BJC Design is the home of freelance web consultant Ben Copping.
Amongst other things, Ben loves mountains, water, wood and technology…!
Skills, you’ve gotta get some skills. Just a few of Ben’s are listed below.
You can read in, more seriousness, more about Ben here.
Ben is available for immediate contract.
September - November 2008
Working with developers and project managers, Bjc Consulting has been resposible for Branding, UI, initial site design and front end implementation for a new french start up venture.
September 2008 - Present
Working alongside a small start up team with big plans, Bjc Consulting has been responsible for all Css and Html creation for the new venture. Im afraid thats about all I can reveal for now! Watch the url below for more details.
Bjc Consulting was chosen to re-design of the new Mactavish Group website. Following the original design breif, 3 concept designs were developed for Mactavish to chose a finalist from. The final design was then further tailored to suit Mactavish’s specific requirements.
Once the design had been finalised, Bjc Consulting was then responsible for all website implementation. Utilising wordpress Bjc Consulting crafted a website that the client would be able to easily and efficiently keep up to date through the wordpress CMS.
Visit the Mactavish website at the following url - www.mactavishgroup.com
Working with the Core Development Team at Digitas London, I was responsible for advising how we could make the new Vauxhall website more accessible to its users. After conducting an initial audit on accessibility and web standards I set to work in implementing solutions to the problems I had found.
This involved making changes to the semantics of the site, authoring new CSS, and introducing new methods to combat accessibility issues that had arisen.
During my time on this project I have consulted and conducted meetings with the team, and developed and tested the new web site.
The new Vauxhall website is now live at the following url www.vauxhall.com
Working with Digitas London I was responsible for leading the front end development of the newly re-designed Ericsson.com web site.
During my time on the Ericsson project I led status report meetings, advised on the project timeline, and worked closely with Project Managers, IA’s, Designers and Developers on issues that arose whilst implementing the new website.
The site is yet to go live (as of Aug 08)
www.playwiththecity.co.uk brings together various partners for the upcoming street art exhibition at the Tate Modern (Sponsored by Nissan QASHQAI).
To start, the site is pretty much a skeleton, more flesh will be added in the build up to the exhibition.
We adopted a Wordpress mash up to enable us to keep the project fresh and lively, watch out for regular updates.
You can get involved too, be sure to check out the “gigantic new art works on the external walls of Tate Modern overlooking the Thames” on the weekend 23rd May. The weekend will also feature tour guidance so you can see the real deal street art. Keep your eye on the map section for updates.
The New Nissan Murano site was a real pleasure to build. I think this site works really well graphically, and functionally. I worked closely with the Art Director and Creative Director to consult about the types of animations we could achieve using the mootools JavaScript framework.
Once again this site has been built using 3 distinct layers -
This really keeps things simple in terms of build and modifying the site going forward (which will prove important over the coming months).
A suprise project on a super tight deadline, this micro site was part of the Nissan Qashqai Viral marketing campaign.
Ben picked up the project after an initial external first round build. With many rendering and cross browser issues still present, Ben successfully fixed and deployed 3 versions of the site in a very short space of time (an afternoon!)
The Guildford Choral Society is a dynamic amateur choir, performing with world class-orchestras and soloists in Guilford, London and occassionally abroad.
The guildford choral society produce a program for every performance they give. GCS came to BjcDesign to create a more compelling program layout and brand Identity.
Check out some of my best photos in this section…
I have been taking photos for a few years, the trouble is when it comes to photography i am quite lazy, I should really take time to take more. Whenever I do I am pretty pleased with the results!
So take a look through the photographs by using the links you see just to the left.
Im in the process of archiving my sets, so patience more will appear shortly!
If you would like to view my photo sets in more detail you can do so at Flickr
Highly successful young agency Picture Ltd needed some front end help to finish off the Garb Store project.
I was responsible for building the front end XHTML/CSS templates for the shop and cross browser testing to ensure a pixel perfect layout (up to both Pictures, and the clients standards) across all the modern browsers.
