Earlier this year, you may remember us talking about an exciting European project that was close to fruition. The product – Page Designer – is now being used across Europe, and is getting some excellent responses from its target users.
We have received early feedback from Romania, where local managers were ‘totally amazed’ at the reaction of their learners. They described their pilot phase as an ‘outstanding success’, and told us that the participants have been ‘inspired to continue and further develop their skills’.
Our work on Cbeebies’ Mr Bloom’s Nursery has been nominated in the North West RTS Awards in the Innovation in Multiplatform category. The show itself was also nominated for Best Children’s Programme.
We created five immersive games to accompany the Mr Bloom’s Nursery TV series. One of the best things about the project for us was that we were able to work really closely with the show’s TV production team. We visited Mr Bloom’s actual nursery and met his vegetable pals in person, which really helped us bring the show to life for children.
Visit the Garden, meet familiar CBeebies friends and change the weather!
We’re excited to announce that My CBeebies Garden is now live on the CBeebies website.
The Garden is based on an initial pitch that we made to the BBC as part of their @North initiative just over a year ago. The idea was to create an area on the CBeebies site where the BBC could promote a selection of their TV brands to 3–6-year-olds. In the Garden, children can find characters from CBeebies shows and interact with them to discover links that launch existing content on the site.
In October 2010, The Workshop was commissioned by BBC Bitesize to create a suite of 25 online learning games that feature three CBBC brands. This month, we’re pleased to say that the last of the games went live and look fantastic.
Covering content from the KS2 Science curriculum, the games reflects real adventures from three CBBC shows: Deadly 60, The Sarah Jane Adventures and MI High. We needed to blend learning from the fields of biology, chemistry and physics with narrative concepts which were true to the story and brand values of each CBBC show.
In April we told you about some of the work we’ve been doing recently for Create, an award-winning social enterprise that gets people on the margins of society trained and back into work.
Since then we’ve been busy on a range of further projects, not least the second of two new Create websites. The first site showcases their food offer and is designed to attract customers and generate business. The second site went live last week and focuses on the social side of Create, providing a full rundown of what they do, who they help and how they run their Academy.
At the same time, we also produced a promotional video as part of a presentation by Create’s Chairman, Norman Pickavance, and Deputy Chairman, Gary Stott, at the recent IGD conference. The idea was to show how Create helps people make real changes to the way they live and gives them not just confidence and skills, but a career too.
Nick Munro has become synonymous with original, modern British design. His beautiful new range of watches is called 12:19 and is inspired by the accuracy and elegance of the Japanese station clock. Nick asked us to design the packaging for each precision-made piece.
Drawing on Nick’s influences, we used sleek black and white photography, overlaid with a 24-hour-clock texture. Marking a subtle departure from Nick Munro’s characteristic monochrome, we also introduced a splash of bright colour to the outside of the packaging. The name 12:19 (the time on the clock when the idea for his watches struck) and the securing tag are in the same colour as the watch face. Inside the box, we’ve included a high-quality insert to reveal the inspiration behind the collection.
12:19 will be available soon at retailers including John Lewis. We’re also working with Nick on another exciting new project, so keep an eye out for that too.
Over the last few months, we’ve been working on a range of projects for Create, an award-winning social enterprise based in Leeds.
First and foremost, Create are a fantastic catering company. They cater for events of all shapes and sizes and are expanding to Doncaster, Sunderland and Liverpool in the coming weeks. They also have plans to open a chain of bistro-style restaurants, starting in Leeds.
So yes, Create are more than handy in the kitchen. However, there’s a little more to them than that. Behind the scenes you’ll find a thriving academy where vulnerable and marginalised people are learning new skills and finding employment. Create provides training and experience that leads to real, paid work for people who want ‘a hand up, not a hand out’.
Our games feature Mr Bloom himself (and his puppet vegetables!)
We’re pleased as punch to say that our interactive content for the first in-house CBeebies production to come out of BBC North – Mr Bloom’s Nursery – launches this week.
Mr Bloom’s Nursery is a new BBC TV series and interactive website for 3–4-year-olds. Filmed on location in Manchester, it follows the magical adventures of Mr Bloom and a group of vegetable friends, including Margaret the shy cabbage, Colin the excitable runner bean, and cheeky radishes the Wee McGregors. The show invites young viewers to join three children (the tiddlers) in tending Mr Bloom’s allotment.
The site showcases the work that school councils are doing across the country. After a pilot scheme last year, PES wanted a website that could handle secure applications and feature some of the councils’ smashing projects.
