Ethical Web Design

Calling all Make Hay and Green Hosting clients This September will mark our 20th business anniversary. Wow, where did that time go?! On the approach to this big milestone we're taking a moment to reflect on the incredible journey that has brought us to where we are today. We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to work with you over the years ...
read more

Every so often you're asked to create a website that is just a little different from anything you've done before. The Life Goes On project is just that. In the midst of many first World War commemorative events, local history group 'The Wednesday Group' decided to focus their research on this subject too. However, they chose not to look ...
read more

It was a real pleasure to create the new Aldgate & Allhallows Foundation website, a charity which provides educational grants to individuals and organisations for the benefit of children and young people in the City of London and Tower Hamlets. Using the existing AAF branding but with a contemporary visual style we created elegant, responsive layouts ...
read more

We were delighted to hear the news that our client Deborah Scott Anderson from Climate Gardens has been accepted by the Royal Horticultural Society to create an environmental conceptual garden at the Royal Hampton Court Flower Show this summer. Near Future Garden Designed by Arit Anderson 'Near Future Garden' conveys the effects of extreme ...
read more

The Somerset Ornithological Society has been keeping people in touch with the birdlife of their county for over 100 years so we were delighted to bring them up to date with this brand new website. After seeing our work with other conservation organisations SOS asked us to create a completely new responsive website design using their existing branding and ...
read more

Whale and dolphin conservation charity and our long-term client ORCA recently asked us to create an online voting system for their 2015 photography competition. Having previoulsy used Survey Monkey ORCA wanted an integrated facility that would allow their visitors to view the competition entries, make a vote and see the results all in one place. Amy at ...
read more

Here is an additional piece of work that our client Life Mosaic commissioned us to create as a specially branded and structured section of their main website. This new 'Territories of Life' feature is an online video toolkit for indiginous peoples about land and rights. New videos were released over several weeks, each on a different subject ...
read more

Here is a new customised piece of work we have launched for Nottinghamshire Widlife Trust as part of the national Wildlife Trusts, Royal Horticulatural Society and Hedgehog Street's joint campaign to highlight the decline of UK hedgehogs. The campaign which takes place during Wild About Gardens week aims to raise awareness on how to help NWT protect our ...
read more

Creating a website from scratch for a brand new client is exciting and fulfilling and here on our blog we write about this a lot. However, as we were developing a new feature for a long-term client's website it occurred to me how silly it is that we don't shout just as much about the work that comes after launch day, those additional items to ...
read more

Like we always say, we love to support and sponsor organisations that make us smile and The Abdication micropub certainly does that. Not least due to their lovely real ales (of which we are big fans) but because of how the pub has enhanced our little town. In just one year since the owners Matt and Lucy opened its doors the pub has given us all an ...
read more

Last week I met with a lovely lady who teaches creative digital media at a college in Leicestershire. She felt it would be useful for her students to learn about the social and environmental impacts of our industry and was particularly curious to find out more about web design as a green and ethical business. It was really interesting for me to re-visit ...
read more

If your website isn't responsive then you may already be feeling the effects of Google's mobile friendly update. Essentially this update to Google's ranking algorithm boosts mobile friendly pages above non mobile-friendly pages in Google's mobile search results. Google's reasoning behind this update is to ensure that mobile users have a ...
read more

Our long term clients Support for Carers have returned to us for a website design ugrade and additional features and we are happy to show you the newly launched and improved site. The original SFC website was launched in 2011 and the staff team have been managing it well ever since. As the organisation has developed, the website has changed to reflect ...
read more

With Anti-Bullying week coming up, what could be more appropriate than this brand new website that we were comissioned to design and develop for the National Children's Bureau, Anti-Bullying Alliance? This large content management system website was re-built with a refreshed brand and a new, responsive layout for mobile, tablet and desktop screens. ...
read more

Take a look at this funky new one-page scroller website built for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's new campaign, Champions of Sherwood. We were delighted to be commissioned by the Trust again to help them raise awareness and funds online for protection of this ancient forest long into the future. Champions of Sherwood is mobile friendly and powered ...
read more

We are delighted to have launched a new website for a great company, Blue Lizard Adventures, who provide travel and volunteering opportunities in some really amazing places. BL:A commissioned us to develop a whole new look and feel for their online presence as well as implement a content management system, SEO, social media and training on how to prepare ...
read more

We've designed, built and host this lovely one page mobile-ready campaign website for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Find out more about it in our portfolio. ...
read more