Onlineweddings.co.uk allows you to share your images of your special day with everyone all over the world and let them obtain prints at the touch of a button. The site’s was built using web standards and accessibility at the forefront of the development process.
Joe Miles of online weddings photography had big ideas from the start for his internet based company. After meeting with Joe alongside Established colleague HungryBrowser it was clear the this project had to be broken down in to manageble chunks. After a couple of lengthy meetings we settled on phase one, having been involved again from the start of this project I was able to effectively deliver a design that met Joe’s requirements.
Adviance Technical Solutions is an established mechanical and electrical building services company. The development of the Adviance web site was the first collaboration between design partners BJC Design and Hungry Browser. The site showcases Adviance’s services and solutions, enabling visitors to contact Adviance directly for more information.
In the initial meetings with Adviance Director John Warburton, we established the main goals of the site both in functionality and aesthetics. It was my job to create a new site design in keeping with the existing Adviance identity, while maintaining web design standards, ease of use and accessibility. The clean interface layout, minimal use of colour and focus on strong imagery delivers a clean, crisp and pleasant visitor-experience.
Adviance were extremely happy with the result and have an ongoing web relationship with HungryBrowser while Ben Copping has been in full time employment.
Global Identifying Solutions is London-based, financial markets, search and selection consultancy. They have many years of experience of dealing with top-end candidates and exclusive city-based clients.
Clint Williams Managing Director of Global Identifying Solutions required a manageable web site, allowing a non internet expert the ability to be able to update relevant content at any time though an online “CMS”. In collaboration with HungryBrowser a modern, clean, quick and easy to use site was developed for both the front end, and the back-end administration of the site.
* Lighter page weight - faster to download, decrease bandwidth consumption
* Fluid layout - optimised for 800×600, but viewable on any device
* Accessible content - viewable on any internet-enabled device
* Increased search engine visibility/ranking
* Easy to maintain - reduces development and maintenance time and cost
* Future proof - built with web-standards to stand the test of time
Propertyfinder.com is the UK’s leading web site for prestige property. As part of the web site’s redevelopment the front-end was to be graphically redesigned and developed. Working with Hungry Browser we won the tender (against 4 other agencies) to graphically redesign and develop the front-end XHTML and CSS for the project.
I was responsible for the complete re-design of the site under the strictest corporate guidelines.
The new site has a clean interface, with clear navigation and excellent search functionality. The back-end is powered by the same technology as assertahome and is a good testament to the power of style sheet-based layout and design.
This is an important landmark for the adoption of web standards on large commercial projects. The push to standards-based technologies came both from within the company and with some helpful guidance from Hungry Browser.
Produced while full time at global reach.
Liberty was one of the first demonstration sites I put together with co-worker James Cox (now of smokeclouds,com & Imajes.info). Building upon and modifying the existing Global Reach Framework (E-commerce Platform) we were able to completely separate site style from site content, and were able to re-skin the platform into whatever guise required.
Liberty is a high end fashion retailer located in the heart of London. Liberty is globally renowned for its tradition in cutting edge fashion and quality design.
Demostration sites, produced while full time at global reach.
The global reach platform was re-skinned in Asprey Livery for demonstration purposes in on-going meetings between GRT and Asprey.
Using Asprey colors, branding and a dose of white space I created a rich and engaging shop site for Global Reach to demonstrate to Asprey.
As the demonstration sites all contained the same functionality a and code base, I was able to develop a rapid design technique. Using sketches and Asprey published material, I moulded a new design manipulating existing CSS on a branched version of the GRT Code base. The result - a fully functional re-skinned version of the GRT E-commerce platform.
Produced while full time at global reach
The aim is to create an online business solution. This needs to be a fully transactional site with multi currency and language. The site needs to demonstrate many key aspects of Global Reach Technology. Therefore we may need to take this site that next stage further.
An early part of the development at Global Reach was to completely separate the structure from the presentation. Once we had done this we were able to rapidly branch off another grt version and re-skin it appropriately. This site has been re-skinned in JVC livery using the power and flexibility of CSS.
