Toddington Web Design - And a personal Blog too

More work for TW&D

Toddington Web Design — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:10:00 GMT

More work is in the pipeline for Toddington Web & Design.

I have had quite some success prospecting for new work and am now working on three projects, which have delayed my attempts to join the spring reboot for 2008. I am currently working on web design projects for GM Europe's Aftersales department. I am also producing a website for the Cavalier Golf Society and generating an entire image package for Success-Tec.com.

Success-Tec.com

A colleague of mine is preparing to launch his own company which specializes in motivational and relaxational techniques. With many years experience of sales and marketing, he is pitching mainly at the Automotive sales industry, as a trainer for sales excellence. He is qualified as an NLP Master Practitioner and has experience in modern Hypnossis techniques.

Toddington Web & Design has been instructed to produce an entire corporate identity for his company Success-Tec.com, which should include Logo design, stationary and a website to promote the company. Work has already begun on this project and should be complete by the end of April. At this time I am waiting on content supply from the customer.

GM Europe - Aftersales Customer Satisfaction Survey

GM is the leading producer of automobiles in the world. They produce vehicles under many names. In the UK they supply Chevrolet, Vauxhall, Saab, Cadillac and Hummer vehicles and support imported vehicles from Corvette. In the Republic of Ireland, Vauxhall vehicles are supplied under the name Opel. They also own Saturn, GMC and a large stake in the Suzuki Motor Corporation. The Aftersales Warehouse located in Luton supply parts and accessories to the wide network of Vauxhall, Chevrolet, Opel and Saab dealers in the UK and Ireland and support the european Opel opertations in Germany and Spain. The warehouse itself is over 1.25 Million Sq Ft and provides a mindboggling number of parts and accessories overnight to sites from Cornwall to the highlands of Scotland.

I have been instructed by the client to produce a web based method of monitoring retailer satisfaction with regard to the supply of parts and accessories. The site should also ensure satisfaction with logistics partners and complaints handling proceedures. The ideal setup should run from a database which will maintain a historical record of responses. An early draft of the programme is in operational testing within the network, using an email subission system.

Cavalier Golf Society

The Cavalier Golf Society is a group of GM Europe employees and pensioners who meet regularly to play golf at courses local to the head office of Vauxhall in Luton. With membership numbers falling and attendance at an all time low, the secretary of the organisation approached me to discuss ideas to increase the success rate of the society.

The solouton to this enquiry involves modernising the opertation to include, for the first time in the societies history a website with facilities to book and pay for golf days online. I also intend to include a forum for members to comunicate with each other between meetings. We are also looking in to redesigining the societies logo to fit a more modern and relevant organisation which is identifieable as a Vauxhall entity.

Other Work in Progress

In addition to the above work, I am also working on a number of short graphic design projects for my full-time employer Evans Halshaw Vauxhall in Hemel Hempstead. Evans Halshaw Hemel is part of the UK's largest dealer groups which retail vehicles for many manufacturers including Vauxhall, Ford, Citroen, Chevrolet, Suzuki, Renault and Fiat. In addition to the Evans Halshaw chain, Pendragon PLC also operates a chain of Stratstone branded sites retailing premium and luxury brands such as, Aston Martin, MINI, BMW, Mercedies-Benz, Lexus and Jaguar.

For the site in which I work, I have produced a number of A4 posters to advertise special offers, accessories and products. Current work is on 4 items advertising our delivery package, protection package, TomTom special offer and price list for accessories displayed on a vehicle in the showroom.

The work detailed above is keeping me very busy at the moment, therefore the planned relaunch of twd-web.com and nicholas.smith.co.uk are on hold.

Regards,

Nicholas Smith.
Website and Graphic Designer.
Toddington Web & Design.
www.twd-web.com
enquiries@twd-web.com

Please think before you print this blog - Your planet needs you.

Its that time again.

Toddington Web Design — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:09:00 GMT

Yes its that time of the year again, I am begining work on my CSS Reboots, which will cover my websites twd-web.com and nicholas-smith.co.uk I am hoping to get at least one of these websites database driven by 1st May 2008. I will keep you updated on the progress of these projects as information comes.

TWD secures work for Vauxhall Maindealer.

Toddington Web Design — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:43:00 GMT

Toddington Web and Design are pleased to announce that a new project has been secured. As part of my work for Evans Halshaw Vauxhall in Hemel Hempstead, I had been requested to produce some advertising for various products.

