After graduating from university in 2005, I sought to develop my web-development skills further by seeking freelance commissions. I secured my first project in early 2006 from Merlin Mortgage Management who are a team of mortgage brokers based in the Hampshire area.

It became clear early on that this was a perfect opportunity to develop my abilities, as at the time Merlin Mortgages did not have any web presence, so this would be a site built from scratch.

After a couple of meetings with one of the co-managing directors outlining the project requirements, I got to work building the site in pure HTML. The first two versions of the site did not include any form of content management system and everything was hard-coded, but it comfortably met the early requirements for Merlin Mortgages.

In 2012 I was asked by the directors of Merlin Mortgage Management to modernize the design of the site, bringing in a more web 2.0 look and giving the design responsive behaviours. I saw this as a good chance to implement the long-absent CMS system and the team at Merlin Mortgages agreed. The new version of the site was completed in summer of 2012, complete with a fresh responsive design, HTML5 structure, touch-screen friendly buttons and an Umbraco-based content management system.

The site went through another redesign in 2022 to bring it inline with modern design conventions and screen resolutions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, I took inspiration from Rainymood.com to create a website with a selection of relaxing scenes and sounds in looping video format. I felt this could help people do various things such as work, study, meditate and relax, given the somewhat stressful & fearful situation we were in at the time.

I have sourced videos from a variety of locations including tropical beaches, cities, deserts & boreal regions etc. These videos must all contain a static scene (no camera movements) with a relaxing vibe. This allows me to cut a short segment of the video (e.g 20 seconds) and loop it infinitly, saving file size load times and server space.

The site was built using Umbraco v13 & .NET Core. The Umbraco CMS allows for easy upload of new scenes using the back-office inputs when a suitable scene video is obtained for use. I have also utilised Howler.js to control audio (eliminating hard transitions in sound during the playback loop).

Ambientchill.io is almost ready for launch and should go live sometime in 2026.

Proagrica had been developing a Rebate Management platform since the late 2010's. Designed for wholesaler clients to purchase as a rebrandable suite to manage their product rebate schemes with their veternary clients (a B2B method of rewarding and discounting large product orders).

I was brought onto the project in 2022 after completing my work on MAPP365, to redesign the UI/UX of certain areas of the project and enable the product to be easily themed between different client branding. There were several different themes to create - the main Proagrica one (pictured), then one for Elanco, Dechra, KRKA and later Telus after the takeover of Proagrica. Each theme version also required a dark mode variant.

Sections of the product I had a high impact on in terms of design and build included; The Dashboard, Process Rebates, Scheme Manager, Sales Data Import.

All the wireframes & designs were completed using a combination of Photoshop, Axure & Figma.

In 2019 Proagrica was commissioned by Merck (MSD in Europe) to create Poultry Performance 365 - an application designed to assess the standard of poultry farm hatcheries, highlighting areas that need improvement in terms of chick numbers, health, equipment and process.

The overall design theme was not my own, however I was essentially the sole frontend developer for the project in its primary development phase. Having said that, there were numerous sections of the application where I had to design views which were not supplied by the original designer and widgets not accounted for by the original wireframes.

This was the first project at Proagrica where we used the Agile approach to project management from start to finish (we'd previously used the waterfall method exclusively). This was very succssful in terms of product quality and delivery cadence, and also helped us manage the volume of change requests coming from the client at later phases of the project.

The first iteration of the application was built in ReactJS, however Merck requested we change to .NET Core after about 6 months into the development as it better suited their hosting environment at the time.

The project has been live since 2022.

Between 2009 and 2010, DBT developed an email & SMS broadcasting platform for Pfizer Animal Health called E-Room, that can be used by independent vet practices to remind their customers when their pet is due for various different types of treatment.

In 2012 Pfizer Animal Health split from Pfizer to become an independent corporation called Zoetis. Because of this, all of the projects that DBT had previously undertaken on behalf of Pfizer Animal Health had to be rebranded to the new Zoetis guidelines. I was given the task of redesigning E-Room to not only conform to the new Zoetis brand guidelines, but also give it a fresh new layout that was mobile device friendly and fully responsive.

The new E-Room is now written in HTML5 and usilises MVC for its back end functionality, as opposed to standard asp.net which the previous incarnation used.

