This is a 3D model of a living room scene I did in 2008. It was modelled, textured and rendered (Mental Ray) in Autodesk Maya (modelling) with post production done in Adobe Photoshop.

Turns out that my server clock was out of sync with the LinkedIn API server time therefore the LinkedIn API server was rejecting the request. The server trying to authenticate a user has to be within 5 minutes of the LinkedIn API server or else the request will be rejected. My server was about 30 minutes behind for some reason and as soon as I corrected it everything worked as it should.

The best way to keep your server time correct is to sync it with a NTP server.

^{Original source
LinkedIn Developer Network}

Provided an updated design to complement their new identity that conveys their expertise and personality while maximising opportunities to secure prospects, and a content management system giving them control over content and delivery of syndicated news feeds from industry sources keeping the site content fresh as well as allowing them to distribute downloadable files on the site.

I put together a UK stockists page for the beer brand a while ago where you can search for stockists either by location or using your nearest postcode.

Go on, tame your thirst!

View Project

Desperados Beer Stockists Now Offline

New affiliate site providing a range of baby products at great prices. Their products range from maternity and babycare products to a range of pushchairs, prams, strollers, and car seats.

I was approached by Baby & I with a unique problem they had. They wanted to break the mould and distinguish themselves from all the other baby sites out there. So far they seemed to find all the designs they had previously commissioned to be dull and not quite uplifting or colourful.

I was briefed on the challenging design aspects of the site and was able to come up with a bright, colourful and attractive design which ticked all the right boxes. I also led the development of the site and Content Management System used for the daily running of the website as well as updating and maintaining their 20,000 strong product database. 

Development of the sight was by no means an easy task. Working with a set and existing product database which could not be altered, I had to figure out how I could get the relevant information needed out for product categories for product search results and sitemap creation in a way as to help improve search engine rankings by using targeted keywords.

The site features a Content Management System with varying levels of security giving the Baby & I team control over all aspects of the daily running and promotion of the website.

Some key features of the site and CMS include:

• Automatic or managed daily product update
• Automatic or managed newsletter and promotional material
• Link tracking and performance
• Integrated social media
• Advertising banner management and rotation
• Automatic sitemap generation and management

A few months ago, I completed and launched a couple of exciting new viral widgets to complement the Desperados beer Die Hards website launched earlier this year and to help drive website traffic.

The widgets were well received overall and gained a number of hits soon after the official launch date.

The first widget is a personal Desperados beer desktop clock built on the Adobe Air platform to help you keep those important meetings with your favorite brand beer.

The second widget is a neat little online app which allows you to upload your favorite pictures and get them framed from a choice of personalised Desperados frames which can be used on all your social networking profiles such as Facebook, Twitter or wherever you like.

VIEW PROJECT

Recently completed, the development of the eagerley anticipated second phase to the Desperados beer website. Desperados beer is a French brand beer with a Mexican bite and is part of Heineken International group.

The Die-Hards section of the site was developed to build upon the main site which was officially launched in January 2009 to promote the beer brand and to drive brand awareness in the UK. The Die-Hards is an interactive social networking platform allowing fans of the beer to register and share videos and pictures of their favourite or most interesting Desperados moments.

The website offers regular competitions updated frequently featuring a range of prices from cases of Desperados beer to weekend get aways to exciting destinations for you and your mates. The site also offers a custom Desperados frame generator allowing users to frame their beloved pics with a range of Desperados frames and to share on social networking sites such as Facebook, a range of wallpapers to trully give your computer that Desperados beer flavour, oath facility allowing you to swear your allegiance to the Desperados brand by video or image upload and a cool desktop widget allowing you to set an alarm for that special moment you've set aside to moisten your palate with an ice cold pint of Desperados beer.

Meet you on the other side Amigo.

View Project

Die-Hards Now Offline

I use the Recent Comment widget on the sidebar to display recent comments on my posts in the form of “{authorLink} On {postLink}”. I noticed that the author link (links to website of whoever posted a comment on one of my posts) didn’t seem to work in all browsers accept Google Chrome.

On further investigation into the source of the page, I realised that for some reason the link generated was urlEncoded and not formated right.

e.g ‘http://www.example.com%27%20rel%3D%27external%20nofollow’

instead of “http://www.example.com” rel=”external nofollow”

After a few minutes of debugging and digging around through the wordpress pages. I eventually found the source of the problem located on line 148 in category-template.php in the wp-includes folder.

$return = “<a href=’$url’ rel=’external nofollow’ class=’url’>$author</a>”;

I simply changed the line above to

$return = “<a href=\”$url\” rel=\”external nofollow\” class=\”url\”>$author</a>”;

and that sorted out the format of the output string and PRESTO the links work again.

* UPDATE – 9th February 2009
Just a heads up on this post.
Some WP users have reported that they’ve found the line in question in “comment-template.php” and not in “category-template.php”. So if you cant find it in one of them, it’s most likely in the other.

Contracted by Palm Hotels & Leisure Consultants who specialise in business consultancy and management for hotels and Lodges in Southern Africa to design and develop a website with content management system, booking system and seo strategy for Echo Travel Lodge which is a 3 star lodge located on the Trans Kalahari highway in Botswana.

Provided SEO strategy, photography for the website on site, content management system to manage reservations and bookings, website design and development.

Interactive website development and design for London based contemporary artist Bruce Chidovori to help promote his work. Development of bespoke content management system allowing him to update and display his work online.

The website had to be interactive, engage the user while being easy to navigate and usable. In designing the website, I brought together different aspects from Bruce’s art pieces and background such as his cultural heritage, mild earthly tones and merged them together creating a fusion of pleasurable aesthetics and functionality.

I also produced a brand identity for Bruce to use with the promotion of his work and website at gallery viewings and on promotional material such as advertisements and flyers.