The project I have now embarked upon is to produce marketing materials for use in the showroom during the consultive interview. These materials are to promote the insurance and protection packages available when buying a vehicle from a main dealer. Whilst the design has been left mainly to my creativity, the overall product should fit within the pre-existing corporate identity provided by Vauxhall Motors.

At this stage, one of three products has been completed and rolled out to the showroom floor, with the NetworkQ product in final approval before roll out. I have one more item to produce which is well into the design and construction phase of the project. Anticipated completion is by the end of this week. I am sure that this project will be the start of a good working relationship with the company as a graphic designer, as opposed to sales executive.

On completion of the project, I will upload the items to the website for use in my portfolio.

Database Driven Websites - Another offering from TW&D

Toddington Web Design — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:58:00 GMT

I am now working on a fully database driven website for Toddington Town Band. So far so good, the MySQL database is up and running and the php coding is about to begin.

Whist this is my first trip into the world of php and MySQL, i have experience in working with relatonal databases and am glad to put this knowladge to good use. Once this project is complete i will be fully able to offer database driven websites and online business databases as a part of my product range. I look forward to doing business with some of you in the future and providing this new skill as part of the TW&D difference.

Updates on this subject comming shortly.

Done

Toddington Web Design — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 20:59:00 GMT

My CSS Reboots are complete and are being uploaded now. The TTB site is active at ttb.org.uk and the TW&D reboot is currently uploading. They are only 2 months late!! Looking forward to a better reboot in the spring when I am hoping to launch my own Harry Potter Fansite which will incorporate my fan fic, Harry Potter and the Orb of Time.

For now,I wish you much enjoyment of the new websites. Nick

Sorry - Explanation time

Toddington Web Design — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:22:00 GMT

My CSS Reboot ambitions have failed.

This is the first time since returning from france that i have been able to sit at my computer for any length of time. But... I now have to pack.

I have found myself very busy with work for the past week and a half, which is causing me a great deal of annoyance. My reboots are now 11 days late and are no nearer completion than before. Now i am going on a 3 day course to leeds which will make it harder for me to do any work on them. When i return i will ensure that i have enough time to finish the sites and launch them, but for now i ask your patience.

Thanks

Problems Hit

Toddington Web Design — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:18:00 GMT

Ok I hit a problem. An unscheduled trip to France has put me 4-5 days behind on my reboots. The TWD one is ready to rumble and will be uploaded soon. The TTB one is no where near. I have failed but hope to redeam my self.

Another Update

Toddington Web Design — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 17:22:00 GMT

Ok, things are looking good. Had a full day at it today as i was off work. Acheived alot.

TW&D is now done, no you cant have a look, its private!! No really you can see too much already as my blog has the new header.

TTB - I got bored again, didnt like the new design, so i changed it. but ive only done the index page!! Need help much? Yeah. Hopefully with a week to work on it, i should have it ready for next wednesday. Wish me luck!

A quick update

Toddington Web Design — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 20:48:00 GMT

Just a quick update for you:

The reboot for the TW&D site is comming along fine with a new look now ready, just need to finish off the content.

The TTB site is a little further behind, I didn't realise quite how much work was involved in producing a Database Driven Website. Suitable help has been enlisted, I am learning and should be able to launch the site in less than 8 days!

The scary thing is how quick it has all come about. I am hoping to produce a blog style application to run the TTB news page, which will enable users to post their comments on the news at hand. I am also looking to produce a simple forum setup to run within that framework too as my previous attempts to operate forums for the band have met with spam attacks, but for now i will settle for putting the page online, the database can wait!

Speak to you again soon,

Nick

CSS Reboot Fall 2006

Toddington Web Design — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:57:00 GMT

Ok I know that i have posted already today, but i wanted to update on the whole CSS Reboot thing.

I mentioned breifly last time that the TWD site would be benifiting from a makeover in the CSS Reboot of this Autumn. I then went to the reboot site .com and found that signups are now active. Therefore I submitted myself to reboot two sites, TWD and TTB.

The TWD reboot is going well, although it looks a bit too much like clear-carbon.com , my mate and mentors site for my liking. But its the only way to achive what i want. So sorry if you feel its plagerism Jabba, call me and we'll talk about it!.

The TTB Reboot is a little slower as I am needing to learn alot more about PHP and MySQL than I already know, but all should be ok and the two sites should go up first thing on the 1st of November. Wish me luck!!

