http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/archive en marc@explodingmonkey.com Copyright 2008 2008-07-13T15:22:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/news_item/merry_xmas/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/merry_xmas/#When:10:30:00Z Exploding Monkey would like to wish all our clients and friends (and friends who are clients) a very merry Yule. We will be shutting our doors from 23rd of December until January 5th 2009. Urgent enquiries will still be dealt with, by (possibly) drunken people. Front page - Yes 2008-12-16T10:30:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/news_item/coda_the_all_in_one_window_wonder/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/coda_the_all_in_one_window_wonder/#When:12:14:00Z What are we playing with this week? Coda, that’s what. As a developer I am constantly in search of the next best development app. By this I mean the thing I use to program flash and HTML websites and programs. Coda, from Panic software, seems to be it. It has a beautiful interface, intuitive, uncluttered and easy to use. It combines an FTP client (for uploading files to websites), a code editor (for the programming bit), a terminal (for talking to other computers) and reference books. The killer bit for me is that collegues working on the same project can actually be editing the same document as I am working on, and I can see what they are typing - which, hopefully, will reduce the inevitable over-writing someone else’s work situations that we face on a weekly basis. Front page - Yes 2008-10-02T12:14:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/news_item/magento_rules/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/magento_rules/#When:14:42:01Z (we reserve the right to change our minds on this) E-commerce has gone all open source. Normally this means a design nightmare coupled with a headache for the programmer… But in this instance I think the balance may well be spot on. Magento, the system we have been exploring for the last couple of weeks seems to do pretty much everything you would expect from any of the top end licenced systems. It can mange promotions, email campaigns, multiple payment gateways and will accommodate some pretty nifty design elements. We have a couple of large-ish e-commerce projects in the pipeline, and will hopeful be using Magento for both - so watch this space. In the mean time, feel free to check it out - so far we have yet to underwhelmed. http://www.magentocommerce.com Front page - Yes 2008-09-05T14:42:01+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/news_item/new_site/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/new_site/#When:12:54:00Z Finally, after much putting it off (to do far more more important client work!), we are able to unveil our new website. The principle aim of this site is to let our client work do the talking. So please feel free to have a poke around and look at some of the great things we have done over the last 12 months. Any comments and feedback grudgingly accepted: Marc Curtis Front page - Yes 2008-08-05T12:54:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/news_item/all_change/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/all_change/#When:08:58:00Z It’s been a funny sort of a year. We’ve moved into our new offices and changed many of our working practices. This means that we are now able to provide a smile inducing level of service and breath taking quality of work. News in Monkey Towers: Flash CS3 is now mainstream, so we are exploring this industry leading piece of kit - and creating some great web applications in the process. We have had a great time creating some work destined for platforms not on the web (yes there is life outside the web!) Our website has had a behind the scenes (and in front of the scenes) makeover - so we can now show of more of our work in a more flexible way Front page - Yes 2008-07-15T08:58:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/dar_al_handasah/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/dar_al_handasah/#When:15:22:00Z brief Dar Al Handasah already had a huge amount of online data spanning their worldwide network of companies and projects. This site needed to provide a coherent way of easily navigating around this huge resource, and play a key role in both Dar Groups advertising and marketing activity. solution Exploding Monkey, working as part of a multidisciplinary team, built a highly dynamic flash interface, adaptable and scalable beyond the dreams of most marketeers. As well as looking great and showing off the enormous volume of work Dar has been responsible for over the last 60 years, the site also provides deep linking facilities (which many flash sites don’t), enabling specific pages within the site to be targeted from email campaigns and press releases. results Dar are extremely happy with the site they now have, and quite rightly so - it scooped a number of awards. See the Dar site here: www.dargroup.com 2008-07-13T15:22:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/lumen/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/lumen/#When:15:23:00Z The brief A site to display some amazing images for a leading branding agency. With a showreel, and in two languages. The solution? A stunning, clean site that puts the clients work centre stage, using all the right bits of web technology where they work best. The science bit The site uses flash, DHTML and a super content management system (CMS) all mixed together to produce one happy client. Visit the site here: