Kilroy James » Somerset

Cheese & Grain

kilroyjames — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 18:48:16 +0000

The Cheese and Grain is located physically and metaphorically at the heart of Frome. It is a venue for local markets, community and charity events, festivals and regular music events. Because it is so central to the town we wanted to work with the Cheese and Grain ever since we moved to Frome. I don’t think we have actually ever had to ‘pester’ anyone to work with us but it is possible we came close with the C+G
Sometimes it is easy for web designers to look at a poor website and criticise it unthinkingly, without wondering about the reasons for the poor design. I have discovered over the years that many poor websites exist for the simple reason that cashed-strapped organisations with few (often volunteer) staff and resources don’t have the money to commission a website design – instead some brave soul within the organisation, often without an ounce of web design experience or real idea what they are doing, takes it on and does their best to get something (anything) up. I think it’s better to support and congratulate organisations who’ve managed to get by like this. Frankly, the Cheese and Grain staff, who had to maintain and update their previous website, knew better than anyone else what it’s shortcomings were – they certainly didn’t need some smarty-pants London agency unconstructively itemising the issues.

This is one of the reasons I’m so pleased that the website we produced for the Cheese and Grain is undoubtedly one of the best web designs Kilroy James has ever produced – and seeing we’ve made over 300 websites, that is not an easy feat. We tried to get across the diverse and colourful nature of the venue, with a design that suggests festivities, colour and a certain ‘fromeiness’ (as one person put it). The Cheese and Grain has had many congratulations on their new website, which they passed on to us. Of all the things that please me the most about this project though is seeing how appreciative the staff have been, seeing how design can make people more positive about the place where they work, and in a real sense make their work lives more efficient and pleasurable.

Being a charity, the Cheese and Grain is also our most recent Community Client and the work we did for them was done at a very large discount.

• Check out the Cheese & Grain website »

Colston and Colston

kilroyjames — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:12:04 +0000

We are pleased to welcome Colston and Colston to our portfolio of web marketing customers. Colston and Colston is an independent firm of Chartered Surveyors based in Bath with extensive contacts throughout the West Country and South Wales, South East England and the Midlands. Their clients include companies, asset managers, developers, private property investors, landowners and pension funds.

Find them at www.colstonandcolston.com

The Incense Route

kilroyjames — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:50:31 +0000

And now for something old and yet totally new….The Incense Route is a new online gift store based on the idea from the old trading route from the 3rd Century BC…exotic gifts and rare items that you just can’t get on the high street. [..]
The new site is still under construction, and we are delivering the full online trading package with clear categories, totally secure payment environment and the easiest most elegant check out ever. Why not have a look at the holding page while it’s under construction, and bookmark it for next summer when it is due to launch. www.incenseroute.co.uk will have candles, incense, fabrics, soaps, bowls and fine pottery from across the world- all packaged and delivered to your door.

A Facelift for Milk Street

kilroyjames — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:58:20 +0000

The famous Milk Street Brewery in Frome has had a website redesign. The new site has a much more elegant feel to it, and the content management system works brilliantly for Griffin Pub manager Charlie, who keeps the site updated regularly, adding information about happenings, events and the all-important gig guide.

The redesign was actually forced due to the MSB’s aquisition of a new pub in Trowbridge called Stallards and would make a good case study about the identity problems that multi-faceted busineses can face (that’s for another day). As it stands now, the slightly rebranded business is in a good place to expand further, and we look forward to working with them on the Stallards website very soon.

Milk Street Brewery

kilroyjames — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:35:54 +0000

We’re pleased to announce the launch of a website for the Milk Street Brewery in Frome. Complete with pages about the famous Griffin pub including what’s on and their Gig schedule, the site explains the history of the Brewery and their other activities such as the Brewhouse in Poole and the Bar at the Cheese and Grain. And of course there’s a page of tasting notes about Milk Street’s Beers. Take a look!

Based on the WordPress system, this site has all the usual great content editing features and an Events Scheduler – you can also subscribe to the Griffin’s new mailing list for news about upcoming events and general chit chat from Charlie, the Griffin’s Manager.

Mark Bruce Company

kilroyjames — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 16:18:45 +0000

We are pleased to announce the launch of our latest site, for the South West’s flagship professional dance ensemble – Mark Bruce Company.

Though based in Frome, Somerset for the past five years the Mark Bruce Company is nationally recognised for their dramatic and provocative style of dance theatre. Performing to sell-out crowds at the Frome Merlin Theatre this summer, the company is now on break til the autumn before embarking on a UK tour.

Kilroy James started out in the early 90s creating websites for arts organisations and dance companies in particular. These days our remit and clients are usually more commercially oriented so it is a real pleasure to get back to basics and work on an interesting and non-commercial project again.

Like all our new WordPress based web sites, this site gives the Mark Bruce Company complete control over their content. They don’t have to wait on our schedule to get their updates done – they take care of it themselves. With the addition of an archive section to record details of older work, photographic galleries, news and a current productions area to give both the public and venues information about the current repertoire, the site is a huge visual and practical improvement over the previous incarnation.