Battle of the Brit Agencies
Posted in News on: Monday, October 5, 2009 by Paul Boag
On show 187 of Boagworld, Clearleft will be joining Headscape to record a special show. We want you to direct proceedings!
On Tuesday the 13th October the guys at Clearleft are coming up to the Headscape offices to record a special episode of the Boagworld podcast. Marcus, myself, Rich Rutter, Andy Budd and Jeremy Keith are going to have a round table discussion on all things web related.
However, just to make things interesting we want you to pick the topics to discuss.
To suggest a topic simply tweet your suggestion followed by the hash tag #bw187 or add a comment below.
The show will then be released on Wednesday 14th. The transcript will follow later.
We look forward to seeing your suggestions!
15 Comments
Comments are for the discussion of this post. If you have other questions / comments then post them to the forum or send me an email
What advice would you give to someone looking to figure out the best process of capturing, conceptualising and implementing the UX for a brand new project/web site?
Would be interesting to hear how both Headscape and Clearleft evolved from their beginnings; similarities; differences; decisions they had to take about the company’s direction; how the client list changed; plans & trends for 2010. So basically not much just a short podcast about everything :)
Is User Centered Design really the best way to go? What if you focus on the wrong users? Do they really know what they need?
It would be interesting to hear you both (Clearleft and Headscape) critiquing each others websites. Both agencies appear to serve different audiences and as such are designed differently so should stimulate a good discussion.
When do you start using more progressive technology on your client sites? (Such as HTML5, CSS3, @font-face, etc…) How do you make the decision to adopt the technology / practice?
I know you discussed it in your last episode, but I would like to hear more on Google Chrome Frame.
What comes first: accessibility or the client? I know it’s not a binary question, but I think it would be interesting to hear your views on pleasing your clients (and their possibly daunting wish lists) while keeping the quality of your work up to high standards.
1. Programing Frameworks Do you use them? If yes witch one? (codeigniter)
2. Please explain how you got started in creating web pages and list the order you learn your skills (eg HTML CSS Photoshop PHP)
3. Most common mistakes people make in creating a web pages.
4. Creating web apps. Advice and tips
5. What apps do you use for web development
6. Advertising on the web? (your thoughts)
7. What technologies are going to be important to lean for future web development?
8. What do you think of the CMS systems and what do you use?
9. I see lots of information on Ruby on Rails (please give your thoughts)
Thanks. I am looking forward to a kick ass show. Keep up the good work.
Google’s Chrome plug-in for IE.
1. Your take on the whole social networking scene and how it relates to today’s web companies. Is it a must? Should it be included in the services web companies provide or is it considered more of an add-on and may not be right for everyone. Basically cut through the hype and give your views about social media networking (facebook, Twitter, etc.) and the common misconceptions.
2. In your opinion, what are the main differences between succesfull and unsuccessfull web companies?
3. Would also like to hear about the early years of both Headscape and Clearleft. How it started, how many people, the main source of business (word of mouth, sales reps., etc.) Things like that!
Might seem a bit of a “low level” question for companies with such an established clientbase, but it would be very helpful for the newbies to hear advice on:
When you are in the opening stages of dealing with a client, and it is clear that they are going to be one of those “problem clients”, what is the best way to professionally turn them down? And do you recognise any tell-tale signs that a client might turn bad?
Thanks ;p
Hey there, great idea! I’m a web designer from Germany, currently living in Melbourne. Being in Australia, a place that is very far off from everything else, I’m constantly wondering if it was better for my career to return to Europe (Berlin) or even move to the states (NY) for a while.
My question to you guys: do you think it really matters where you live in the world in regard to being a better designer? Would you say the UK is a good place to be a creative person? What other place would you guys try out for inspiration?
Sorry if this isn’t quite the type of question you were hoping for ;-)
Kai
Further to Lodewijk Schutte’s comment – what do you say to clients who insist that links open in a new window?
OK my question is this:
What are the pro’s and con’s to running a “total” service agency (Headscape) compared to a more specialised agency (Clearleft)?
How do the guys at Boagworld and Clearleft manage projects internally? Internal workings of design agencies are very rarely talked about and I get the feeling a lot of these things are taken for granted yet no one knows *really* what to do or what best practice is.
Do you use things like an internal Wiki, Basecamp or some other software to keep all project details/documents up together and archived for everything you do?
Help would be much appreciated