www.lumengroup.com Front Page - No 2008-07-09T15:23:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/discuss_hr/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/discuss_hr/#When:15:10:00Z The brief A scalable, dynamic website with all of the elements we have come to expect from web community sites - blogs, wiki, forums, member management, knowledge base, advertising… (the list, quite literally. goes on) The solution Drupal, an open source content management system, presented itself as being the best tool for the job. Some snazzy design and a lot of testing later… and we think we have built the definitive HR community website. It’s early days yet, but the membership is growing and the client has high hopes for the development of DiscussHR in the future. In fact Phase II is already being planned. The site can be seen here: www.discusshr.com 2008-07-09T15:10:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/html_emails/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/html_emails/#When:14:00:01Z These are a smattering of some of the emails we have designed, built and broadcast. We offer a complete end to end solution - we can take your data (or advise you about purchasing an email list), clean it and use it to broadcast emails. We can then supply you with up to the minute reporting (who’s opened the emails, which ones bounced, who’s clicked through etc). We can build you a microsite so that the emails actually click through to something and, of course, we can build the emails (using email marketing best practice) And we can do all this (and more) for far less than you think. Front Page - No 2008-07-03T14:00:01+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/aeg_decibel_monitor/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/aeg_decibel_monitor/#When:19:50:00Z Working with outdoor advertising specialists, Hive Associates, we devised this brilliant bit of Flash magic. A microphone fed our Flash movie sound waves and the resultant reading is displayed in decibels on a 2 meter LED screen. Passing public were able to see a real-time representation of the current noise level in their city. These boards were so successful, that many locals started checking the readings as part of their everyday commute. The Flash driven display boards were installed in prominent locations in Berlin, Brussels, London, Madrid and Milan. Front page - Yes 2008-06-07T19:50:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/montilla_px/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/montilla_px/#When:15:59:00Z Pedro Ximénez brings together the Spain’s best wines to create award winning Montilla PX wines. This site showcases these amazing wines with images and downloadable factsheets. The client (Focus PR) has complete control over the content of the site, placement of images, downloads etc - not to mention access to up to the minute stats on visitors to the site. http://www.montillapx.co.uk Front Page - No 2008-06-06T15:59:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/capgemini_usb_stick/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/capgemini_usb_stick/#When:14:28:00Z Brief Capgemini are a major exhibitor at a number of industry conferences in both Europe and the US. They needed a neat way of getting their message out to the delegates. Solution Based on Capgemini’s existing branding and conference stand design, we built a high impact interactive presentation containing video, PDF documents and links. We suggested that the presentation be loaded on to USB keys rather than CD ROMs for two reasons. 1 - The keys are more eye catching and more likely to be used by delegates and 2 - Even after the delegate has long since deleted the contents of the key, they will still be carrying around a Capgemini branded item for some time to come (probably with pictures of their kids and a download of the latest Radiohead album on it) Results The keys and the presentation went down really well with client and audience alike. Expect to see more work for one of our favourite clients soon! Front Page - No 2008-06-06T14:28:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/disney_tower_of_terror/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/disney_tower_of_terror/#When:11:13:00Z Working with Hive Associates, a novel use of Flash on a 3 metre high LED display board in the heart of the London’s West End. The project combined a number of exciting technologies. Members of public were stopped on the street, their photos taken with a digital camera, uploaded to a server, edited and then uploaded to the flash movie running on the LED display. Front Page - No 2008-06-06T11:13:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/vodafone/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/vodafone/#When:15:00:00Z brief Vodafone had an information packed Powerpoint presentation filled with interesting facts about customer segmentation, but even they knew it wasn’t going to win any design awards. solution Given that the presentation was to be hosted on their corporate intranet, we suggested Flash was the best tool for the job. Our designer brought the whole thing squarely back into the Vodafone brand, and we managed to make a large presentation easy to navigate and easy on the eye. results A stunning piece of important marketing stuff is now avaiable to all those in the Vodafone universe. Front Page - No 2008-05-19T15:00:00+00:00 http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/avis/ http://www.explodingmonkey.com/index.php/site/project/avis/#When:13:54:00Z 2007-09-04T13:54:00+00:00