The rebuilt version of Zoetis E-Room went live in 2014 after approximately 1 year of redesign and client change requests.

HGCA(Home Grown Cereals Authority) is a government funded organisation that is part of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

Following the success of the Nutrition websites I developed in 2012, HGCA awarded DBT the contract to rebuild their main public website using Umbraco CMS, starting work in February 2013. The existing website had been developed in the early 2000’s and its Ektron-based CMS system was beginning to struggle with modern browsers.

The requirements of the project were as follows;

• To recreate existing Ektron-based functionality in Umbraco
• Restructure the frontend of the site to make it fully responsive
• Front end code was to use HTML5
• Existing content structure to be used as an archive site (much like BBC News have done)
• Small jQuery improvements to be added where possible (such as smooth drop down menus)

As the overall site design was not being changed, making the site structure responsive was probably the toughest part of the project due to its complex box-style layout. HGCA site editors had many options in how they lay out landing pages; some boxes are double-width, some are single-width and they can be in any order depending on how they are positioned. A combination of jQuery and CSS media queries were used to modify the layout as screen resolution decreases or increases.

Umbraco module packages were used extensively in the project to provide functionality for aspects such as news feeds, search engines and layout pickers. There was very little need for any .NET user controls to be written for the new site, other than linking certain components to the archive site.

The new HGCA site went live on the 22nd January 2014 after a very smooth and successful development. In 2016 much of the content from the HGCA website was absorbed into the main AHDB website, so the Umbraco site we built at DBT was decommissioned around that time.

After my experience gained with the Vets West project in 2011, I was keen to work on a new Umbraco project as I was now fully aware of the extensive functionality I could create. In the second half of 2012 DBT were awarded the contract to produce three new mini-sites for HGCA (Home Grown Cereals Authority) focussing on healthy recipes.

HGCA is a government funded organisation that is part of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). It required a three channel Umbraco development for the following produce types;

• Wholegrain (wholegraingoodness.com)
• Oats (allaboutoats.com)
• Rapeseed Oil (rapeseedoilbenefits.com)

The format of the site was simple; content either falls into the category of landing pages, general content or recipes. The CMS user can populate various 'tactical' boxes in the templates using the content picker inside Umbraco. This will pull through titles, abstract text and images from that node and form a link to the actual page in question.

This project not only further enhanced my Umbraco skills, but allowed me to take my XSLT, CSS and jQuery skills up another level.

All three channels went live at the same time in September 2012 after a five month long development period.

As of 2018, all three sites appear to have been decommissioned (at least the domains have). Do not visit the URLs now as they appear to have been taken over by cyber-squatters.

In September 2012, I was given the task of redesigning the Sales Ordering Portal web application to give it an MSD look & feel.

Ordervision is a sales ordering portal that MSD field sales representatives use while meeting clients remotely. Because it is used by sales reps in the field it is primarily used on tablets (mostly Apple iPad's). The site gives them the ability to create new business to business product orders and manage existing orders.

I decided to use a cleaner design than was currently in use; using less boxes and more white space. I also thought a modern look could be achieved using Metro style buttons, these would also be more suitable for tablet users to press.

Not only was I responsible for the design stage of this project, but I was also required to rewrite large amounts of the front end code, as the original Sales Ordering Portal was written in the IE6 era and much of the Javascript failed to work in non-IE browsers. The code that needed restructuring or completely rewriting was the HTML and the Javascript. I also incorporated jQuery to make some of the Javascript more efficient.

The new Ordervision went live in December 2012 and has been a very successful tool for MSD sales representatives.

The first half of 2012 for me at DBT was spent producing the designs and frontend code for the Centaur Services ‘Webshop’ project. Centaur Services are a veterinary products wholesaler who DBT had already developed an extranet system for some years previous.

The webshop was designed for vet practices who wished to sell products to the public under their own practice name using the centaur services infrastructure.

When a practice signs up for a webshop, they get to pick a colour theme for the site from a list of ten, they get to put an image of their practice logo in the page header and then select which products from the Centaur database they would like to sell in the shop.

All options are selected from the extranet member’s area; which required a separate suite to be developed to control webshop settings.

My work on the project mainly focused on converting wireframe layouts to full site designs and producing the different colour themes for the project.

