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James established Bluefruit Design (now Groundnation) in 1994, and the company began design work on brochures, catalogues and in the embryonic e-commerce sector.
Early on, an opportunity arose to work with one of Britain’s leading specialist catalogue designers, as senior designer. During this time, James designed and produced several award-winning catalogues in many market sectors, from fashion to hardware. He also designed acclaimed direct marketing and CRM communications over several years for a re-emerging Marks & Spencer.
At the same time, he kept closely involved with ever-developing web technologies, building several successful web sites both e-commerce and standard business sites. Thus, with over 15 years of experience in both web and print design, James has the rare ability of being able to successfully blend the proven traditional print techniques with e-commerce giving him an exceptional, multi-media skills set.
More recently, building on his wide-ranging experience and expertise, James refocused on Bluefruit Design. To reflect this wider and integrated offering, in June 2009 Bluefruit Design was rebranded and renamed Groundnation Limited.
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Josh is a focused and driven professional with varied experience in web design, development and consultancy. He studied Computer Science at Cardiff University before moving to a role at a leading web agency. Josh now drives Groundnation's technical capacity.
His expertise lies in his ability to understand and improve upon briefs and in creating the perfect foundation for the technical team to deliver great results. Previously a programmer, Josh has technical expertise in web-based programming languages, and has significant interest in web usability and accessibility. Making good websites is a passion and so a lot of energy goes into doing so.
Josh has created web applications for: Debenhams, Greggs, the NHS, Devon County Council, Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, OLM Group, Gieves & Hawkes and many more…
With over 20 year’s experience in direct marketing consultancy, James has worked for an impressive range of multinational, blue chip clients at the highest level – as well as for small start-up companies.
He has a near-unique breadth and depth of hands-on experience ranging over every business sector, from fashion to fmcg, and from charities to financial services – in both consumer and business-to-business. He is particularly adept at writing copy taking account of brand positioning and tone of voice. Direct clients have included: American Express, Reed Business Publishing, Jewson, Marks & Spencer, New Statesman, Lloyds Bank Insurance Services, Dun & Bradstreet and many more. Agencies James has consulted and copywritten for include: WWAV, cchm, Concep Evolution and TWCAT.
Over the past eight years, an ever-increasing proportion of his work has been on website content and structure, utilising his direct marketing expertise relating to information hierarchy and clarity of communication. He wrote the original brand and creative guidelines for the Nectar card. Websites he has written copy for include: Royal Sun Alliance Investment Trusts; Allianz Marine & Aviation; Auto Trader; Legal & General; Elegance Fashion and Bon’a parte Fashion, as well as charities, including Action Medical Research.
His creative awareness, his ability to craft compelling and effective copywriting in a variety of styles, and his strategic marketing and account direction skills – makes for a valuable creative partner. His experience includes co-founding and then heading up a top 25 direct marketing agency for 10 years. He has worked with James Richardson for nine years. He is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing.
Shams joined Groundnation in March 2010. He brings on-board 15 years professional development experience with leading edge knowledge of ecommerce. Shams is an expert in hosting environments, PHP, Magento, WordPress and the Zend Framework.
A graduate in graphic design and a like-minded creative, Matt has become a valuable member of the team. After fine-tuning his skills as a web designer within various specialist agencies including Old Hat, Matt went freelance to give himself time to develop his other passion in life – cooking.
Matt brings a heritage of graphic design to the web that gives him the rare talent of producing well thought out web pages that have a strong visual impact, yet are easy to use. Matt is a true design renegade, working hard to break the barriers of web design – whilst fully understanding crucial usability issues.