April 27th, 2010 by Jacko
The SkillsDMC website developed and designed by Gruden was short-listed for the 2009 The McFarlane Prize and has now been published in the 2009 book.
The McFarlane Prize nominations are awarded to an Australian designer or team for a site launched or significantly upgraded between September 1st 2008 and August 31 2009. Sites may be designed for Australian or non Australian individuals, organisations, companies or governments, but must be designed and developed by an individual or team which works in Australia for an Australian company.
To learn more about the SkillsDMC website project please visit our portfolio.
Posted in Gruden News, Recent Projects
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April 15th, 2010 by Jacko
With Gruden continually expanding the range of services we offer our clients, we need to move to a larger office. Gruden will be relocating effective Monday 19th April 2010 to our new premises at: Lvl 10, 220 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Gruden’s phone, fax and email details will remain the same.
We look forward to seeing you in our new office soon.
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April 9th, 2010 by Mark
One of Gruden’s key clients, the eTendering Team from the NSW Department of Services, Technology and Administration (DSTA), was recently awarded one of the eight DSTA Excellence Awards in the Service Delivery Community category:
For individuals or teams that directly support and deliver value to the NSW public highlighting:
- Exceptional service to the community, in a particular incident or over a sustained period of time.
- Enhanced quality of life or well-being for the people of NSW.
and it was awarded for:
FOI Legislation changes in 2007 resulted in a new requirement for the disclosure of all contracts between Government and the Private Sector valued greater than $150,000.
As a result of publishing contracts online, the eTendering team provided the key platform for driving transparency and efficiency across NSW Government and business. This has also delivered significant savings to tax payers and to the environment.
Gruden have worked closely with the eTendering Team for over five years and feel that the recognition of this team was highly deserved. Congratulations folks!
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February 2nd, 2010 by Adam
Gruden is pleased to announce we have added a number of new hires to the company as we continue to grow in 2010.
John Yarrington joins Gruden in the role of Business Development Manager. John will be the primary Gruden contact for all new business enquiries related to Adobe LiveCycle and Custom Development. John brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, selling computer software for close to 20 years, from his previous role as Sales Director at Compuware, and various marketing and sales roles within the education and software industries.
Daphne van der Kieft joined Gruden last month as our Senior Account Manager and has worked in creative recruitment for the past 10 years both in the US and Sydney markets. As a Senior Account Manager she has managed client portfolios ranging from large Blue Chip Top 100 enterprise companies to multinational advertising agencies, print studios and government departments. She most recently managed a team of Digital recruiters where she was responsible for Digital client development, team growth and financial strategies, marketing initiatives, leading the overall recruitment direction and day to day team management.
We look forward to seeing our newest account team members flourish in their new roles.
Welcome to Gruden, Daphne and John.
Tags: account management, gruden, livecycle, New Hires
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December 7th, 2009 by Philippa
Disney Channel Australia & New Zealand approached Gruden to develop an online campaign with the purpose of creating interest in and awareness of the TV premier of Zeke & Luther on Disney Channel. Additionally, the brief was to support sustained interest in the show via unique online applications, video and content opportunities.
Gruden aimed to create a campaign with simple, targeted content, games and online promotions for kids, with a key drive to tune into the premier of Zeke & Luther on Disney Channel.
New site additions were then rolled out regularly which helped sustain and grow the user base over an extended period of time. Updates & site features included:
- Two interactive skating games
- Regular video ‘trick’ tutorials with a professional skateboarder showing kids exactly how to perform tricks/stunts.
- Interactive skateboard deck designer – providing kids with a unique tool to create their very own deck designs. This was initially rolled out as a competition to drive interest in a key space of time and is now being redeveloped into an evergreen application to ensure continued traffic to the site.
The culture associated with skateboarding (lifestyle / sport / fashion) was a key focus for both the design & development, with simple targeted content, games & online promotions integrated into the site from day one.
There were 2-3 key interactive components designed & developed for the new site – a number more scheduled for launch in the coming months.
- Skateboard Creator:
Skateboard deck designer whereby users could design their own deck from scratch. Features included; painting the wheels & trucks, changing the actual board texture (metal, wood, plastic) & adding a number of extra graphics, positioning & layering as many as they wanted. The competition drew over 18,000+ entries over a 4 week period.
- Image Maker:
Custom image making tool allowing users to create personalised Zeke & Luther graphics for a wide-range of use including; mobiles (iPhone wallpapers), desktop, IM & social media profiles.
- Character ‘Shout-outs’:
Users can send personalised ‘shout-outs’ (online messages) to their favourite show characters.
Bright, colourful and edgy, the overall interface tied in with the show’s unique key touch points whilst creating an immersive experience for kids visiting the site.
Through the use of punchy colour, bold shapes and a mixture of key show artwork & unique visual assets, the site was designed to ensure that is was both visually engaging and fun to use.
