ve recently completed a blog site for a community group in my local area. It’s called Sankalpa and they work with people who want to come off methadone and benzos. Methadone rehabilitation Dublin. Inner city areas are no longer riddled with smack (well not as much as they were in the 1980′s), but boy is it easy to get your hands on benzo’s… those horrible drugs that keep you sedated but alive. Imagine being successful coming off smack and then having to live in an area that’s coming down in opportunities for benzos?
Sankalpa work at changing people’s lives. They educate and promote nutrition, herbs, and juicing. They teach people how to cook real food and change habits of a lifetime to keep their bodies healthy. They use art therapy to help people bring out their stories about the why, the what for, and to face some of the memories that have been so long locked away. They provide training in computer skills, maths, art, ceramics… they help to place feet firmly back on the right road again.
There are so many inspiring stories coming out of Sankalpa (and the lots of other local groups around this country). It must be hard for them in this climate and the fact that they are not helping people from Haiti. Sankalpa is run by a team of really open and forward looking people. They’ve started a blog – it makes great reading… from recipes for smokers cough tea, tips on how to use lemon balm and other herbs, and interesting research in this area… but what really gets me are the real life stories.
Fair play to people like Des, David, Lynne and others who tell it like it is in all its ugly truth.
To all the people making a go of it at Sankalpa big RESPECT.
To anyone reading this who has skills in video editing, podcasting, photography… Sankalpa need you. They’ve great plans this year to produce lots of rich media. If you’d like to help in any way at all – you can!
Now for all you people out there who still think coke is cool, read David’s story. And next time you end up in some after hours house party, think about Des - sure you might have even partied in his house?
Tags: Methadone Rehabilitation Dublin, Sankalpa
Why Invest In Good Design?
October 22, 2009 at 10:28 am
Before you click on over to look at The Rose Project, read this. Sadly the Rose Project is not showing itself in all its beauty anymore.
Someone broke the design on the Rose Project – a Brightspark website that won an award at the Irish Web Awards only 3 weeks ago. They got a free resource in to update the site and that someone hasn’t a clue. Know that what you’re looking at now is NOT what we designed. It has been damaged.
Exhibit A:
Home page banner featuring white around the logo (which is on grey background), a banner with centred text (should be left aligned, always), and the image doesn’t fill up the black space or at least grade into black. Finished off by the removal of the ‘donate now’ ribbon on top right. Replaced with address details. The primary objective of this site was to encourage donations, not to share telephone and fax numbers.
Exhibit B:
Featuring the chopped up logo on white background again. And the text under ‘help us kit out..’ is actually white text on grey background. It is not your eyesight, and you are not waiting for the page to fully load.
There are probably more examples, but I can’t go on. It makes me so sad to see something so beautiful destroyed overnight.
Tags: Bad Design
The Ability Awards
September 3, 2009 at 9:02 am
Lovely new website just launched today to coincide with the launch of the 2010 Ability Awards. We worked on the design and delivery of this WordPress powered site. The brief was for an inexpensive, easy to manage site that would house video. We thought “WordPress”. The Kanchi team is already well used to using WordPress as we got them on to it last year to manage their blog.
While it features a dark and moody design, this site was not delivered by the same team as Kanchi. Ray Doyle, founder of the The Creative District very kindly allowed us to take inspirations and creative direction from the hugely successful Kanchi.org to help support the O2 Ability Awards.
This is a budget site and we are pleased to be able to deliver low cost projects for clients that are on a budget.
Tags: kanchi, The Ability Awards
Pace Learning
May 14, 2009 at 12:09 pm
New kid on the block - WordPress site for Pace Learning.
Love the fact that the site is fresh and clean and doesn’t talk at you like so many other executive coach and training companies do. Home page entry is written for these times, but never once mentions “in these difficult recessionary times.” Instead we talk about getting the best out of what you’ve got, and how to drive productivity – things which are on the top of mind of any Training Manager.
Tags: Pace Learning, Wordpress Site
Ending the week on a high
January 23, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Despite the shitty news of yesterday, this week is ending on a high – and not just for me.
Am back in the country a full week and have already won a new client! A nice little project that I’ll be sharing on here as soon as it’s in motion. But it’s a brand that Irish people know and love, and a very good cause. Update as of 4.57pm: just won another one, that’s 2 in one week! Recession my ass!
Also delighted to announce the launch of a new site for Daisyhouse. They are the charity that Brightspark likes to help out (have you got one?) and the new site is very smart! It’s got an online referral form to streamline the previously cumbersome paper process. They share some great stories about people they’ve helped. And some novel ways that you can help. Go on! Click that link – I promise you there are ways you can help that won’t cost you any money!
I’d also like to congratulate the Contrast boys whose nifty app Qwitter got a mention on CNN - no less!
Finally here’s what happened in Liverpool Street Station around this time last week. Flashmob goes dancing – watch it right through, it’ll make you feel all loved up with how great it is when humans get together and let their hair down… even stuck ones who work in the City!