I was approached by the Independent Taekwondo Academies England (ITAE) to produce a new, fully content-managed website in the summer of 2011. ITAE at the time was a newly-formed organization as it had splintered away from the American Taekwondo organization - the International Taekwondo Alliance (ITA).

The project was a fairly substantial one for a local business, as the site included a news feed, and events feed, a complete guide to the various techniques used per rank and independent sections for the various clubs that operated under the ITAE umbrella group (clubs were based in Aldershot , Cowplain, Horndean, Portsmouth and Reading).

The site went live in the summer of 2012 after a one year-long development period. It operated using an Umbraco-based content management system.

After several years in use, the ITAE disbanded, with the remaining clubs going fully independent. The website therefore was decommisioned sometime around 2017.

My first major project for DBT was to produce a brand new site for Vetswest Ltd, which is a veterinary business group based in Devon, England. DBT had already developed a comprehensive extranet suite for Vetswest, and the company now required a customer facing website to draw in new business.

The site would also be required to link to the extranet data and allow reports and invoices to be viewed by registered members in a secured area.

Vetswest was my first Umbraco CMS project and I developed a number of new skills when building the site. As Umbraco used XSLT macros to perform most site functionality at this time, I gained substantial experience with it. I also built a number of .NET user-controls to further expand site functionality as these are fully supported by Umbraco.

The completed Vetswest website includes;

• Corporate News feed
• RSS feeds from the Veterinary industry
• Events Calendar with booking system
• Classified adverts section
• Two tier login system (members & secured members)
• Document Library (Primarily PDF and DOC files)
• PDF creator (Via WYSIWYG Editor)
• Buyer’s discount calculator tool

Vetswest.co.uk went live in spring 2011 and wasa resounding success for the company for the following years until it was bought out by AmerisourceBergen in 2015.

In the autumn of 2006 I was hired to produce a website for the Designer Keepsake Company,- a small business based in Waterlooville, Hampshire. Designer Keepsakes produced decorative items used in wedding ceremonies such as menu’s, table decorations and favours.

The site went live in 2010 (it was delayed several years due to changes in client requirements).

My version of the site is no longer live, but you can view my designs as images in the side panel.

In 2010 DBT was awarded the contract to supply Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) with a comprehensive email marketing broadcasting platform. CSC (now called ‘intu’) is an umbrella group of large retail shopping centres in major cities across the UK. Centres in the group are as follows;

• Intu Braehead, Glasgow
• Intu Broadmarsh, Nottingham
• Intu Bromley, London
• Intu Chapelfield, Norwich
• Intu Eldon Square, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
• Intu Lakeside, Thurrock (Essex)
• Intu Metrocentre, Gateshead
• Intu Midsummer Place, Milton Keynes
• Intu Potteries, Stoke-On-Trent
• Intu Trafford Centre, Manchester
• Intu Uxbridge, London
• Intu Victoria Centre, Nottingham
• Intu Watford, Watford

It was my task to create the email templates for all the shopping centres in the group, and each one at the time required individually themed designs. On top of that, - each centre required a total of five core templates which they could edit themselves and produce various different permutations.

Back in 2011 there were 10 centres in the group, so I had to complete 50 templates in the space of 3 months. The templates were used from April 2011 onwards and have been received very well by users at CSC. In this project I gained a vast amount of experience in producing HTML email templates that work across all modern email clients. I also acquired working knowledge of the email broadcasting platform ‘Campaign Monitor’.

In 2013 Capital Shopping Centres rebranded themselves as Intu, and have since streamlined all corporate communications and documents under a central theme.

Intu stopped using DBT for email marketing services around 2015.

In June 2008 I took on the role of web designer for Solo Teachers & Events Agency after the previous one moved on. Solo already had two fairly developed websites for each division of the company; soloevents.biz and soloteachers.co.uk, but they were in urgent need of a re-design and expansion.

My duties included; the updating of time-critical content such as news and events feeds and also the technical and artistic development of both sites.

In my time working for Solo, both divisions of the Solo website had a colour scheme change, a new and improved home page layout, navigational improvements such as drop down menus, plus news & event feeds.

Sadly the websites are no longer available as the company ceased operations in late 2011, but working for Solo did provide me with some valuable experience of CSS, JavaScript and UI design in the early stages of my career.