Team members Zoe and Mark grabbed five minutes to catch up on all things websites, work and West Ham!

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON TODAY MARK?

Today’s been full of lots of different things. I’ve been making amends to a client’s purpose-built email signature builder, which is a service we provide to help their business be self-sufficient with this task. It’s a tool that’s really easy for all their staff to use to create branded email signatures and to make sure they are consistent across their business., taking the strain off marketing teams. I’ve also been quoting for additional functionality for a newly-live website and working on an in-house project we have at the moment which is a bit secret squirrel so I’ll tell you about that another time!

What are your favourite types of projects to work on?

It’s funny because I get a kick out of every project that comes my way! There’s a good mix of front-end and back-end work, and I enjoy that I can work on them from start to finish. Because we only create bespoke websites, I get a lot of satisfaction when they go live. Behind the scenes there’s a team collaborating on the design and functionality and I am here to guide on how certain elements could or should work, and turn the vision that emerges from the initial UX sessions into reality, that’s something that really drives me.

When you get a brief, what’s the approach to getting the dev elements right?

One of my first thoughts on any web development project brief is ‘how easily can the client maintain this’, as they will be the ones who will be using the website on a daily basis. Making the website’s back-end as user-friendly as possible, means that our clients can be self-sufficient and easily update them, even though we are of course always just a phone call or email away if they do need support.

What are your favourite types of projects to work on?

The honest answer is, I don’t actually have favourites! Every project is different and all of them bring their own challenges, and that’s something I love working through. The company sector or size doesn’t matter so much to me, it’s about how we meet their brief and what they want to do with their functionality that interests me most. I get the most satisfaction from making sure that websites work for the client, and especially for the users that intend to use them.

You work from home part of the week as well as in the office, how’s that going for you?

The fact that we can be flexible is a massive plus and works well for delivering on projects and balancing with my personal commitments. I tend to be in the office a minimum of three days a week which works really well forface-to-face collaboration on project and working from home provides quiet focus when I need it.

What’s your favourite food or drink to power you through your working day?

I’ve been on a bit of a health kick this year, eating better and drinking a lot more water. If I had to pick something that powers me through the work day I would choose an afternoon snack of a banana! Last year I would have said a chocolate bar or two but I am really trying to be good now and am seeing the benefits!

You’re a West Ham supporter aren’t you, how have they performed this season?

A lot of my family are from east London, so I was never going to support anyone else! There’s a new manager in place so I am hoping we can just write off this season, have a good summer and sign some talented players; along with our brilliant academy players coming through we can then kick on next season! I can wish can’t I?!