We’ve enjoyed a good relationship with the team at THSH for some time, having built (but not designed) the last version of their website. That was a few years ago now, and we all felt that the design and underlying code needed to be updated.

With full control over the design and build of the site we’ve been able to improve the interface, functionality and UI. The site, which integrates with the existing AudienceView ticketing service, also has more interactive features (such as commenting) and a refreshed design.

We’re really pleased with the new site. Have a look at thsh.co.uk

We’d also recommend you check out the film about THSH that Vermillion Films have put together, called Connecting People to Music:

It’s called The Stake and aims to get young people thinking about their finances. Not in a boring, traditional way though – it’s much more remarkable and ambitious than that.

The Stake is a unique competition that gives young people the chance to decide how £100,000 is spent AND allows them to turn a bright idea in to a reality.

The site went live a couple of weeks ago and there are now hundreds of great ideas backed by thousands of stakeholders. We’re looking forward to seeing who gets to turn their idea into reality.

We’d like to thank everybody who’s been involved – especially all the young people who have helped to test the site along the way.

Have a look at The Stake, earn some stakes, back some ideas and check out the trailer below:

We were responsible for the previous version of their site which, going by the number of others that were clearly influenced by it, set a strong standard for theatre websites. That was in 2008 and it was time for a refresh, so we’ve taken the opportunity to add some new functionality and tailor the site more closely to the client’s needs.

As explained on the Rep’s blog:

The new website features more content including blogs and videos, more opportunities for interactivity, it’s mobile friendly and we hope it will encourage site visitors to get involved with the organisation on all levels of engagement.

The biggest functional change is the new, responsive design. The site will recognise the size of the screen you’re using (whether it’s a mobile phone, the massive monitors our designers prefer or anything in between) and alter the layout of the site so you get the optimum experience.

There’s also improved information about cast and creatives, more prominent video, a better comments system and more information in the Get Involved section.

The site has social media integrated into it in various areas. For example, show pages and blog posts can be shared to Facebook and Twitter and comments can be left via social media channels. Most pages also have a Facebook-powered ‘Recommendations’ widget promoting popular content around the site.

Have a look at the site at birmingham-rep.co.uk.

The Sheffield Theatres complex is the largest theatre complex outside of London. The Crucible is the main producing venue in Sheffield, as well as the home of the World Snooker Championships, while The Lyceum, is the city’s main receiving venue, playing host to major musicals, drama, dance, comedy and children’s work.

For this website redesign, the client wanted to feature their shows in a more strongly visual style. We’ve allowed them to do that with large homepage banner images and rich media on the production pages.

Something that’s a little out of the ordinary, is the way the site covers more than just the three venues of the Sheffield Theatres complex. Thanks to the way the Sheffield Ticketing Network has been set up, it’s also possible to use the site to buy tickets for shows at other venues such as The Leadmill, Sheffield City Hall and Sheffield Arena.

The site also features Facebook integration, adding social functionality for logged in users, and a mobile-friendly version is on the way.

Carl Timms lead this redevelopment and, during the pitching process, was really keen to win the work. He wasn’t just a visitor to the venues while he was living and studying in Sheffield but also worked the bar there for 18 months. This was his triumphant return!

Check out the site at sheffieldtheatres.co.uk.

To explain the idea:

AngelShares is a new way in which you, as an individual, can help to fund exciting new arts and creative projects. It’s based on the concept of Crowdfunding, which uses online media and social networks to raise support for projects and ideas.

Importantly, Angel Shares is the only arts crowd-funding site that enables registered charities to reclaim Gift Aid on donations, adding an extra 25% to eligible gifts.

The process is simple:

• Browse through the projects and the benefits they offer
• Pick one (or more) that you like
• Register and add credits to your AngelShares account
• Allocate your AngelShares to the project(s) of your choice

As well as people donating to individual projects, we hope that people will come to use that site on a regular basis, supporting the arts by giving regularly and building a portfolio of projects

AngelShares was founded by Sarah Gee from Indigo Ltd. Sarah is an arts marketer and fundraiser with over 20 years of experience who’s already raised over £50million for arts projects. We know she has some ambitious plans for AngelShares and we’re looking forward to seeing the site take off.

