Like a house, however secure you think it is, there’s always a way for someone to get in if they’re determined enough. And whilst we’re not saying that a website being hacked is anywhere near as bad as your house being ransacked, it’s bloody infuriating. It also takes up the time you want to spend, working on client projects.

So, when we should have been full steam ahead with gorgeous projects, we’ve spent the best part of four days, trying to disentangle a stupid mess. Have no idea if the problems have been caused by human endeavours or something more sinister, but all we know is, we are currently mightily pissed off. Thank goodness we have the most brilliant people around us and the most understanding clients, who so far are demonstrating huge reserves of patience – and sympathy.

A fairly unexpected start to 2012, but in the immortal words of D:Ream…

The guys from Frankie’s Fish Bar, West Didsbury came to us fairly soon after they opened to look at what we could do to help them promoting and marketing their new business. A year down the line, we’ve worked on a number of design projects and have so far produced the designs for the menu board above the fryers, the tables menus, promotional posters for their big 1st birthday giveaway, exterior promotional banners and loyalty cards. And, if we’ve done it for Frankie’s, we can do it for you too…

Frankie's Fish Bar, West Didsbury - Menu Front & Back

Frankie's Fish Bar, West Didbsury - Takeaway Menu

Frankie's Fish Bar, West Didsbury - Loyalty Card

Frankie's Fish Bar, West Didsbury - Wall Menu Board

If you value consistency of design and branding of marketing as much as Frankie’s, why not do what they did – and get in touch with WeAreLife?

So, we thought we’d do a round up of some recent projects – some big, some small – but all of which have been thoroughly enjoyable, and have made being at work, not like being at work at all! Another bonus.

THYME OUT DELICATESSEN

Thyme Out Delicatessen website

This site was actually uploaded some time ago, but we’ve continued to work with Ben, designing his table menus, deli boards and catering menus. Ben wanted a site he could update himself – and that’s we built for him. He can upload his daily specials, blog and change his outside catering menus. Customers can do online ordering too via the customised catering ordering form -

Thyme Out Deli Online Catering Form

FRANKIE’S FISH BAR

We don’t just do websites – our design design team can turn their hands to whatever our clients want. Within reason The guys at Frankie’s Fish bar, West Didsbury wanted their big menu board updating, as well as table menus, promotional posters and banners and loyalty cards. Job done!

Frankie's Fish Bar menu board (not to scale!)

We’ve also done a huge selection of business cards – some as part of a bigger rebranding or new project, some as stand alone jobs. They can be as elaborate or as simple and classic as the client wants. And if only takes half an hour to design, that’s what you’ll be charged…

WeAreLife designed business cards

Whilst we don’t do in-house printing, we can recommend printing companies and we are delighted that we have built up an excellent relationship with an Oldham based printing company – in fact, many of our clients now liaise directly with Ben as there are no hidden costs. We don’t add costs on and we don’t take a cut. It’s a happy relationship all round.

We love photography, but we’re not photographers. Sure, my trusty Canon can capture what I think is a good image, and Instagram can often save the day, but when it comes to websites, we turn to the professionals – and in Steve and Mark, who are our photographers of choice, we’ve discovered two gems. You’ll be seeing some of Steve’s work coming up on two websites we’re currently working on…

We’re also not SEO experts, but do know someone who is. So, if optimisation is key, we refer clients to our SEO guru. It’s taken us a long time to cut through the SEO gunk, but we know we’ve found a diamond in this one…

We love to communicate and understand that subtle networking is key to building long and meaningful relationships so we encourage our clients to get tweeting. We create and develop Twitter accounts, branding them so that there is consistency with the business brand. Then we hand them over to the owner – because no-one can communicate about your business like yourself… Twitter accounts we’ve branded include MacleodBradley, Pinchjos, 360 Personal Training, Azzurro, Thinking Space and Milly Mog

THE FUTURE

The future is very exciting for us here at WeAreLife – not only are we developing and growing our Life sites, but we’ve been working on some cracking websites recently. We’ve just put The Natural Wedding Company website live, and pretty soon we’ll also be launching the websites for The White Closet, The Rose Garden, Frog Furniture, 24 Events and Shout Out Logos. New projects in the pipeline include a stained glass company, a Mancunian vegetarian institution, a unique solution to university accommodation, and website revamps for two long-standing clients, an award winning florist and a TV production company.

So, if you fancy a bit of a re-design, by a company who like to get to know you, and build relationships (not just websites), get in touch.

Helen, Pete & Chris

Kate and Sarah, the sisters behind the company, had worked with us for a long time, promoting the bar on Didsbury Life and generally being huge supporters of WestFest. So when they wanted to create a brand identity for the new company, they came to WeAreLife, the sister company of Didsbury Life. The girls were ideal clients in that they had a very clear vision of what they wanted. Although they wanted a vintage twist to the branding, they realised that the trend for all things vintage probably won’t last forever, and so they wanted stylish but quirky, over overtly twee. They also came to the initial design meetings armed with inspirational ideas – mood boards, swatches of fabric, torn off bits of wallpaper, cookery books, paper bags, images from magazines. All of which helped our designer to immediately come up with a concept which the girls ran with.

