Design & build remarkable, user-friendly websites
We help organisations improve conversions, save resources and increase sales by using emerging technologies and UX to create smart, user-friendly websites.
Some of our work includes:
Eureka! The National Children’s Museum - we worked with Eureka! to redesign their website, reduce queue times and convert mobile users.
Plymouth Gin Distillery - we rejuvenated the Plymouth Gin Distillery website, allowing their fans to buy products and book tours with ease.
National Parks UK - we designed and developed an intuitive WordPress website to help inspire people from all walks of life to be more outside.
Riverlane - we built an award-winning WordPress website to help them grow their team and raise funding from investors, which included $20m in Series A funding
headquarters
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Portfolio
Tidze - The all-in-one ticketing and live streaming platform
The client
Built with funding from InnovateUK, tidze is a live streaming platform that empowers creators, performers, musicians and teachers by providing a secure way to monetise their unique experiences and generate an income.
The challenge
With established platforms such Zoom and Facebook Live on the market, our challenge was to make it easy for users to understand why switching to tidze would be more beneficial, and to build trust and brand awareness.
We developed the tidze brand, produced an intuitive live streaming interface, user dashboards and website to showcase core features.
A user-friendly dashboard
A wide variety of users with differing digital skills will create, manage and run their live streams from this area. Our task was to embrace simplicity, and ingenuity to make the process of running live streams simple and accessible for all.
Live streaming portal interface
The most important user interface to design was the live streaming page. With the clever use of slide-out drawers, we were able to overcome the challenge of creating a feature-rich (and responsive) page that included participant profiles, a live chat function and streamer bios, without distracting users from the main purpose of the website - the live streams.
Customer on-boarding
We took a methodical approach when designing the onboarding experience.
Our aim was to both excite performers, musicians, entertainers, but also make it really simple to sign up for a tidze account. We designed a front end website that builds trust, explaining core features, testimonials, pricing and faqs simply and effectively.
Whilst the signup pages are engaging, intuitive and frictionless making it extremely easy to complete registration and start live streaming.
Results
Completed on budget and within 3 months as part of an Innovate UK funding scheme deadline
Riverlane | WordPress Design and Development
Riverlane builds ground-breaking software to unleash the power of quantum computers.
The challenge
Develop a new website to strengthen brand awareness, deliver a high-quality user experience, whilst telling the story of Riverlane and demonstrating the commercial impact of their research. Both brand and website to be developed at the same time within a 5 month timeframe.
User experience
Our extensive research helped us to understand their user's needs, abilities, values and limitations. Meaning we were able to develop user journeys and wireframes that create the perfect high-quality user experience required.
Using microinteractions, we developed subtle transitions and movements across the site, helping to establish Riverlane as a progressive, innovative organisation.
Objectives
Attracting new team members and appealing to investors were the main objectives for the site. Our extensive research into the needs of venture capitalists allowed us to define the correct content and structure to create a user experience that would appeal directly to them.
We also created an engaging ‘working here’ page to help grow the team, showcasing the benefits of working at Riverlane, their values, culture and interview process.
CMS
The robust WordPress content management system has allowed Riverlane to update and manage the live site with no guided help and respond to consumer requirements quickly, easily and beautifully.
Key Achievements:
- Awarded numerous accolades including: awwward honors, awwward mobile excellence, Webdesigner Depot 20 Unmissable Websites for July 2020
- Raised $20m in Series A funding, led by European technology venture capital fund Draper Esprit'
- Improved user experience delivered, brand awareness increased.
- Since launch the Riverlane team has gained considerable press exposure including features in The Times, Telegraph and FT. The team has also grown with new recruits joining during a global pandemic.
National Parks UK | WordPress Design and Development
Rubber Cheese took on an exciting challenge to develop a site to help inspire people from all walks of life to immerse themselves in their local landscape and explore the National Parks on their doorsteps.
Showcasing the Parks’ incredible landscapes and the breadth of activities that can be carried out within them, helping everyone to be more outside.
With multiple users and varied needs, we defined 3 main user journeys to focus on and developed the content hierarchy for each.
