Web addresses, email and hosting are all sorted for you too. We even add your logo, text and pictures for you, so it’s ready to go. Then when you want to change the content you can simply login to your own administration area and update the site. The Content Management System (CMS) has an easy-to-use interface which makes updating very simple. All of this for only £695.

There are no compromises in quality either. The site is built with accessibility in mind and optimised for search engines.

Take a look at an example in the portfolio.

Or visit www.adysmith.co.uk

The New Agila is smart and sexy – the ideal urban runaround. It’s small enough to fit into the tightest of spaces yet spacious enough to seat five people and their luggage. It is aimed at a slightly different, mainly female, market and with this in mind we came up with the concept of a fashion conscious woman’s magazine for the basis of the press kit.

The size, styling and spoof ads inside all contributed to the look and feel we were after. The whole thing, including the CD which was cleverly held on the inside cover, was then sealed in a glossy film sleeve to finish it off.

The launch team were very pleased with the finished result and everyone at Maschine is looking forward to coming up with more creative solutions for Vauxhall and General Motors.

The film contains interviews and opinion from many of the calligraphers, typographers and designers who have been involved with the creation of, use of and rebellion against Helvetica.

My review

Thoroughly enjoyed the film and all the extra interview material. It was a rare opportunity to hear what generations of typographers and designers think of Helvetica and how they see its role. Eric Spiekermann, Matthew Carter and of course the legendary Hermann Zapf were truly inspiring.

I love Helvetica. It is such a versatile font family but I can see the need to express personality through typography and therefore, the necessity to choose appropriate fonts and encourage new type design. The big questions are will there be another Helvetica and will there be a sequel to this movie?

Trevor’s review

As a web developer I do not interact with different fonts on a daily basis, however, I do appreciate good typography. This film was a good introduction in to the most important typeface in todays society. The film follows the timeline of the font, from it’s inception 50 years ago, through a rebellion period and emerging as the ‘defecto’ font in everyday society (whether you realise it or not!).

I felt some parts of the film put too much emphasis on the importance of the font in relation to globalisation, commercialism and politics – even relating the font to the Vietnam war and the current invasion of Iraq. However, the segments by Erik Spiekermann, Experimental Jetset and Michael C. Place were interesting and educational without being pretentious.

The film is well shot and the cinematography of the stills which artfully reveal the use of the font all around us are beautiful.

More information about the film is available at helveticafilm.com

If you are not sure, an e-shot is the electronic equivalent of direct mail (or a Christmas card), sent and received as an email. So when you receive an email containing pictures and graphics which may even look like a website, that’s an e-shot. Recipients of an e-shot are usually your current customers or anyone who has requested regular updates. An e-shot can take many forms, perhaps a simple news bulletin, seasonal greetings, a marketing message or a more detailed e-zine type e-newsletter. The advantages of using this medium to contact your customers are the speed a campaign can be created, the cost effectiveness and the ability to monitor the success of your campaign.

We have developed a low cost offer to allow everyone to send a Christmas e-shot for only £197. Simply choose from one of the three e-shot designs, supply us with your text, logo and list of up to 500 recipients and we’ll do the rest. Once the campaign has been sent you will be given access to your own online area to check and monitor your campaign statistics. If you would like to increase the number of recipients we can do that for you too for marginal cost. We can also customise the standard e-shots designs a little or even create your very own totally custom design from £595.

So – you could replace your current Christmas card routine with our Christmas e-shot and save money on design, printing, packing and postage. As well as reducing your carbon footprint. Or send out a Christmas e-shot as and addition to tell your customers about Christmas opening and closing times, other seasonal variations in service or even special offers. Then for just an extra £45 we could resend the same campaign for you to make sure everyone has seen and noted the content.

The whole thing could be turned around within 24 hours for you, so none of those last minute panics.

You can email or call 01785 249480 if you would like to find out more about Christmas e-shot design or anything else to do with e-marketing.

For most colleges there are two major publications each year, the part time guide and the full time guide. The part time guide is usually published during the Summer term for the intake of part time students in September of the same year. The full time guide is completed and printed over the Summer or early in the Autumn term. This guide is then sent out and made available to potential students joining the college in September the following year. This poses a few presentation problems for colleges as you have two publications initially out at similar times but overlapping with each other during previous and following years. However, if a design strategy is in place for organic development of design styles the college branding is upheld and publications happily blend from one to another. This is something we try to implement with everything we do for our college clients.

With a few colleges we have managed to build a long standing relationship and help them at every step of the way. This consistency and commitment from us to always give the very best has paid dividends, with exceptional inspection reports and positive feedback from both students and staff. This commitment and dedication is something we offer all our clients, after all, creating the perfect solution is always our goal.

Maschine has worked with a long list of colleges over the years, completing almost 700 education projects. These include corporate ID, course guides, part-time guides, full-time guides, diaries, websites, international publications, advertising, display panels, posters, photography, signage, touchscreens and a whole lot more. As you can see we have masses of experience in the education sector and can always offer the best, most efficient solution to any problem. We are finding more and more that new technology and techniques are paving the way to cost effective solutions with online developments providing the key.

If you would like to find out more about how you can benefit from our education experience just get in touch.

An e-shot is the electronic equivalent of direct mail, sent and received as an email. Recipients of an e-shot are usually your current customers or anyone who has requested regular updates or subscribed to your newsletter. An e-shot can take the form of a simple news bulletin or a marketing message about a new product or service. The advantages of using this medium to contact your customers are the speed a campaign can be created, the cost effectiveness and the ability to monitor the success of your campaign.

For just £695 we will design the e-shot using your text and images, create the ready-to-send version and then, following approval, send the e-shot to your list of up to 500 recipients. You will then get access to the campaign statistics to monitor the effectiveness of the campaign. For the power users out there we offer a complete online e-shot solution to allow you to create, manage, send and monitor your own campaigns.

You can email or call 01785 249480 if you would like to find out more about e-shots.

The site itself is crammed with useful information and details of what help is available. The section on grants is particularly interesting as you can enter a few details to see what funding is there for you to apply for. Give them a call, and see how they can help you. We’ve dealt with many people from Business Link and I can honestly say they are always very helpful and professional. Many of our clients have benefited and received grants towards websites, design work and other consultancy fees. The most recent of which is Instant Training based in Telford, who have just seen their gorgeous new site go live.

To make it easier for you, Maschine are on the approved list of Business Link Consultants called the Select Supply Register. This means, if you ask us to do the work, you can claim any grant assistance available to you. Sometimes this can be up to 50% towards the cost of a new website, for example.

Find your local Business Link branch and call them to see what’s available to you. If I can be of any help, just let me know and I will point you in the right direction.

Luckily, I have managed to get through the selection process to take part in the event this year. This will be my third half marathon. At the moment I have done two, The Stafford Half Marathon in 2006 and in 2007.

I won’t be breaking any half marathon records, but will be raising money for my preferred charities, The Donna Louise Trust and the NSPCC. As you can guess I am looking for sponsorship to help out these two very worthy causes. Any amount no matter how small will go to help unfortunate children.

The run is going to be televised so perhaps you would like me to wear something branded with your company logo for a donation. A t-shirt, cap, badge, stickers, flag or anything else you may suggest. I may even wear a stupid costume if the donation is high enough. I will have to draw the line at high heels though and save that sort of thing for my private weekend activities.

If you would like to help with a donation drop me an email or give me a call at the office on 01785 249480. Thanks, Leigh.