From an initial idea of a tree and a colourways that were on the purple/plum spectrum, the brand was born…

The Silver Apples Logo

From the logo, the website just seemed to flow – again, made so much easier becasue Kate and Sarah had a very clear idea of the look and feel that they wanted to achieve and were able to convey it in a way that enabled our designer, Chris, to translate it very easily. The girls wanted to be able to update the site themselves and also wanted a blog – this was integrated into the site, and is being utilised very well

Silver Apples website

Silver Apples integrated blog

The branding was carried through to the delivery van, and our lovely colleague, Gregg, worked his magic – watch out for The Silver Apples whizzing around Didsbury…

You can also catch the Silver Apples Catering Company on the newly launched Natural Wedding Company website. Another example of collaboration, with WeAreLife playing cupid…

It’s been an absolute joy to work on both sites as both clients gave our designers a lot of freedom and both have taken real leaps of faith along the way. However, both clients have also had a really clear vision from the outset about what they wanted their webistes to do, and how they imagined the designs to be. Changes have been made. Tweaks have been done. Sections added. Sections removed. Some fairly bold design statements on both sites produced and – thankfully – agreed to, and loved, by Charlie (The Natural Wedding Company) and Nikki & Rich (The White Closet).

We’re hoping that further connections are made between the two  companies once both sites go live, as there’s so much natural synergy going on there already, and really, The Natural Wedding Company and The White Closet, are a match made in heaven. We’re hopeful that The Natural Wedding Company site will be live this weekend – it’s an enormous site, packed full of everything you could want to know/need for a wedding with a difference, and as such transferring from one server to server is taking slightly longer than usual. We know that Charlie is on hot coals at the moment, and we just wish it was as simple as pressing a button. However, the wait will be worth it! No link to the site, but you can have a sneak peek of a snapshot of one of the pages…

The Natural Wedding Company

Final tweaks are being carried out on The White Closet website, but we have a feeling that Nikki & Rich may just have a little something else currently on their minds – their new baby Charlie who finally made his appearance this week. But how lovely that they’re saying hello to baby and website…

The White Closet, West Didsbury

Follow The White Closet and The Natural Wedding Company on Twitter…

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Manchester

If you’ve not visited the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair before, then you really must put the 2012 event in your diary. Packed to the rafters full of the most bang-up-to-date, and as the name suggests, contemporary designers – all showcasing their creations. This year’s event has been big, much bigger than previous years and is perhaps an indicator that confidence is coming back in the world of design. Certainly, when we were, there was no reluctance on the part of visitors to make purchases – although this could have been coupled with the fact that many (if not the majority) of pieces we looked at, were more than reasonably priced. A  full list of all designers and exhibtors, with contact details etc, can be found on the GNCCF website. The following images should give you an idea of the quality of design work being exhibited…

Alix Swan - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Oct 2011

Gemma Truman - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Oct 2011

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Oct 2011

Hannah Nunn - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Oct 2011

Christine Meyer-Eaglestone - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Oct 2011

Ruth Moilliet - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Oct 2011

Jane Dzisiewski - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Oct 2011

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2011

An integral part of GNCCF 2011 were our clients, Ferrious. Paul & Jeremy are passionate about supporting students and giving them opportunities to break into the design world, and this year they put their money where their mouths are and provided ten Great Northern Graduates the experience of exhibiting alongside Ferrious, and the stunning light installations of Tom Dixon -

Tom Dixon Lighting - Ferrious - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2011

Tom Dixon Lighting - Ferrious - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2011

Tom Dixon Lighting - Ferrious - Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2011

But she had a fabulous company – an ethical wedding directory. She also had a site which wasn’t bad looking. But she wanted something a little bit different, and something more keeping in with her green ethics.

So, we got cracking on with the new site and now it’s about to go live.

Here’s where we started, with Charlie’s previous site -

The original Natural Wedding Company

Hopefully, within the next couple of days, Charlie’s new site will be live. And now we know Charlie. And she knows us. And, like with many of our clients, she’s not just a client. She’s become a friend. How good is that?

Well, in terms of the initial issue below, a check today has confirmed that the other company’s website is still “Under Construction”, so hopefully our client’s problem with them has indeed been resolved. And, hopefully, the other company have shown that perhaps an “error” was made as they do seem, so far, to have reacted honourably.