So all in all, not a bad first week back for web site development, interesting apps, and delicious new clients.
Tags: Daisyhouse, Qwitter
Tales of Good News
November 25, 2008 at 12:55 pm
A new site of ours has just gone live – The Rose Project -and it’s a bit of a beauty I must say! Check it out and see for yourself how refreshingly different it is to have a charity that is not just guilting you with pictures of starving babies.
The Founder of The Rose Project, Mary Donohoe, made it quite clear in our initial brief that this site was to be about rejoicing in the strength and spirit of the African people. She believes that for too long Africans have been portrayed as passive recipients of our charity; and that is not the case. They are grateful, but they are strong spirited people. Sure, they’d have to be to cope with the loss of an entire generation that HIV and AIDS has brought to that continent.
I loved working on this project because I travelled to Malawi 10 years ago. Of all the African countries that I visited, Malawi was the one that stole my heart. The people are so gentle, so wise, and also so much fun. You can see that in the Kaso video on the site where the kids are so exuberant and full of LIFE! Or watch the story of Granny Banda – one strong woman who is raising her 6 grandchildren alone. In a land of no social welfare, this 64 year old cuts stones with a pickaxe to make money to support her family.
Key Features of The Rose Project Site:
- It’s about sharing the good news – you can see that with the “How Donations Helped” featured prominently throughout the site. Browse the stories in video or text format and I guarantee your heart will be touched.
- You can of course make a donation! There are a range of ways – you can give money or time. Or you can choose to wrap all your Christmas presents in their gorgeous designer wrapping paper. Costs €5 for 5 sheets and every cent goes to fund much needed projects.
- Keep up to date with news by subscribing to The Rose Project’s blog. Or you can follow them on Twitter where they promise to only give you good news. And if you’re on Facebook, there’s also a group.
Like all Brightspark productions, this one came about through the pooling of talents of a range of different people:
- Angel Gonzalez on design
- Jess Kelly on video editing
- Ken Stanley on development
- Heidi Jermyn on additional whizzyness
- Adrian McCarthy of Wildfire Productions for amazing source video material
- Anne Carthy for her patience positivity and good humour
- The Rose Project Team (Mary, Bernie, Niamh) for learning to use basecamp and their patience and good humour
Tags: The Rose Project
Ring of Confidence
November 14, 2008 at 8:54 am
We all know the claims that a certain toothpaste makes in relation to our teeth. But where do dentists go when they want that extra ring of confidence when it comes to online?
The Irish Dental Association has recently relaxed the rules on dentists advertising. Congratulations guys, and welcome to the 21st century! As a member of the public, I can confirm that I don’t feel suddenly harrassed to go get my teeth cleaned. But thanks anyway.
A bunch of the brightest and best Dublin dentists approached me and said they wanted to look good and be found online. As that’s what we are all about, we were able to deliver. An ultra clean and bright site, followed by search engine optimisation to ensure that these guys rank high when you and I search for teeth whitening, dental implants, and even dermal fillers! 
Tags: dublin dentists, redmond molloy
All Girl Team Makes Rugby Magic
September 26, 2008 at 11:36 am
Our new site for Old Belvedere Rugby Club has just gone live. Not only is the established and venerated club updating its site, but they are taking to blogging in a big way.
The site is constructed using WordPress which enables easy content management, it incorporates a Flickr feed where they’ve already got hundreds of pics up, and the blood red design will certainly speak to rugby players. But it is the blog that is really going to improve the way they communicate.
Last night I delivered training in how to blog to Committee members and team captains. I feel sure that they’re going to take to it in a big way; there are a lot of people in there who are passionate and have a sense of humour – two essential ingredients for blogging success.
On my own part, I’m pretty pleased that the all-female team at Brightspark has successfully delivered on the project objectives for this bastion of male-ness in Dublin 4!
Visit the rugby club site.
Tags: Old Belvedere Rugby Club
How to Save Water
August 1, 2008 at 9:46 am
Updated site for Dublin City Council - Taptips.ie. The Council needed to communicate a variety of information to homes, businesses, and younger people. Rather than go the route of static content, we went with some interactive flash elements to drive the point home.
- Anyone remember “Jackie” magazine? On the work page, there’s a jackie-style quiz where you can find out just how good your biz is at managing water. Results can be printed and you can go off and implement the recommendations. You should because you’ll save money on your water bill.
- There’s an interesting water usage calculator which shows you how much water you use in the home. It doesn’t quite advocate cutting down on showers (or showering with a friend!), but it certainly made me more aware of how much water gets wasted. When you think of the amount of processing and the energy that uses before water gets to us, and then think of how we just leave taps running while washing our teeth, it’s so wasteful.
- Finally, if you’ve got kids and they’re stuck for something to do – then check out the kids section. Downloads to keep them happy on wet days. And interesting info on just how water makes it to our homes. It’s quite alright to like the kids section even if you’re not one!
