We have been working with the charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) over the past few years. CRY raise awareness and provide screening for young people across the UK and Northern Ireland. They have numerous sports people who are patrons of the charity including Manchester United and Northern Ireland star Jonny Evans.

We are delighted to have been working on the branding for the 2011 Football Special Foyle Cup with McDaids & Sons. As well as the brand we produced merchandise and advertising mechanisms for the event held in the Derry and Foyle area from the 19th-23rd July 2011.

About the Foyle Cup

The Foyle Cup tournament takes place in Derry City & Surrounding areas in Counties Derry, Tyrone & Donegal in July each year. The competition is open to football teams globally at age groups from Under 10 up to Under 19.

Organised by the Derry & District Youth Football Association the competition has expanded from a mere 8 teams in 1992 and 100 sides are expected to compete in the 2011 running of the tournament.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate a team from IT Sligo on their win at the Microsoft Imagine Cup World Finals. The Microsoft Imagine Cup is the world’s premier student technology competition, honoring student innovations that address global problems such as improving road and fire safety, eradicating poverty and creating a more sustainable environment.

More from www.itsligo.ie

The ninth Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011 competition winners were announced last night at the Microsoft Imagine Cup World Festival and Awards Ceremony at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York. The event was the culmination of a six-day celebration of technology, hard work and ingenuity. Narrowed from more than 350,000 global registrants, more than 400 students from 70 countries traveled to New York to compete at the Worldwide Finals. The festivities included remarks from philanthropist, activist and actress Eva Longoria, CEO of the Startup America Partnership Scott Case and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Read more…

(PRESS RELEASE)

Omagh based fashion designers Squareball received an unprecedented surge in interest when their ‘Jedi Jim’ tee shirt featured on ‘The Apprentice The Final.’

Cookstown native Jim Eastwood presented Dara O’Brien with the Jedi Jim tee shirt during his last appearance on the show, in the process showcasing Squareball’s custom designed garment to over 10 million BBC viewers. Since then Squareball has been inundated with queries by fans of the programme seeking to buy the tee shirt.

The tee shirt was designed earlier in the series following ‘Jedi Jim’s remarkable escape from the Boardroom. And, since Sunday night Facebook and Twitter have been buzzing with queries about the exclusive design.

Last night as Dara O’Brien presented Jim with a toy Light Sabre, Jim countered with a present of his own, catapulting Squareball into the national limelight.

Said designer Fehin Quinn: “We know Jim from his work as a printing rep. He’s a good guy and when Dara O’Brien christened him Jedi Jim we designed up the tee shirt from the craic. Jim loved it and he asked us to get him one last week when he was preparing for the final.

“I couldn’t believe it when he whipped it out on screen. Since then, well we have been inundated with enquiries and people wanting to buy it.”

Fehin added: “It’s a nice bit of coverage for Squareball and we think Lord Sugar would be pleased with our ability to get one the ball and get this to market so quickly. Jim is behind the idea so together hopefully his fans will snap up a few.”

ENDS

Basic Health Checks

The first thing you need to do is to check if your site is listed on Google and if its listed correctly. I’m going to use Lairdesigns website as our example site. So what I need to do is search google for the sites domain name or URL, which in this case is lairdesign.com:

http://www.google.com/search?&q=lairdesign.com

The site is listed and returns as the first result on Google, see the screen shot below. This result means that Google has visited the site and its listed in its index. If your site is not listed see the section “What do I do if my site is not listed?” below.

It’s important to pay close attention to how Google has listed your site. The key elements in the listing are the website title and the website description which are highlighted in the image above. People will read this information and may decide whether or not to visit your site based on its contents. A well written accurate title and description can help drive traffic to you website.

Website Title

A good website title should contain keywords related to the products or services your company offers. The lairdesign title contains the main keywords related to the services offered by lairdesign:

Lairdesign | Corporate Identity, Graphic Design, Web Design and Web Development. Omagh, Co Tyrone, N Ireland

Website Description:

The description should provide more general information about your company, where they you are based and what you do.