Cocobolo furniture was a start up business looking to break into the upper end market for custom dining & living room furniture.
In the initial meetings with the Cocobolo directors we established the main sections and aims of the website. They already had an idea of what they wanted to see in the site and I helped them identify and fine tune their ideas.
It was clear the website needed to reflect the market they wanted to be in, Stylish bespoke clean and contemporary design. One of the main concerns for CocobloFuniture them was ease of use. So along with the brief and the IA I created some concept designs, that reflected their main concerns. 1. The look 2. the ease of use.
After refining the design I set about coding the front end of the site (CSS/XHTML)
I was also commissioned to create all the imagery for the site, cutting all product images onto a clean white background to enhance to look of the products.
Anthony Wood of DV Trainer was recommended to me by a friend of mine whom Anthony met whilst working at the BBC.
Anthony is a freelance Mini DV Cameraman/Trainer who operates in and around London. Anthony was looking for a web presence that would help him communicate his skills and give an insight to what he does for potential and existing clients.
Anthony had a pretty good idea about what he wanted on his site, we thrashed the ideas out over the phone and by e-mail, and I came up with a concept design that Anthony was happy about. While I was coding up the site Anthony mailed me content as it was written.
Once I was done with the site design and structure I filled in the content and DvTrainer was ready to go live. All in all the entire process took about a week and was done completely remotely!
UnderU.com is an online store specialising in designer underwear and Mens accessories. UnderU.com servers a global market and has enjoyed growth over the last 4 years of trading.
Building on the successful re-launch and design UnderU.com last year, UnderU.com were looking to grow again and bring on a number of new designer Brands and products. The brief was to design a new site with the WOW factor, the new site design would be crucial in helping seal the deal with fashioin designer labels such as Armani and Dolce & Gabbana. Suffice to say the new UnderU design concept was well received, has been coded up in CSS/XHTML and will go live for the winter period.
Selectives required a CSS Designer to re-produce the front end markup for their site.
The Selectives site had already been designed and was in the in the web dev build stage when I started. Selectives were unhappy with the Inconsistency in design and the complex and unnecessary amount of CSS that had been written, there were also inline styles where design hacks had been implemented to accommodate new functionality outside of the original spec. My Job was to simplify the CSS, make the style and design consistent across the entire site and remove and any in-line styles centralising new classes into the single CSS document.
Using trac and subversion I was able to work simultaneously on the code base with the developers to ensure quick delivery. The project happened to be written in a Ruby on rails environment.
Global Reach made the decision to re-build their e-commerce platform in Jan 2006. One major part of the system is the Administration suite. Within the administration suite the user can manage their website. Some areas that can be managed here, to name but a few are CRM, Staff, Orders, Shipping, Marketing, Global Settings, and Purchase Orders.
Including many other duties such as requirements gathering, wire-framing and workflow documentation, I was solely responsible for the graphical re-design of the administration suite, including usability, Iconography and CSS/XHTML and Javascript integration for a static mock up.
Building on the successful re-launch and design UnderU.com in 2005, UnderU.com were looking to grow again and bring on a number of new designer Brands and products.
I was solely responsible for the re-design and complete front end build of the new UnderU.com website. The brief was to design a new site with the WOW factor, the new site design would be crucial in helping seal the deal with fashioin designer labels such as Armani and Dolce & Gabbana. Suffice to say the new UnderU design concept was well received, has been coded up in CSS/XHTML and will go live for the winter period.
Rachel Copping at Creative Canvases paints oil/acrylic on canvas drawing insight from emotions and surroundings. Rachel sells her art work through various mediums including local galleries. After some time on the circuit she realised it would benefit her if she had an online portfolio of some of her latest work. This way She could visit galleries and display her work without carrying all the canvasses around. Of course the site could also be used as an advertisement tool to potential commissioners and clients.
I created a minimal and clean design that draws the eye and the users attention to the paintings on display. The idea is that the site is an online gallery where each work can be viewed on solidarity, allowing the users to draw unbiased and focused emotion on each piece of work.