However, “copying”, “plagiarism”, “ripping off” – whatever you want to call it – is still rife. Another client of ours came to a meeting today to discuss the imminent launch of her gorgeous new website. However, the shine was a little bit take off as she revealed that she too had discovered that someone, in exactly the same kind of niche industry, had literally just helped themselves to designs from her current website. What was most galling, was that the designs were hand sketched by our client, and so incredibly personal. And very unique. Ironically, the very word used on the other person’s website…

Hopefully, this matter will too be settled quickly and the other company will act with integrity. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that people out there, maybe because it’s on the WWW and therefore less tangible, still feel it’s OK to just help themselves. But, bet if I went into a shop and just helped myself, there’s be some pretty speedy repercussions…

UPDATE TO POST : 18th October

Well, since we posted the blog below, there have been some developments. Since posting on Twitter that one of our sites had been copied, we were really touched by the responses, some from people we knew, some from people we only know via their avatar. As a result of these responses, we’ve been able to take some really quick & decisive action ;

@wearelifeuk  have you tried the site Copyscape for checking plaigarism?

@wearelifeuk Disgusting, but it’s so common. Good luck with trying to get it resolved.sounds bad form. Website code & design is copyright isn’t it? So can u get takedown notice issued?

@wearelifeuk Want to have a chat about IP issues?

@wearelifeuk Have a look at @ownit based in London good advice & opportunity to ask specfic Q’s. Good luck

@wearelifeuk Ugh, sounds messy. Look up moral rights too, for the right not to have somebody else trash your hard-produced work.

@wearelifeuk at least there is a law against it and plenty of help ‘Own It’ with the help of pro bono workers.

@wearelifeuk Just seen your blog post – never ceases to amaze me how unscrupulous some people can be.

@wearelifeuk Disgusting, but it’s so common. Good luck with trying to get it resolved.

So, thanks to a network of very savvy, and very kind Tweeters, we’ve hopefully been able to resolve this issue with out having had to recourse to expensive legal action. We sent an email requesting that substantial changes be made to the copy and attaching screen grabs of the identical copy. We also advised that we’d “taken advice”. Today we received an email from the company, advising us that the site had been taken down:

We don’t think so. And this is why.

We spend a lot time, pre-design, talking to our clients and getting to know them. We try to really find out what makes them tick. We get to know them. We often become friends. And this all helps us to create designs that are very personal to our clients.

Some designs are big and bold. Some are a bit out there. Some are elegant. Some are simplistic. But ALL are created through collaboration with our clients.

And that’s why, if we find out that another design company has ripped off our ideas/designs/words, we don’t like it. But we’re not daft. We know the power of the internet. How easy it is to cut & paste a word or two. Take an image or an idea and tweak. That happens & in the industry we work in, simply because it’s difficult to not be influenced by what’s available around you.

However, when it’s not just a word or two, or a tweaked image, but effectively a WHOLE SITE, then that’s not flattery.

It’s stealing. It’s plagiarism. It’s unethical. And it’s possibly even worse, when the company is confronted with the evidence & their repsonse is that they’ll “look into it” and then “take a view on it“. And then, best of all, advising us that they’re no competition for our clients, because – wait for it. They’re based in Essex – and our clients are based in Manchester. Err – www. & all that…

So, here’s a snapshot of the site we created for a client. A client who’s trying to grow his business and for whom a website and the internet and all that that meant, was fairly scary -

The Curtain Fitters, Manchester

A client who now faces the prospect of fighting to get another company to do the honourable thing. Now that’s not fair is it? And we don’t think he’s finding it very flattering at the moment…

(A really positive outcome of this situation however, has been the invaluable advice we’ve received via Twitter. Thankyou. You all know who you are).

iCitymedia

As with our sister company, Didsbury Life, here at WeAreLife we like to make links and connections and build relationships. So when Jess & Jon, the creatives behind iCitymedia took some space in our office, we had a feeling that we could connect with them. As video journalists, we felt that they could help us to support the businesses we work with by offering an additional, interactive, promotional tool. So, take a look at some of the videos we’ve done so far. If you like the look & feel of these, and understand that online presence is so much more tangible, trackable – and ultimately more entertaining – than scatter gun leaflet drops etc, why not get in touch? With iCitymedia, we can get you on film on too…

Have a look at Becky from Blossom, Loz & Nat from Folk and Sian from The Flower Lounge – and come on boys, sure we can capture you on film too! And, talking of building relationships, Jess & Jon charged us with re-vamping their website. Have a look & let us know what you think…

What a way to spend your summer...

However, summer’s virtually over and it’s now the start of a new phase, in many ways, for Life. We’ve got some very lovely new client projects on the go which we’re very excited about, some for some Didsbury, some much further afield and we’ve also got some Life projects bubbling just under the surface. Recent sites which have gone live include Milly Mog, The Break Out Project, Silver Apples Catering & Events Co, 360 Personal Training, CavFest, 360 Nutritional Therapy, Dewhurst Torevell.

So, we’re now looking forward to a new Life phase – all coming very soon…