Welcome to the machine

Design Haus and Worksunit
have merged

There are many compelling reasons why agencies merge. Both agencies have operated and succeeded across Digital & Traditional channels, as well as on large software focused and mobile projects.

Together Etch can now share a next-generation capability set, helping clients drive their businesses forward with a fully integrated service.

Already rocking the boat

Etch has literally only just been born and already we've been placed in the top 20 digital agencies by Wirehive! We were also nominated for Best Social Media Project and managed to finish with a runner-up award, not bad for our very first project!

Take a look at our work
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These are just a few of the clients we work with on a regular basis:

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    RYA

    The RYA is the national body for all forms of boating, including dinghy and yacht racing, and cruising.

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    Miracle Street

    Miracle Street are a UK charitable organisation that supports and releases the ministry of Steve Lee.

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    Yacht Havens

    Yacht Havens own and operate 8 prime marina locations, providing the best boating experience in the UK.

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    Bandai

    Bandai UK Ltd is a subsidiary of Bandai Co. Ltd, the third largest toy company in the world.

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    Total Wardrobe

    Total Wardrobe Care provide a range of essential products to help with the humane management of moths.

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    ATTA

    Atta creates a platform for buyers from across Europe to meet suppliers of African tourism products.

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    Moto-Lita

    Moto-Lita, based at Thruxton Racing Circuit, hand-make classic steering wheels.

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    Quicksmart Homes

    Quicksmart Homes' website highlights their key business areas and focuses on their products and services

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    Sail South East

    Sail South East is a mutual organisation formed between Marina operators and Harbour Authorities.

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    Chilworth

    Chilworth Technology provide process safety solutions for a broad range of industries around the world.

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    Diageo

    Diageo are the world's leading premium drinks company, with centuries of tradition and innovation.

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    Royal Mail Group

    Royal Mail Group Ltd is the parent company of Royal Mail, Post Office® and Parcelforce Worldwide.

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    Esteem Systems

    Esteem is a specialist managed services provider for IT infrastructures.

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    Flying Jackets

    The only company in the world making genuine Irvin and MoD leather jackets for serving aircrew.

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    Trans Ocean

    Transocean are a world class provider in liquid bulk logistics, delivering significant environmental and economical supply chain solutions to clients worldwide.

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    Icomia

    Icomia are the voice of the marine industry, coordinating a global network or standards bodies via their website

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    Maxim Recruitment

    Maxim specialise in finding quantity surveyors and construction professionals for jobs in the Middle East or UK

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JOIN US FOR ACoffee* & a chat

Amazing ideas are formed over a steaming cup of hot, fresh java & we don’t use anything but the best beans. Just imagine what we can do with your project & our coffee.

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LATEST CASE STUDY

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discovery

1

Discovery

During the Discovery phase we sit with you and discuss your objectives for the site. We use a simple 5x5 grid to establish what you wish to achieve; up to 5 main objectives, with each objective having no more than 5 requirements to fulfil it.

The discovery phase is vital in planning how the finished website will be used by your visitors or target audience. We use this stage to determine your goals for the site, the metrics of your organisation or product range and the features of the site.

This process keeps all parties focused on what we are trying to achieve during the project, rather than how we are going to do it. Without taking time to complete the discovery stage we run the risk of delivering a website that does not fulfil your requirements. This phase is also important for you, as it will output a reasonable model of what you can expect from your site when it is finished.

The output of this phase is an agreed scope that will detail all that needs to be done in order to achieve the objectives.

ia

2

IA/UX

Once the discovery phase has been completed, we start the IA & UX phase. This phase ensures that before we start the design and build, we have an agreed specification of what is to be delivered and how the site will function.

It is impossible to complete (or even begin in many cases) this phase without first understanding the objectives (from the discovery phase), and engaging with you fully.

The User eXperience (UX) component of this stage in the process focuses on how your visitors will use the finished web site. We focus on user journeys, such as moving through a series of pages that may represent e.g. a checkout process, or how visitors drill down through hierarchical page levels. Interaction with the site, accessibility and usability, and the effectiveness of different activities that may be completed on the site are all key areas of User eXperience.

The Information Archirtecture component looks at how the informational content of your site is structured and organised, and how best to present this information to your site visitors in an effective and engaging way.

The output of this phase is a series of documents including; a sitemap detailing the structure of the pages that make up the site and how they are connected, and wireframes which show the different components that each page is made of (this is especially important when dealing with interactions, e.g. a checkout process).

design

3

Design

The design phase adds creativity to the wireframes produced in the UX & IA phase; this is the stage when you will see what the finished site will look like.

With the first 2 stages completed properly the design phase is usually relatively quick since the unknowns and variables have all been previously identified.

The design phase is critical in determining how you, your company, and your web site are perceived by your visitors. We focus on your brand and how best to bring it to the digital stage. Our talented designer will work with you to produce a site design that is both attractive and consistent with your brand and values.

The output of this phase are the designs for each 'type' of page. Rather than wasting time designing and producing an image of every single page of the site, we produce a design for each of the different types of pages that make up the site, for example, page types may include; a content page, a category page, a product page, or a checkout page.

build

4

Build

The build phase takes the output from all of the preceding 3 phases and is when we actually start to build the site to work in a web browser. The reason we place so much emphasis on the previous phases is so that when we get to this phase everything is planned and there should be no surprises for us or you.

It goes without saying that we build and test your site to the very latest standards and best practices. Throughout the build we continuously upload the site to a staging server where you can review progress, test and feedback.

We build almost every site using the Umbraco content management system; this open-source CMS provides a fully-featured framework with everything you'd expect, but unlike many 'modular' CMS's, Umbraco allows us easy customisation and integration with other systems. But don't think that free open-source products are for geeks - Umbraco is incredibly easy to use, and well proven, powering some of the worlds largest websites including several for Microsoft.

And we know Umbraco well; many of our team are certified developers, and we're an Umbraco Certified Partner, demonstrating our belief and commitment to the platform.

marketing

5

Marketing

Launching your site to the public is by no means the end of the process. In the ongoing marketing phase we work with you to market your site or services in order to bring in new visitors and potential customers, and engage existing or past customers.

We will help the search engines find your site, ensure that paid online advertising schemes are performing to the best of their abilities, and constantly monitor your site analytics to highlight improvements and identify areas that may require additional targeting.

Although this phase has no specific outputs other than comprehensive and frequent reports, it is where we measure the performance of the site against the metrics and objectives agreed during the discovery phase.