Background
Ever since the internet first filtered through to the mainstream back in the late nineties, Marvin has had a fascination for what could be achieved with this brand new medium.
What started out as a hobby building web pages for friends and family quickly developed into something more substantial, and it wasn't long before it became a career choice.
He completed seven years at Bushey Meads, leaving to take a degree in Software Systems for the Arts and Media at the University of Hertfordshire.
The course was unusual as his time was split equally between the faculties of Art and Design, and Computer Science. While learning his craft as technical practitioner, Marvin was exposed to cyberculture and modern HCI concepts, both of which have helped in his web development and given him a richer understanding of the discipline.
After graduating in 2006, Marvin took some time to hone my development skills and was hired by a creative advertising agency in London as a front-end web developer in early 2007. Here, he worked on multiple concurrent projects varying in scope and size and this lead to me leading some projects working with designers, copywriters, developers and digital producers, gaining a wide experience of the aspects and requirements of delivering successful web projects. Today, Marvin is the senior front end web developer at Pod1 in London working on e-commerce solutions for brands in the fashion and retail sector. Marvin has recently left Pod1 and is available for work.
Services
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Web domain and hosting
Handling the process of purchasing a suitable domain name, e.g. yourname.com and setting up necessary web space for your website to run efficiently.
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Professional documentation
Definitive business objectives and a project plan are drawn up, leading up to thorough documentation of functional requirements, all drawn up to aid project success.
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Wireframe production
Interactive paper-based wireframes to illustrate website content and user journeys. In addition, HTML wireframes to demonstrate interaction and Ajax functionality.
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Logo design
Considered logo design with relation to target market, business aspirations and the medium where it will be used.
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SEO optimization
Utilising current optimisation techniques to ensure that search engines such as Google not only feature your website in their search results, but do so prominently; in turn generating more visitors to your site.
Making use of web analytics packages to convert visitors to customers by astute measurement of traffic against defined business goals. Acting upon this data accordingly to increase profitability and effectiveness of your site.
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Bespoke web design
Adopting a user-centred design approach throughout all designs.
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Hand-coded interface development using XHTML, CSS and Javascript
A progressive enhancement approach ensuring that pages are accessible to as many as possible but still utlising cutting-edge technologies, all built to comply with W3C guidelines and recognised accessbility standards.
Development of mobile and print stylesheets to heighten the user experience.
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Usability testing
Ensuring that the web pages are easy to use and meet your website's objectives,
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Quality assurance
Testing on a multitude of platforms and computer set ups to ensure that the website is robust and meets everything agreed in the project plan.
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Web trend consultancy
With so many buzz-words and hype around 'the latest' web services, Marvin can provide a helpful insight as to which services are relevant to your business, and how to tap in to these markets for maximum effect.
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Technical support
And of course, in the real world, sometimes things can go wrong. In the event, Marvin is on hand to quickly and efficiently respond to any technical problems related to your website.