A new year means new people, and we’re pleased to welcome a new Developer to the team. Jamie joins us with a strong background of development experience and is already settling in well (the annual Christmas party was a great initiation!) Read on to get to know Jamie, too:
Welcome to the team, Jamie! Tell us a bit about your career history.
My very first job was a role as an email developer. I learnt how to create responsive emails that were in line with the recommendations that are set out, and also learnt about the backend of sending emails. If you are having issues with emails rendering, I’m your guy!
Have you always wanted to be a developer?
I was interested in doing something with code from a young age. I first learnt computer programming at Worcester College of Technology using Visual Basic .NET, which is now a dated language. This pushed me to learn more, but my creative side wasn’t fulfilled. I found that web development was able to that for me and I continued to learn more and grow my skills as a developer.
Tell us about your career highlight to date
On more of a personal level, I’m proud to have had a hand in creating the Simon on the Streets website. We were able to contribute to a charity that helps change lives and that was a fulfilling experience!
If you could create a website for any brand, which would you pick and why?
Superdry would be an interesting brand that I would love to work with, as I imagine there would be a great scope for creativity. I can see a re-design including a lot of parallax elements and large typography!
What place has changed or influenced you or why?
I would say that my favourite place has got to be the Bullring and Grand Central in Birmingham.
While I was born in Bradford, I was raised in Birmingham and this opened when I was in my teenage years and was massively important to us. Going for the first time, seeing the size and the design of the place just blew me away. I’d never been anywhere like it before and it was a real eye-opener at that age. As a teenager, our friend group used to go here most weekends so we spent quite a bit of time there.
Why are places important to you?
Places are important for me for a couple of reasons. They can rejuvenate an area that has fallen on hard times – for example, Broadway in Bradford has made an area of town that was once empty into a thriving shopping centre. Another reason is that it creates an area where people can re-connect or create new relationships which, in a world dominated by smart phones and tablets, is always a great thing to see.
Why is web development important in place making, marketing and branding?
In the sites we build, we pride ourselves on creating a rich, interactive experience that will wow the users. The reason I believe they’re important is because they are able to become a central hub of information for the area, displaying the must see areas and some hidden gems that will allow customers to visit new areas and new shops that they may never have gone in before. By creating a brand that stands out, especially with the marketing, it is important that we showcase that shopping experience on the websites and web applications we create.
What does ‘place marketing’ mean to you?
Before starting at DS.Emotion, my knowledge of place marketing was not that great. Now that I’ve spent a couple of months here, I’ve come to appreciate the effort that goes into place marketing, both from ourselves and clients as everyone involved has a passion to see the areas succeed. Being able to create marketing assets for these areas gives me a sense of pride because I know that I’m creating something that will help boost local economy, which in turns helps the families there.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Having two little girls doesn’t leave too much spare time but I love learning new coding languages, discovering new genres of music and indulging in an occasional hour on the Xbox.
How will digital affect place making, marketing and branding in the next 5 years?
The web is still evolving at such a rapid rate. In five years time I believe that we will be able to create vast, interactive experiences for the users that we have not been able to before. With web browsers being more approachable in terms to compatibility with new formats such as JPEGXR and WebP, we are able to reduce the size of the imagery we use by 90% which will allow us to deliver a much quicker website to the user. I can see a boost in interactivity such as virtual tours that will allow the user to explore the area without leaving their sofa!
What attracted you to work for DS.Emotion?
The quality of the work that I see DS.Emotion creating, the style and the way the websites are built, really pulled me into wanting to jump on board and contribute to what I believe is one of the best agencies in the area.
In a year’s time, what do you hope to achieve at DS.Emotion?
I hope that by this time next year, I will have a few web projects under my belt. Then, as an established member of the development team I want to help collectively push the team forward to be the most productive and efficient team we can be.
Want to work with Jamie and the rest of our dream team?
Get in touch to chat about your project, or follow us on Instagram to see examples of our work.