3 key page templates were then developed to be used throughout, including dynamic filtering that helps the user decide on their journey through the website without having to rely on the navigation menu.
The dynamic filtering of listing pages allows users to find exactly what they’d like to do. We’ve also created areas within the templates to easily promote specific content/events to direct the audience to a specific event, blog etc.
A design system was created using a series of predefined blocks - each block able to fit with another to form the structure of pages. The advanced custom fields plugin for WordPress allows us to build in this way.
This benefits National Parks as they are able to build page structures that work for them, giving them the ultimate flexibility of page design.
The robust WordPress content management system is responsible for three things. Storing content, editing content and publishing content. It has allowed National Parks to update and manage the live site with no guided help, respond to consumer requirements quickly, easily and beautifully.
Key Achievements:
- Vastly improved the customer experience and user journeys, inspiring a new audience to be more outside.
- Reusable design components enabling ultimate flexibility of page structures, whilst also adhering to AA accessibility standards.
- Reduced the time required to update and amend content, increasing efficiency across the content team
Dotmatics | Complex WordPress Development
Dotmatics is a scientific informatics software and services company that is driving the automation of laboratory workflows for discovery and innovation research - accelerating the journey towards full digitalization and the Lab of the Future.
Rubber Cheese developed a complex WordPress website that reinforces Dotmatics as a leading authority in scientific informatics, provides engaging content and simplifies the current complex user journey.
Eureka! The National Children's Museum | WordPress Design, Bespoke Annual Pass System
Eureka! challenged Rubber Cheese to improve two of their key assets, their website and the clunky, paper based annual pass system. We worked closely with the marketing team to redesign their website, reduce queue times and convert mobile users.
With over 70% of traffic via mobile but only 10% of sales from the same, we rolled out our mobile first approach, improving the mobile purchasing process. An improved site structure, new interactive map and gallery were implemented, giving the customer a greater insight into what the museum is about and what children can do.
Integrating WooCommerce added an ecommerce section, letting customers purchase products and merchandise outside the museum’s opening hours.
The biggest challenge for us was to find a solution to reduce queue times. We digitised the entire process by developing a completely bespoke annual pass system that worked in conjunction with their existing ePos system - Gamma. This was broken down into two phases;
1. Planning and research:
Firstly we created User Scenarios to understand how customers used the booking system and the problems they encountered.
2. Design and development:
We designed and developed a new interface for the till along with an online booking system to help customers buy tickets and create annual passes online.
Our goal was to make it as easy as possible for the front-of-house staff to manage the annual passes. The new till dashboard allows the team to manage, check and process annual passes online, saving time and resource.
Key achievements:
- Bounce rate dropped by 96%
- Online booking conversion rate up by 24.5%
- New annual pass system reduced queue times by 50%
- Gift Aid up by 60%
- On average, saved over 972 staff hours per year
- We have a free white paper available for download within the case study on our website:
- https://www.rubbercheese.com/work/eureka
Plymouth Gin Distillery | Bespoke Ecommerce Platform
Converting fans into customers
How we rejuvenated the Plymouth Gin Distillery website, allowing their fans to buy products and tours with ease.
Rubber Cheese were given two clear objectives; build an online tour booking system that’s easy for visitor centre staff to manage, and a website that increases online tour bookings.
Online tour booking system
We developed an innovative tour booking system that transformed the user experience of booking a distillery tour and buying a bottle of gin online.
A fully responsive redesign
Working with the brands assets, we gave Plymouth Gin a brand new mobile platform design.
Dynamic checkout
To allow tour bookings and products to be purchased at the same time, we developed a dynamic checkout process, making the purchasing process seamless.
Gifting tickets
Customers can purchase tours as a gift, even adding a bottle of gin to the gift order with it. The recipient can choose their preferred tour date online, making gift redemption really easy.
Group bookings
Admins can easily create group discounts, giving customers a cost reduction if they purchase a certain quantity of tickets.
Seamless online & offline bookings
Admins have full control of tours. Through the system they can manage online and till bookings, including availability control, manual bookings and adding/editing tours.