It’s already off to a strong start, launching with projects from Belgrade Theatre, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Ikon Gallery, Light House Media Centre and Craftspace. Artists and arts organisations are now able to add their own projects, promote them via project updates and raise the funds they need.

You can also follow Angel Shares on Twitter and on Facebook.

Breathe The Beat is part of the Outdoor Dance Programme – a major strand of Dancing for the Games which aims to connect people with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games through dance.

Dance tutorials are being released regularly through the website and, next month, a competition will be launched with prizes up for grabs including the chance to meet the man himself and see him perform.

The site features image and video galleries, a news feed (with additional links pulled in from Twitter and relevant blogs) and an events map that will show off the upcoming roadshow. All of this activity is pulled into the homepage to give visitors an immediate sense of the project’s vibrancy. When the competition launches the site will allow people to submit their own videos too.

There’s already plenty of content on Breathe The Beat with more to come, so have a look around. You can also follow the project on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

A lucky few were fortunate enough to catch an impromptu performance by Salah in Birmingham city centre while he was taking a break from filming the tutorials. It didn’t take long for a crowd to gather:

Vivacity is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with charitable status that manages many of Peterborough’s most popular culture and leisure facilities on behalf of Peterborough City Council. These include the Key Theatre and Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery.

Our brief was to relaunch their website, showcasing Peterborough’s cultural and leisure venues as well as the huge number of events, attractions, festivals and workshops that they host.

Carl Timms led the project and said this:

It’s hard to get across just how big this site is. On a broad level we’ve had to ensure that the site’s structure is spot on so it’s easy to navigate and as accessible as possible. There’s been a lot of work on the details too, with some professional copywriting and subtle touches here and there to make discovering the site feel more intuitive.

It’s all powered by Backstage – the CMS that we’ve developed in-house to handle just this kind of site. It’s meant that we’ve been able to deliver the website quickly and with a lot of functionality that could otherwise have been very costly.

Venues and events each have their own pages with the content generated dynamically. Individual event pages (like this one for a Heritage Festival at the end of the month) are packed with key information, directions, relevant news and tastefully integrated social media features. There’s integration with ticketing systems where needed too.

We hope you like it, so please go and have a look at our handiwork at vivacity-peterborough.com. You’ll also find Vivacity on Facebook and Twitter.

Not quite new this one, we launched Glyndebourne’s new website back in December on the QT. Opera websites have a reputation for crashing on big on-sale dates, so we were reluctant to shout too loud before getting the festival ticketing live this month. Thankfully, on the night, all of our stress-testing paid off, resulting in record online sales for this unique Opera house.

It was a huge project, taking in usability studies, information architecture, design and plenty of e-commerce. In addition to a polished pick-your-own-seat experience, you can purchase everything from a DVD to a Glyndebourne champagne-stopper in the online gift shop.

Although we’re known for our work with venues, this was our first job with the fabled Tessitura box-office and CRM system. We’d like to think we’ve exploited its best-in-breed Internet integration facilities. Glyndebourne’s audience are a discerning bunch. and we wanted to make sure the website booking experience lived up to the live experience. We hope it did.

Birmingham Hippodrome have launched a mobile-friendly website with the help of Made. The mobile site receives content from the main website, but is designed from the ground up for mobile users. Delivered as a touch-friendly HTML 5 application, it feels familiar to smart-phone users and is a pleasure to use on the go.

We even extracted some kind words from the client:

“Birmingham Hippodrome is very happy with the mobile features Made have devised for us.
We’re looking forward to growing this important area of business. Made
were easy to work with, fast and efficient, thorough with staff
training, understood our challenges and delivered on budget. Who can
ask for anything more?”

Rob Macpherson, Marketing & Development Director

If things have been a bit quiet around here recently, it’s because we’ve been flat out working on a new clutch of websites. Made’s been working on the new Royal Court Theatre for a while now. You could say it’s been a labour of love.

Royal Court has been at the cutting edge of British theatre since 1956 when the English Stage Company premiered Look Back in Anger. More recently Royal Court have had smash-hit successes with Jerusalem and Enron, which have both transferred to the West End.

We hope you like the website. Why not check out the current programme, review 50 years of history or take a look at their international writing projects.