Studio Snapshot

Fanatic Vision Day

Our second Fanatic Vision Day took place in September, and it was an afternoon filled with reflection, questions, and visions for the future. During the first half of the session, Ian, Milly, and Will each took turns covering different aspects of our four pillars, reflecting on our achievements since the previous Vision Day. The second half of the afternoon featured various workshops focused on our culture, brand, and clients. We split into groups to discuss and brainstorm ideas around these topics. The session concluded with Ian reflecting on both the positives and areas for improvement, as well as sharing some exciting news for the future. There was also an abundance of cakes to satisfy our sweet tooth—thanks, Milly!

What's new in the Design team?

Setting the Brief for City of Bristol College

We are once again collaborating with City of Bristol College to set a design brief for their Graphic Design students aged 17-19. Having worked with the college for over two years now, we’ve built a strong relationship that allows us to engage with the next generation of designers. Earlier this month, Ian and Sam visited the college to meet with the students and hold a briefing session, where we explained the brief and what we are looking for.

This year’s brief focuses on a sector we work heavily in—restaurants and hospitality. The task is for the students to create an experience-based restaurant concept and develop a brand to support it. This is a great opportunity for the students to explore creative ideas and really push the boundaries of their skills.

We look forward to our next session with the students, where they will share their initial concepts with us and we’ll work alongside them to help them to make any improvements.

TOG Went Live

We are proud to announce that the website we designed and built for The One Group (TOG) has officially gone live! This project gave us the opportunity to create a captivating brochure-style experience that elevates the TOG brand.

The website features a variety of dynamic motion elements, making the user experience more engaging while showcasing the collection of restaurant brands that TOG operates.

This is just the beginning of the work we’ll be doing with the TOG brand, and we look forward to sharing much more over the coming months.

See what the Development team have been up to

Laracon US

Craig, our Lead Developer, took some time to attend Laracon US virtually, ‘the largest Laravel event of the year,’ and here is his take on it…

From flying drones on stage controlled using WebSockets to telling developers that they suck at design (and what to do to be better), this year’s flagship Laravel event, Laracon US, has been a real party piece. It’s been an event jam-packed with some amazing talks from some big names in the community.

Taylor Otwell, Laravel’s creator and founder, opened the first keynote by telling us about Laravel’s history and some exciting upcoming features and additions to the ecosystem. Over the last 10 years, the PHP framework has grown from around 6,000 installs per day to more than 250,000 per day. He goes on to talk about some groundbreaking new tools, like an official VS Code extension to help with the developer experience and their upcoming fully managed, one-click deployment solution called Laravel Cloud.

Another notable talk was from the creator of Alpine JS and Laravel Livewire, Caleb Porzio. His talk was all about Flux, a new UI library tailored for Livewire that enables developers to concentrate on building versatile and powerful applications whilst Flux does the heavy lifting, ensuring things look good on any device and are highly accessible.

The latest news from the Digital Marketing team

Say Hi to Lewis, Our New SEO Specialist

Our SEO team is growing! Lewis, our new SEO Specialist, joined us in early September and has been settling in really well. Here is a bit more about him…

What made you choose Fanatic, and how have you found it so far?

I was looking to move back into the office after being remote for a long time, and I noticed Fanatic was hiring for an SEO! I jumped at the opportunity as their office isn’t too far from me and I had worked with them in the past. Fanatic shared all the same energy as me and it was clear they were passionate about what they do. Just from the intro interview alone, it was clear Fanatic knew their stuff. I have found everyone very welcoming and friendly. It’s nice to be in a place where people can have a laugh in meetings and have the flexibility to do their best work. The clients I have met so far are lovely and the results we’re getting for them are impressive. I’ve been really enjoying how quickly I am getting to grips with the clients and have actually quite liked being immediately introduced to a lot of them. I think in past places, it took too long for intros to be made but the sooner it happens the sooner I can start building relationships.

What did you do before Fanatic, and what got you into digital marketing?

I have always been an SEO to be honest and was an SEO manager before this (and before that as well). I started building my own websites when I was in Uni, building affiliate websites which paid for my beers and kebabs. I enjoyed the process of researching keywords, understanding competitive landscapes, and applying psychology/cognitive principles. After Uni, I landed my first SEO job as a content marketing executive and the rest is history.

What’s one thing you’re looking forward to learning or achieving in your first few months with us?

Looking forward to actually speaking to people in person! Also, after my last positions, I missed working 1-1 with clients and running meetings, so I’m excited to actually speak to clients again and build those relationships.

Is there a particular piece of advice or philosophy that guides your professional life?

All things are difficult before they are easy.

Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of work?

Weightlifting
Badminton
Surfing
Snowboarding (for one month out of the year)
Festivals/gigs

What’s something fun or surprising about you that we wouldn’t guess?

Cheryl Cole is my second cousin lol. Still yet to be invited around for Christmas! I think we share the same great grandparents!

What is your favourite dish of all time?

Scrambled eggs on sourdough… GOAT breakfast.

We've been enjoying…

Benny Enjoyed Her Center Parcs Experience

Benny had her first Center Parcs break and enjoyed a busy few days with her friends. She did activities like quad biking, adventure golf, and the aerial adventure, but spent most of her time at the Tropical Swimming Paradise. She lost count of how many times she went on the Rapids and came back with a few small bruises. Overall, she had a great time!