Lairdesign is a design studio based in Omagh, Northern Ireland who provide Brand Consultancy, Corporate Design and Literature, Web Design and SEO

In the next article in this series we will show you how to select keywords for your site and how to build a search engine friendly website title. We will also show you how to track your websites performance using free tools provided by Google.

What do I do if my site is not listed?

If you find that your site is not listed this may indicate a problem and is something you will need to fix as soon as possible.

If your site is new it may be that Google simply hasn’t found it yet. You can manually submit your site to Google and ask them to visit your site the next time they crawl the web. Simply click on the link below and follow the instructions:

http://www.google.com/addurl

If that isn’t the problem you will need to look deeper into your site to check for issues. Lucky Google offers a set of tools for website owners to help diagnose problems, called Google web master tools. If you don’t already have one you will need a free Google account to access the service, see the following URL:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

You will need to add your site to the service and verify that you own the site. Verifying your site can be a little technical and you need to have access to the files on your website. If you don’t have the technical know how, contact the person who looks after your site and they should be able to help you.

The main things to check are:

• Crawler access – “Site configuration – Crawler access”
• Malware – “Diagnostics – Malware”
• Fetch as Googlebot – “Labs – Fetch as Googlebot”

Should you find any problems the interface is well documented and should help you fix any problems.

By Senior Developer, Michael McCrea

Fehin Quinn of Lairdesign explains: “The famous Ulster cycle of folks tales recounts the tales of Cuchullain and the Red Branch; stories of epic battles between larger-than-life figures in signature landmark locations throughout Ulster.

“We tried to capture that landscape and that sense of these legendary figures doing battle throughout Ulster in epic head-to-head contests.”

He added: “These were the starting points for the Land of the Giants campaign. Over the decades, the Ulster Championship has seared into our collective minds those matches, heroic achievements, and days of individual brilliance. Days when we are there and we could tell others we were there.”

The Inspiration

With the ancient tales of Ulster the inspiration, the link with the Championship was easily slotted into place.

In hurling, the modern day Cuchullain’s carry the flame. In football the giants of the game bestride the Championships like the colossus from the tales of Finn McCool.
Fehin says: “The Tyrone writer John Montague compared the Ulster landscape to a manuscript that we have lost the ability to read. Such is the richness of the sense of place. The GAA in Ulster is no different. Every club, every county and every pitch has its unique history. We’ve tried to capture that.”

He points to the collective Ulster memory that recalls Art O’Hagan snatching a goal at Casement from Cavan in Casement in 1953; Down with their tracksuits and their interchangeable forwards coming out of Ulster to claim three All-Ireland titles.

The seventies saw the Armagh of Kernan, Moriarty and Smyth emerge to contest an All Ireland Final. Frank McGuigan in Clones in 1984; Down and Derry in the Marshes in 1993 and again at Celtic Park in ’94.

The landscape of the province provides an endless manuscript of great players and great achievements. Frank McGuigan in the lee of Ardboe Cross, the likes
of Kieran McGeeney born and raised in Slieve Gullion and Brian McGilligan from Dungiven sur, nestling among the Sperrin foothills. Sambo and the hurlers of Antrim living cheek by jowl among the beautiful Glens or their Down rivals clustered in the Ards. Martin McHugh by the Atlantic Shore, or the Cavan legend John Joe O’Reilly the Pride of Cornfean.

“More than any other province we celebrate the uniqueness of the Ulster Championship. It’s cut-throat lack of sentimentality with shocks every year.”

And we all know what that means – the sudden clinical despatch of the Ulster dream in a flurry of scores plunging one tribe into despair for another fruitless year. To the victors, the joy of fighting another day.

The ‘Land of the Giants’ pays homage to all these achievements, and those of the modern day giants of the game. They have become legends in their own right with their own epic tales. Bear witness. If you’re from Ulster, you know what it means.

We want our clients to love their meetings at Lairdesign and enjoy the great cups of tea in comfort.

Our sister company Squareball has even got a new home during the move, our studio extends into a Showroom where members of the public can check out the full range of Squareball products as well as getting a sneak peak at some new prototypes.

Have a look around:

You can see some shots of our studio on our Flickr Page.