Last spring we created a fresh new website for the whale and dolphin conservation charity ORCA. The site has been exactly what they needed to highlight their work and get people involved and we've been really pleased to see it grow with new and exciting content. Now, the latest addition to the website is the ORCA shop, which they commissioned us to ...
read more

We recently launched this gem of a site for Climate Gardens, the organisation raising awareness and understanding of the effects of climate change on our gardens, parks and green spaces. Our commission involved initial consultation and site planning, copywriting support and creation of of a visual brand in-line with the existing logo. As well as design ...
read more

We are very excited to announce the launch of this latest project, LifeMosaic, a mammoth multilingual site for an amazing organisation. LifeMosaic works with indiginous peoples all over the world, supporting them to make informed choices and getting their voices heard. They produce and distribute educational resources which are available at the ...
read more

UPDATE MAY 2015:  The Peregrine Cam website project has now come to an end but you can still keep up to date with news of the Nottingham Peregrines at nottinghamshirewildlife.org We are very happy to launch this unique 'super page' for a fantastic project, the Nottingham Peregrine Camera. Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and Nottingham Trent ...
read more

Here is our just launched, brand new website for ORCA, the national charity that looks out for whales and dolphins. ORCA approached us to design and build a responsive, content management system website which would match their corporate branding and meet their organisation objectives. The website demonstrates the wide scope of work covered by ...
read more

Here is our just launched website and logo design for our new clients, Whave. Whave works with communities and governments worldwide to address poverty and conservation issues. This is their first professional logo and web presence. The logo brief was to represent Whave's global reach and their expert, caring approach. We developed a funky, one ...
read more

Here is our latest project development. This is the Army Ornithological Society website. AOS came to us from a recommendation of one of our other lovely clients. They were looking for a professional new website that would represent their work, encourage new membership and allow them to update their content easily. And that's what we did. We ...
read more

We are delighted to present to you one our latest clients, the Army Ornithological Society. We have recently launched their brand new website and it really has been a pleasure working with them. Below, Roger Dickey, the Society's Chairman tells us more about AOS' excellent work, enthusiasm for birding and their ethos..... Please introduce yourself ...
read more

Here is our latest website, Wildlife in the City, designed and developed for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust asked us to create a fun, interactive web presence to get people involved in Nottingham City's green spaces and nature reserves. At the website visitors can find out about the latest news and events right on ...
read more

Here is our latest website, designed and developed for Cycling for All. Cycling for All belongs to the London based charity, Wheels for Wellbeing, who support disabled people to cycle. Wheels for Wellbeing commissioned Make Hay to create the project's visual identity, logo and website design and develop the website to meet their aim of ...
read more

Switched-on businesses and organisations like our clients are well aware of their social responsibilities and that they have an important role to play in reducing their impact on the environment. Many other businesses are also reviewing their energy consumption, the waste they produce, the activities they support and the suppliers they choose. Consider ...
read more

Here is our newly launched website for Leicestershire Support for Carers. LSFC supports full-time and part-time carers across Leicestershire via independent online information and a telephone helpline. This brand new website is a full content management system, allowing LSFC staff to manage and publish content to the various dynamic website ...
read more

We were in the news yesterday with a story about our work with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Here's what it said: Visitor numbers to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's website have nearly tripled since a new online presence was unveiled. The number of people signing up online for membership has also increased as a result of the new-look website, ...
read more

Here's our newly launched website for The Uganda Carbon Bureau. UCB provides a range of services around carbon management and offsetting. They help organisations measure their carbon footprint and take steps to reduce its size. They also provide advice and support to projects planning to develop and sell carbon credits and carry out a range of ...
read more

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust have started an exciting new project to help people in Nottingham discover and explore wildlife in the city's green spaces. We've launched the new holding page for Wildlife in the City which will be in place until the full website is ready. Visit www.wildlifeinthecity.org to sign up to the newsletter, follow ...
read more

Here is our latest website, Foxglove Covert Local Nature Reserve. Situated in North Yorkshire, this beautiful 94 acre reserve is home to more than 2000 species. With a range of habitats from woodland and wetland to heathland and meadows it really is a special place to discover and enjoy wildlife. Foxglove Covert commissioned Make Hay to develop their ...
read more

The Iris Project is a new service in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire which provides information and advice to parents of children and young people with disabilities. The remit of the Iris website was to deliver the vast amount of useful information on many issues such as health and social care but to also involve service users online and allow them to ...
read more

