I’m finding it difficult to hide my enthusiasm and excitement about joining Artlines Media, for you see, I’ve joined at rather exciting times.

Established in 1985 (pre-web), Artlines Media was a small partnership focusing on print and branding design for SME local businesses. 2002 saw it become a limited company under the direction of Chris and venture into the virtual world of the internet and web design.

2002 sure was an interesting time for the internet – about the time a buzzword ‘web 2.0’ started being mentioned. A typical website was running on ugly invalid code and inconsistencies between web browser engines caused headaches for web designers and developers all over the world. HTML tables for entire page layouts and non-semantic code meant viewing a webpage on anything but an all-functions-enabled browser was out of the question, and accessibility was on no-ones mind.

The W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) set about creating web standards in code structure, accessibility, the DOM (Document Object Model) and general compliance. These standards ensure everybody can enjoy the wonders of the web, whether they have difficulty reading small text, require screen-readers or are viewing a webpage from a handheld device. To me, the term ‘web 2.0’ is a blanket term which describes design and development which adheres to modern web standards and best practises.

The possibilities web 2.0 technologies can bring to a website are limited only by imagination (and timescales!) Take our new website for example! Its the simple things we’re most proud of – this custom-made blog, the AJAX newsletter sign up and our new, clean and crisp logo – just to name a few.

This new look reflects a new objective and focus in Artlines Media, to improve and expand, so that we can be at the forefront of not only the local web agency scene, but the London and national scene too. What exciting times…

Artlines have been chosen to completely re-design and develop a Volkswagen main dealer website, after winning a three way pitch - one of the largest Volkswagen retailers in the area.

It will be an exciting project for the Artlines team and we look forward to working with them on this project.

After years of creating brands and websites for our clients, we thought it was time to look at our own brand. Our new look is finally complete, we developed a new brand identity to work across all media, print, web, email, advertising and SEO.

The design of a brand is something we take very seriously indeed, because once you have a focussed style, it will need to be consistently implemented across all media. Too many people don't respect this simple rule. They end up with many variations on a brand causing dilution of their brand in key areas, confusing their customer base and projecting an inconsistent brand message.

You need to be able to reassure your customers and simplicity is the key. Your messages may be complex, but the way you communicate them needs to be simple, consistent and impactive.

We would like to welcome a new member to the Artlines team.

Jay is a website designer/developer with a wealth of experience in the web design, ecommerce, compliance and development fields.