Posted in Gruden News, Recent Projects
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September 23rd, 2009 by Philippa
So most of you probably woke up today wondering why you missed the memo that Armageddon had arrived. Sydney’s dust storm is the talk of the town for the morning, so I thought I’d pop up a few photos taken by our staff around town in the early hours. Photographers AND coders, who knew?!
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September 17th, 2009 by Mark
October is going to be a huge month for the web in Australia with both the Web Directions South conference and the inaugural Web Week.
Web Directions brings together the many disciplines that shape the web – web design, front-end and back-end development, information architecture, interaction design, accessibility, data visualization and much more – and gives delegates four tracks of presentations to choose from. It is truly a huge event, quite likely the largest web related gathering in the southern hemisphere.
Web Week is a week long celebration of the Australian web industry with events ranging from Webjam, to art exhibitions, to meet ups, to indoor rock climbing.
A very nervous Mark, speaking at the first Web Directions in 2004
I’m enormously proud to have been invited to speak at Web Directions South 09. My first large-scale public speaking gig was at this event in 2004, back when it was held in one big room with one big audience. Since then the conference has gone from strength to strength, increasing in size each year and so I’m equally daunted about speaking this time.
My talk this year is called “Speed matters”; here is the description from the conference proceedings:
As we build richer, more complex web applications it’s easy to forget that speed is the cornerstone of user experience. Bing have found that a 2 second delay reduces revenue by 4%. Google know that half a second delay drops traffic by 20%. AOL have shown that users with a speedy experience stay 50% longer than users who have to wait. The evidence is clear – speed matters.
What’s more, most latency comes from the front-end, not the backend so the fixes are not specific to a particular platform. This session will examine a range of techniques from DOM & CSS tricks to web server and HTTP tweaks that can help improve front-end performance by 25-50%.
Whether you’re looking to save bandwidth, increase your conversion rate, retain visitors, save time or just make your users happy – the speed of your site matters.
The conference is on October 8 & 9 with two days for workshops on the 6th & 7th. Tickets are still available so get along if you can.
Posted in Gruden News, Industry
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August 11th, 2009 by Philippa
Today, Gruden launches Consulting WorX, an innovative online marketplace specifically designed to match businesses with consultants for various projects.
Consulting Worx is a new way of doing business that gives you and businesses a better work life balance as well as a great online network and community. Businesses simply post a new job and can choose either a self-service option, or have Consulting WorX connect them with the most suitable consultants to get the job done. Consultants can be selected for a job based on their experience, or can apply for a job directly via the noticeboard. Once introduced, all ongoing contact is then directly between the Consultant and the Business.
Gruden designed, developed and implemented the Consulting WorX application from the ground up, utilising the FarCry open-source CMS platform, with outstanding results. As well as scoping, designing and documenting the complex business model, Gruden implemented a clean, modern design, reflective of the Consulting WorX brand, with a focus on usability and consultant/business retention.
Consulting WorX provides a unique service to both businesses and consultants who seek to utilise the skills of home-based business professionals who value flexibility and experience. Take a look at www.consultingworx.com.au.
Posted in Gruden News, Recent Projects
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June 30th, 2009 by Philippa
Gruden is pleased to announce our appointment to the NSW Government’s ICT Services Approved Supplier Panel (Contract 2020), which is the culmination of a rigorous 10 month tender process. The panel is an initiative of the NSW Department of Commerce and seeks to manage over $90 million per year of NSW Government spend in ICT services.
This ground-breaking new arrangement which runs until 2012, aims at increasing transparency and competition by giving government buyers the ability to view information on approved suppliers’ capabilities, performance and experience. It also makes it easier for government agencies to engage approved suppliers such as Gruden to provide a wide range of services including:
- bespoke software development and support,
- project management, strategy and planning services,
- provision and installation of COTS software and
- interface design, user experience and digital creative work.
Gruden’s inclusion in this contract is a reflection of the quality and value Gruden has consistently delivered to our clients. Over the past 5 years Gruden has steadily increased the work carried out for government agencies across Australia and this appointment will see us extend our reach into other NSW departments.
“Being one of the few digital agencies to be selected, solidifies our position as a market leader and a trusted & respected supplier to Government. Over the years we’ve successfully delivered & maintained large Government applications and this appointment reaffirms the value we have provided NSW Government agencies.”
- Todd Trevillion, Gruden’s CEO.
Gruden’s current contracts within government include; The NSW Department of Commerce, The Department of Finance and Deregulation, The Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW and The NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet.
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April 28th, 2009 by Mark
We’re proud to announce that Gruden will be sponsoring WebDU 2009 for the fourth year running. For those that don’t know WebDU is a conference for anyone at the coal face of web design & development. Bringing together Adobe, Microsoft and Google and a host of local and international speakers – including Gruden’s very own Mark Stanton (aka me) – it’s a brain melting three days of internet goodness.
If you’re involved in making websites or web apps in any way make sure you put 21-22 May 2009 in your diary and register, enter the competition or apply for a scholarship because WebDU should not be missed.
Posted in Adobe, Gruden News, Microsoft
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March 10th, 2010 at 8:16 am
Welcome to the team guys!