We had a lovely message from our client Katie at Ethical Weddings this morning to let us know that the ethicalweddings.com website has been listed in greenmarketing.tv’s top ‘30 Beautiful Green Websites‘. In fact it comes in their top 10 and they describe it as “soft, informative and stylish” Check it out for yourself at ...
read more

Leeds Parent Partnership Service provide education information and advice to parents and carers of children with individual educational needs. We originally began working with PPS Leeds in 2007 and created their very first content management website. Since then the team have been using the site to provide useful information to service users, such as ...
read more

“Once again, thank you, it has been a genuine pleasure to work with you.” This is what the lovely folks at Climate East Midlands said about working with us on their brand new website. Climate East Midlands is one of nine partnerships throughout the UK working to coordinate action on the causes and consequences of climate change. As a relatively ...
read more

Here is one of our latest websites to launch in 2010, Wakefield Riding for the Disabled. Wakefield RDA provide horse riding and carriage driving sessions to children and adults with disabilities. We were asked to re-vamp their old, out of date site with new visuals and clear navigation. This website is simple yet effectively communicates the work of WRDA. ...
read more

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Parent Partnership Service supports parents and carers of children with special educational needs and disabilities. The previous PPS Notts site was out of date and using old technology. They needed a new site which they could update frequently to ensure they could share news of their activities and events, volunteering ...
read more

The Social Enterprise Support Centre provides support and consultancy to the social enterprise sector and are one of our longest-standing clients. We’ve worked alongside them as they’ve grown and developed over the years, providing web design, newsletter services, green hosting, support and training. Now SESC have moved forward into another new ...
read more

We are very happy to launch today the brand new Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust website. Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust is part of the national Wildlife Trusts network and the leading conservation charity in the area. For a long time they had been using FrontPage to update their old website, which had grown organically and become cumbersome and difficult to ...
read more

My Global Garden is one of our recently re-vamped and re-published sites, providing resources and information on gardening in a changing climate. We originally built the My Global Garden blog back in 2007 and as founder Debbie Anderson has built up the Global Gardening movement her online requirements have developed too. The new blog includes an extensive ...
read more

One of our lovely Make Hay web design and Green Hosting clients Unscene Production Company have lots of exciting things going on for them at the moment. Not only have we just re-vamped their website, they have also just released the trailer for their very first movie! Unscene is a growing company, building up its reputation in Scotland for supporting ...
read more

We’re very happy to present two of our newly launched web design projects this month, Attenborough Nature Centre and National Parent Partnership Network. Attenborough Nature Centre Attenborough Nature Centre is a visitor and education facility situated within the beautiful Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottinghamshire. The centre was opened in 2005 ...
read more

We’re very happy to announce the launch of one of our latest web design client projects, Greenmetrics. Greenmetrics works with businesses to incorporate environmental, social and economic performance into their business communications. Their services include environmental performance measurement, research and benchmarking, community engagement and ...
read more

As you may already know Jez and I here at Make Hay manage and coordinate the Green Girls Global and Green Guys Global blogs. On Monday we will be very happy to re-launch fresh, new and even better versions of them both. The GGG blogs are all about editors from different parts of the world sharing their experiences, ideas and views on living a more ...
read more

One of the first questions many potential clients ask is “how to I get to number 1 in Google?”. Well, this is a massive question. SEO is a detailed and complex subject in itself relating to technical aspects of web development, semantics and copywriting, not to mention keeping up with the changing ways that search engines track and index sites ...
read more

This month we have been extremely happy to to be involved in the Canvass Your MP campaign. This campaign was masterminded by a group of green bloggers who decided that something needs to be done about climate change and fast. In lightening speed the bloggers met, created the campaign concept and gave it a name. Then what they needed was a web team to design ...
read more

Recently we were in the fortunate position to see the true power of standards compliant design in action. This story shows in real life how a standards compliant site can make all the difference to visitor traffic and search engine rankings. Find out what happened when two websites went head to head in our full ‘Standards design works!‘ ...
read more

Knowing the activity of your website visitors can go a long way to learning how to increase their numbers. If you don’t know how they found your site or what they do when they get there how can you maximise on the things that work well and improve the parts that are lacking? What about those who aren’t yet your visitors? Have you ever ...
read more

Unfortunately the rules around copyright and websites are not clear cut and if you want to know the finer details then we’d suggest you seek the advice of a legal professional. However there are some useful resources out there where you can find out the basics. Whether you manage your own website or we do this for you you should still be aware of the ...
read more