Weddings By Victoria required a web presence to back up a substantial existing amount of marketing material. Weddings By Victoria helps couples achieve their dream wedding without exceeding their budget.
BjcDesign was commissioned to take elements of the existing design and translate them into web pages with some pre-specified sections and text.
Once again this project was carried out completely remotely in a no nonsense no fuss arrangement.
The site was completed in a very quick turnaround and met a tight deadline.
View the finished site at http://www.wedddingsbyvictoria.co.uk
Harb Ski Improvement Camps sell ski training camps in Ski destinations around the world that follow the renowned Harold Harb Ski training methods.
Harb Ski Improvement Camps required a new design to house a complete site re-write due to go live later in 2006.
The work was carried out remotely from start to finish. Altogether the client was extremely happy with the result that was delivered in a no-fuss way on time and on a shoestring budget. Considering this, the new Harb Ski Improvement Camps website holds up against the competition and has a polished, professional look.
Original Photoshop files were supplied to the client to make transition to web easier
Ben Copping was completely responsible for all front end implementation of the new Universal Music Partners website.
Working closely with both project managers, account managers and the creative team, Ben ensured the successful deployment of a pixel perfect cross browser compatible website using the latest front end build methods.
As well as front end development, Ben was also responsible for documentation, handover and final technical presentation of the site to Universal.
The nissan-offers.co.uk web site was a new move for Nissan in terms of build methodology. Much of Nissans web presence was previously flash based, with heavy multimedia, being on the whole unaccessible to a wide range of users.
Ben Copping was personally recommended for the job of front end build for the Nissan Offers web site. Working closely with Project Managers, Account Directors, Designers and Nissan, Ben ensured the site remained light weight and fully accessible, whilst maintaining the standards Nissan had come to expect.
Being such a high profile website, attracting television advertising, click through campaigns and natural search, it was imperative to deploy a fully tested pixel perfect site. Ben hand coded the front end XHTML and CSS, and deployed latest unobtrusive JavaScript methods, while constantly testing development across all modern browsers.
The site is in continuous development. Ben is regularly consulted and acts as an integral part of the Nissan Offers project team.
The Make Up Your Own Mind website was created for the UK public to find out anything about McDonald’s food, business, people and practices.
The site was originally built using flash. However, after complaints from the public about the site being unusable, Mcdonald’s made the decision to create a new more accessible, user friendly, XHTML version of the website.
Working with Duke Interactive UK, I consulted on a daily basis with project managers and account directors on the accessibility and user interface for the front end of the site. As well as this I was completely responsible for front end deployment and delivery (XHTML, CSS and Javascript).
The latest best practices have been used implementing the front end of the site. 3 distinct layers have been created.
Wherever possible the site conforms to “Double-A” web standards set out by the W3C.
The Make Up Your Own Mind website is under constant scrutiny from both the public and McDonald’s themselves. Each new section needs to be carefully considered to make it both interesting yet highly accessible to its audience. I am the primary point of contact for new site sections and site modifications.
Understanding method is key in maintaining delivery of high quality web solutions.
Like a well oiled machine every part of the process needs to run smoothly to ensure quality output. Having a broad understanding of the process and roles that each person plays can be just as important as honed personal skills.
Over the years work flow and methodologies have constantly changed, an ever increasing amount of technology available has created more specialised roles within the digital workplace.
Ben has a thorough understanding of the most up to date methods for both his personal honed skills, and also the project life cycle itself.
Ben Copping has more than 8 years experience in working with online projects. During this time Ben has gained a variety of web based skills and has a solid understanding of the project life cycle. Ben can consult, code, design, present and most importantly, deliver on time.
In the last few years Ben has focussed his energy on best practice solutions for front end web development; particularly XHTML, CSS, Javascript and Accessibility. Ben has been the go to guy on projects for clients such as, Mcdonald’s, Nissan and Vauxhall, delivering not only quality hand written front end code, but accessible web solutions that really work.
An extensive portfolio of client work which demonstrates Ben’s wide and varied skill set can be found in the portfolio section of this website. For ease of use, projects are listed by year. Simply click on a year or a subsection.
