This would have been my 3rd ever encounter with HTML, and my first with Flash, I wanted to update my initial Flynnduism website (which was setup on a free .tk domain, anyone remember those?) with comething neater and edgier. At the time I was listening to a lot of White Stripes, whose sharp red & white colour schemes (I had this poster on my wall at the time) no doubt played a hand as inspiration for the design, as well as Dinosaur Jr who soundtrack the nice but ultimately clumsy flash intro movie.

Be warned, the volume on the intro is fairly loud, with in-built no option to mute!

http://flynnduism.com/old/

Looking back, some aspects of it make me cringe – the in-your-face intro, the iframe layout and the very dodgy HTML coding, but there’s still a sense of pride in what I managed to achieve with my then-basic skills when it came to the web.

The appearance of their site had become outdated, so I created a new logo and CSS/HTML templates to help refresh their web presence.

“from 2005 to 2009, I worked as part of the in-house design team, working with a broad range of clients”

The company’s unique take on online marketing has proven quite successful, seeing Pigsback.com spread from it’s native Ireland to the UK and Canada.

From 2005 to 2009, I worked as part of the in-house design team, working with a broad range of clients to create new sections and promotions onsite, as well as maintaining and refreshing existing features.

Tasks ranged from error fixing to the designing and building of new feature sections, as well as regular jobs like creating email graphics and updating sponsored zones.

This involved working via the Adobe CS3 suite and the company’s custom CMS, utilising XHTML, CSS, Photoshop, Illustrator and occasionally some Flash work.

A sample mockup for Hartley’s Jelly I designed in 2009.

Each day brought a range of different tasks, working with a broad range of clients such as Diageo, Apple, Paramount Pictures, Tesco, AIB, Nestlé, DAA, Betfair, O2, Three Mobile and Coca Cola. Over the last few years, Pigsback have expanded out into the UK and Canadian markets.

In 2007 I was sent to Toronto to work as a consultant for a Pigsback Canadian startup, which involved developing the Canadian version of the site and training new staff. Though successful, the venture was abandoned by Bell at the start of the global economic downturn; resulting in the closure of the site – a sad turn of events, but I learned a lot from the whole experience.

Here are some more samples of my design work for Pigsback:

A collage of various banners I designed; some for clients, some for the website itself.

A feature page I created for the Iron Man movie premiere, which Pigsback was promoting.

The site uses WordPress as a CMS, and SlideShow Pro for the video galleries
(a combination of Flash & XML)

I created his online portfolio & blog at davidcaffrey.ie, to serve as a means of showcasing his previous works and updates on his most recent projects.

The site uses WordPress as a CMS, and SlideShow Pro for the video galleries (a combination of Flash & XML).

Shortly before launch the blog section of the site was removed, so the focus of the project shifted towards being a showcase / portfolio.

David Caffrey on IMDB »
Visit davidcaffrey.ie »

It was also the year that my design was picked by the organisers to be used as the official festival sitemap, adorning signs, laminates and booklets as well as being sold in t-shirt form at the merchandise stand. I also made a flash version for the Electric Picnic website, which you can see here.

For me, that year’s festival remains a highlight for numberous reasons – the amazing Irish debut of the Arcade Fire (who I managed to meet backstage afterwards to my delight), seeing the likes of The Flaming Lips, LCD Soundsystem, Lemonjelly, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and many other – but mainly because I got to see one of my designs being carried about, worn on clothing and used as an unusual guide to their weekend.