CSS Grid based layouts

www.thegridsystem.org

We’ve launched a Squareball Facebook page to keep you updated with what’s going on in the world of the GAA with News, Videos and links as well as special offers. If your out and about in your Squareball Gear take a photo and upload it to the Facebook page and there could be something in it for you.

We’ll be posting videos and news which include the current topics in the GAA so get discussing!

Join us on Facebook now!

The Spring/Summer 2010 range of our sister company Squareball is now available online at www.squareball.com.

The range includes more colours in the popular Yoda T-Shirt, a new Stormtrooper Version of the t-shirt, All-Star Dead Ball and the Playmaker Hoodie to name a few.

Visit the Squareball shop now!

iPady

Superirish

Working with the Tyrone County GAA Board, Lairdesign have re-designed the Tyrone 2010 Allianz NFL Match Day Programme the “Red Hand View”.

This year there will be four issues of the programme with Tyrone facing Mayo, Cork, Kerry and Dublin at Healy Park, Omagh.

Previous issues of the Red Hand View have won a McNamee Design award.

Featuring a range of t-shirts and hoodies produced and finished to the highest standard complete with Squareball’s familiar sense of humour, the collection is sure to brighten up your Christmas stocking.

And, to brighten things up for the forthcoming festive season, the site has been given a makeover. Look out for our Squareball flyers in the Irish News, the Evening Herald and the Examiner.

Full details of what’s available for Christmas on: www.squareball.com

Our creative director, Fehin completed the New York marathon today on just under five hours. Despite a dodgy knee he completed the race for the second time. Well done from all in the studio.

Already we are working with the officials in Munster to build a website that does justice to the fine GAA tradition of the province. After all it was in Munster, in Thurles in Co Tipperary, that the GAA was created 125 years ago.

We’ll keep you updated on progress as we go along. Like our other web projects we’ll be getting the site up and taking on board soundings on what users like and don’t like. Hopefully more of the former than the latter.

The “Land of the Giants” website was officially launched earlier in May as part of Ulster GAA’s “Land of the Giants” marketing campaign and is receiving a massive number of hits every day.

The website contains all the Ulster GAA fan needs to know when it comes to the Ulster Football and Hurling Championships including video interviews, picture gallery’s, downloads, ticketing information, statistical records and much more. There is even the opportunity to purchase highly sought after match tickets online.

All the material on the “Land of the Giants” micro-site is exclusive and the website will undoubtedly find its way into the “favourite’s folder” of many GAA fans across Ulster.

Throughout recent weeks, Ulster GAA has been promoting the “Land of the Giants’ campaign via fixtures posters, flyers, newspaper advertising, Championship programmes and now through a dedicated website.

In the first week, almost 3,000 people visited the site, with the video interviews and the programme features proving most popular among the users.

As part of the production, Ulster GAA has also gone to great length to cumulate the records of the Ulster Football and Hurling Championships from down the years, from Final results to Top Scorers, and these can be viewed on the website.

The site is updated on a daily basis, and by tomorrow morning you will be able to view today’s match reports and pictures as well as exclusive video interviews with the players and managers which you’ll not see anywhere else.

This latest initiative by Ulster GAA will undoubtedly be popular among GAA fans across every county in Ulster. It’s not to be missed so log on now atwww.ulster.gaa.ie/landofthegiants

For this assignment, we built on the work we did on the new BA Kitchen and bedroom brochures to produce a website that we’re really proud of and one that our client really likes. More importantly for them, already it is delivering web traffic and all-important customers.

The inspiration behind these projects was the simple but brilliant concept offered by BA that their products would be offered in any colour and any style. We helped reinforce this business idea across their marketing communication by delivering the strapline: “Pick a Colour any Colour, Choose a Style, Any Style”. Translating BA’s iconic product brochures into a user-friendly website presented LD’s web ninja Michael with a few technical headaches and a few sleepless nights. Sleepless due to work, not worry!

The art catalogue look and feel of the printed brochures is retained, as are the highly original product descriptions. These were inspired by the names of the individual products. Check them out and see if you can pick up some of the references to film, poetry and literature! Hope you enjoy browsing as much as we did creating.

We’ll probably take a walk down Main Street later just to celebrate so feel free to join us!