Key Achievement:
- 316% increase in tour bookings and product sales within 3 months of launch.
Malt Whisky Distilleries | Tour Booking System
The digital transformation of whisky distilleries
How Rubber Cheese enabled whisky connoisseurs to book their favourite tours online.
The brief was simple, create a tour booking system that can easily be used by multiple whisky distilleries.
By developing a bespoke ticketing system with an API, Chivas Brothers’ scotch whisky brands The Glenlivet, Aberlour and Scapa, are all able to offer an online experience for customers to purchase tour tickets.
Bespoke ticketing system
Being a bespoke system allows us to constantly review and build useful functions that fulfils the needs of the customers and the visitor centre staff.
Brand identity
Each brand shares the same core system and functionality, but we’ve added tools that allow each brand to have their own unique online identity and content.
Ticket customisation
Brand managers can change the look and the content of their tickets via the admin dashboard.
Online dashboard
Each of the visitor centre managers have online access to their own dashboard, allowing them to edit or add tours, manage bookings and change availability at a moment’s notice.
Key Achievements:
- 4 whisky brands using the same ticketing system
- From 0 to over 15,000+ online sales in the first 6 months
Eureka! Sensorium | Accessible WordPress Design
Making the Eureka! experience accessible for all
How we worked with Eureka! to produce a digital sensory guide to help visitors with sensory conditions prepare for their visit.
Eureka! asked Rubber Cheese to create a highly responsive and easy-to-update microsite packed full of information, images, videos and sounds to help visitors with sensory conditions prepare for their visit.
Accessible design
The microsite is highly visual with plenty of engaging images that represent the museum’s physical experience. As well as this, we included smooth transitions between pages and large, easy-to-read copy. We also used autism-friendly colour coding to explain the sensory feelings and used fun icons to spark excitement.
Comprehensive research
Our team carried out in-depth research into pain points for users with sensory conditions and worked closely with Eureka! to fully understand what information their guests valued most. From there, we identified must-have content and got rid of anything that wasn’t necessary - every piece of copy and media is precise and serves a purpose.
Easy-to-update
We gave as much control as possible to the Eureka! team so they could easily provide guests with the most recent information. To do this, we developed the guide in WordPress and made copy, images and videos editable.
Mobile first
It was important for the guide to be accessible on-the-go – so, taking a mobile-first approach, we developed a highly responsive website that's available and readable across all devices.
Navigation
We developed a logical, step-by-step navigation which reflects how guests would walk through the museum, explaining exactly what they’ll see, hear, smell and touch along the way. By following the guest’s trajectory, the guide can be used intuitively as they move through the venue.
Reviews
the project
Web Dev & Design for Branding Company
"From the directors of the company down to the developers, they are a solid, committed service provider."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the manager of a branding company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Rubber Cheese?
We needed some design and development work done on our website. There had been a lot of quick turnaround requests for changes to our website due to COVID-related restrictions. We brought on Rubber Cheese to help us out.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Recently, we’ve decided to create a registration for people to put in a ballot for a vintage collection instead of offering tours and tastings. Rubber Cheese developed the page as well as the functionality for people to register their ballot.
They also developed an online shop for us. They coded the basic functionality for calculating shipping costs and discounts. There were three design templates and we provided content and images for them to build upon.
The team currently provides hosting of our booking platform and ongoing maintenance services for our website. They also do monthly updates, which involves making changes to our hours of operation, tasting banners, and coding and configuration.
What is the team composition?
The project manager is our primary contact, along with Paul (Creative Director). There are also two developers working with us.
How did you come to work with Rubber Cheese?
They were already onboarded when I joined the company, but their dependability is why we still work with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We pay £2,000 (approximately $3,000 USD) per month, plus the development costs.
What is the status of this engagement?
We began working together around 2013, and the partnership is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
There has been a steady response to our ever-changing needs over the past year, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown. Rubber Cheese has a quick turnaround and they have shown a good commitment to our needs.
How did Rubber Cheese perform from a project management standpoint?
They are very responsive and work long hours, when necessary, to get the job done. Prior to the ballot registration page going live, they worked over the weekend in order to finish everything on time.