Now for the personal bit:

Got a new job a while ago which is why i have not been blogging, too busy, sorry. I now work for a company in Milton Keynes called Braylake Cars. This is a Suzuki Garage in Fenny, for whom I sell cars. You will see a large amount of Suzuki Graphic Design Work appearing on this site as I am being used for lots of adds and postcards at the moment, mainly to support the launch of Swift Sport, (Thankfully now over, too many nights of 2 o'clock in the mornings at my comp, doing work!!)

Had to sell my little Swift, cos the basic is terrible, so the company give me a car, at the moment its an SX-4 but im hoping ill get a Jimny soon.

See you again soon.

Nick

Slight Change

Toddington Web Design — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 14:19:00 GMT

Due to work being carried out in my new job, I have decided to expand TWD's products into Graphic Design. Therefore, when my new website goes online with the Fall Reboot I will be changing the name to Toddington Web AND Design to show my new services.

Toddington Web Design - We've hit the target again!

Toddington Web Design — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 21:32:00 GMT

Toddington Web Design

Websites that hit the Target!

Again, Toddington Web Design has made yet another happy customer. Building on my recent success with work for Ingham Ink, and my recent Logo Design job, which is with the client now, Toddington Web Design has designed built and hosted a new website for the Toddington Old Boys Association. This quick delivery was taken from concept to finished site within a week! With finishing touches still to add, in the form of a basic SMF Forum set up and PHP driven contact form, this website is now online as a stand alone site, the modifications will arrive shortly.

Please feel free to visit this site at:

http://www.toddington-oldboys.com

Another customer satisfied by Toddington Web Design: Websites that hit the Target.

Nicholas Smith

Hi Again

Toddington Web Design — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 16:59:00 GMT

As promised to you, I have spent some time reading different blogs. This has proved an eye opener to me. How many people blog? Try googleing for Blog and see how many come up. its stupid. But as I said, i have read them. Would like to point one out -

www.bobparsons.com

The blog of the CEO of GoDaddy.com, It really does make for some interesting reading, Most of it will bore the hell out of you, only 8% of this does that......... You get the drift. But it is worth a look.

The TWD Related bit of this post is:

I have finally finished the Toddington Old Boys website, for IE anyways. It has some compatablilty issues with Firefox, which is unfortunate, as FIREFOX is the worlds greatist webbrowser. But this is available to view in Microsoft Internet Explorer at

www.toddington-oldboys.com

Oh well done to the boys of the England team achieving a 1-0 victory over equador today. Shame they played like kindergarten kids for the first half!! And the Portugal/Holland match was one for the books too! 20 cards!! 4 reds!! someones gonna get a pay cut this year!

Well enough general ramblings,

Speak to you another time.

NOTE: This blog entry was supposed to be posted at 23:10 GMT on Sunday 25^th June 2006 BUT there is a power cut in the village and im working off my mates UPS atm. Sorry.

Nick

Welcome

Toddington Web Design — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 21:34:00 GMT

Welcome to the Nicholas Smith/TWD blog.

Here is the thing. I have never "Blogged" nor have i ever read a blog. All of this is set to change in the next half an hour, so it shouldnt bear any reference to the later entries in this blog, but Im just going to get the introductions out of the way now.

This blog, is the combined thoughts of a web design company, and a single individual trying to find his way in life.

An introduction to said individual:

My name is Nicholas Smith. At the moment , my place of work is a call center in Flitwick UK, though all that is set to change sometime soon.

My Hobbies include: Computers, Games, Music, Films and my family. My pride and joy is my car. A Suzuki Swift on an 06 plate. Whilst the damn thing litteraly drinks my money, she and i are head over heals in love. (This could be why i have yet to change my SINGLE status!

An introduction to Toddington Web Design:

Toddington Web Design was set up by myself for 2 reasons:

1) I am sick to death of seeing people with less skill than myself making 'mucho mullah' as web designers, just by buying a domain, and cracking Dreamweaver.

2)I am also sick to death of people complaining about the high prices web design companies charge for their wares! So here we are the budget Web Design company. (Who have also done a little logo design work already. If you need a logo, you know where to go!)

So if you are reading this and want a site of your own, email me, through the form on

twd-web.com

and we can see what we can do.

FYI:

Catagories of Blog posts and what they mean:

General: God help you - Its a lottery. May be constructive, may be a rant against the world/boss/dad.

Nicks Life: Fairly straight forward - could be "I pwned hard on A2 today", or "whoo i got a new job",

TWD Business: Anything Business related - Announcing new clients. Telling you I am on holiday and wont be able to build your site this week. Anything TWD needs to say comes through here.

Well, The foundations are laid, lets see where we go from here.

See you again soon:

Nick