Napper Architects Flash WebsiteAn award-winning Flash MX web site to showcase the stunning portfolio of leading North East design firm Napper Architects. This web site has been featured on design portals and sites across the world and recently scooped the Best Website gong at the prestigious Fresh Awards.
Napper Architects commissioned me to design this unique interactive portfolio, simple enough to allow their beautiful work speak for itself whilst communicating their brand in a very unique way.
When the site first launched, the dynamic resizing technique used for the navigation was a totally new concept inspired by the work of experimental Flash developer Jamie MacDonald.
It perfectly conveyed one of Napper's key messages that the practice could 'adapt to accommodate any project' whilst providing an interactive yet foolproof method of navigating the website. Many other website developers have since used this technique and there are some wonderful variations out there.
Developed in Flash 5 and later ported to Flash MX, the website runs off a simple XML back-end, with a MySQL/PHP News Administration and File Management System that allowed Napper to keep their visitors up to date with detailed work-in-progress reports.
Napper could add, modify and delete News stories from a password protected 'back-office' area of their website without any flash or web design experience. The system also allowed them to upload photographs to a sizable image library ready to be linked to their news stories at the click of a button.
The website performed extremely well in popular search engines with optimisation work ongoing to ensure that Napper remained at the top of the listings for their key search phrases.
The website made such an impact on the practise and the way they market themselves that Napper have now developed their own in-house website design team. Though I was sorry to see them go, it is wonderful to see that my work has been such a huge influence. |