We communicate primarily via email, with occasional calls or Skype meetings.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They are consistent in contact. From the directors of the company down to the developers, they are a solid, committed service provider.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They may have ideas of how we could improve our website, but they aren’t proactive in suggesting those to us. As the experts, they could present ideas to help us improve rather than just wait for us to request it.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
It works best to have one contact on each side to coordinate the engagement.
the project
Web Design & Development for Quantum Computing Company
“Rubber Cheese really took the time to understand what we wanted out of the website.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the COO at Riverlane. We’re a quantum computing software startup based in Cambridge, UK.
What challenge were you trying to address with Rubber Cheese?
We wanted to grow our business and attract future investors. Thus, we needed a much better website and branding. Also, we needed to recruit new staff, so we decided to hire Rubber Cheese to develop our website so that we could raise more money and appeal to recruits for our growing company.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We gave Rubber Cheese a brief, and they worked through a series of stages with us to build the best website for us. They ran a workshop and did desk research to help us find our target audience. From there, they moved on to navigation and user journeys. They came to us with mood boards of how the website might look. They also provided wireframes and prototypes, as well as content suggestions.
Once we agreed on the mood boards and wireframes, they started designing the website. This process included work on specific animations and transitions. They made sure that the design reflected our brand since we’re a very technical company. Finally, they developed and tested the website, and they also helped us launch it.
Apart from that, they also helped us with security and set up a WordPress site so that we could update the website ourselves.
What is the team composition?
I worked closely with Kelly (Managing Director) and Paul (Creative Director). Ryan (UX/UI Designer) did the website design with us. There was a fourth person who built the website. They all had different styles and technical capabilities.
How did you come to work with Rubber Cheese?
I had worked with Rubber Cheese in my previous job at the University of Cambridge. We needed a new website. We did a tender, and they were a small company in Cambridge. We went with them, and they delivered an amazing website.
When I moved to the new job, I decided that I was going to go straight to Rubber Cheese because they were so good. We were very happy with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about £35,000 (approximately $48,500 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked from December 2019–May 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The first thing to note is that Rubber Cheese won a prestigious award given to the best websites. It was the first time that they had ever gotten one of these awards. This was amazing for us too because our website garnered a lot of attention from the design community, and we had an increase in organic search and traffic coming to our website.
Seven months later, we won a series A funding round of $20 million. Although we can’t make a cause-and-effect relation, we believed that having a credible and well-designed website to enhance our brand was directly linked to our success because we now looked organized and credible to be invested in.
Additionally, we received so much good feedback from recruits. They loved our website’s design and said that they got a real sense of who we were and what we did. This was very important for us because we wanted the website to appeal to the right type of technical recruits such as physicists, engineers, and mathematicians. We were 15 people before, and now we’re nearly 30, so we doubled in size.
How did Rubber Cheese perform from a project management standpoint?
We communicated via phone and email. Throughout the project, I always kept in contact with Kelly, which was really good. As we move through the stages, it was very clear who we were supposed to talk to. For example, during the design stage, we talked to Ryan if we needed to discuss something.
They sent us a timetable with the timing and costs, and they stuck to it. They delivered every milestone on time and budget.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Rubber Cheese really took the time to understand what we wanted out of the website, and they forced us to think about it more deeply than we had as a startup with no marketing experience. They did an effort to make sure that the final product was outstanding.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The only challenge is that Rubber Cheese is quite small. If they had a bigger team, they could take more projects and do more. However, there are probably good reasons for keeping it relatively small, and it has been very a difficult time for small businesses in the creative industries due to the current situation, at least in the UK. They’re amazing, but they could have a bigger reach and impact if they had more staff.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Spend enough time with Rubber Cheese because they really know what they’re doing, which is not something that can be done in a hurry. You have to brief and interact with them to get the most out of the engagement.
Rubber Cheese has developed a fully functioning ballot registration page and has been quick to address changes needed by the client over the past year. The team is highly responsive and dedicated to meeting deadlines. Their willingness to work extended hours has also been a highlight of their services.