SHOWCASE
SurĽoh
In his time at Space48, Davies has worked with Dawson Music (www.dawsons.co.uk) to rebuild the site
following a company rebranding exerciseDavies was able to focus on the front-end build for Dawsons Music; the work Space48 carried out on the
checkout helped boost conversion significantlyachieve. It’s nice to be recognised for the
hard work I’ve put in; hopefully I’ll get to
use some of it for client work.What led you to work at Space48?
My friend Jake worked there and needed
someone for maternity cover in the
front-end team. Space48 had a huge
reputation in the Magento world, so IYou’re best known for your Print to CSS
project. Could you tell us about that?
I adore print magazine design and
wondered if, by using CSS Grid, I could get
the same results on the web. Using grids
is nothing new, so this wasn’t
revolutionary, but it’s maybe something
web designers could be pushing more in
their work. So I thought maybe I could
give it a go and improve the quality of my
own work in the process.
I love to see web pages that go against
the grain and I want to be producing work
that stands out. So I set about recreating
print layouts with CSS, with the aim of
introducing some of it to our client work.
I found working to a desktop size easier
but when you start introducing more
breakpoints, I found that content didn’t
always flow as you wanted or broke on to
more than one line. It was very trial and
error on smaller devices.
There’s certainly a lot we can take from
print into the web. We can achieve some
really nice layouts and engaging
typography rather than the standard
approach. In general, this project has
helped me build confidence in my design
skills and helped me towards getting my
new role as a designer. The feedback has
been amazing, with so many people liking
the approach and what I’m trying toknew I’d be joining a team that was going
places. The role would allow me to
manage a team of talented front-end
developers, which was something I’d
wanted to do for a while. Plus I’d get to
work in ecommerce, which is a very
competitive industry.
Four years on I’m still here but my role
has changed somewhat recently, with me
becoming an interaction designer. This is
exactly the direction I want to go in:
building prototypes and looking to try
new things within ecommerce, where so
many play it safe.You recently did some work for Dawsons
Music there: can you tell us about that?
I was tasked with rebuilding a lot of the
online store, including product pages,
homepage and the checkout process after
a company rebranding exercise. The
majority of the designs were provided for
me, so I was able to focus on the front-
end build side. That said, like a lot of
projects I work on, we sometimes make
design decisions as we go along. So
working closely with a client who
understood the process and trusted us to
come up with design solutions was key.
We delivered the project on time and the
work we carried out in the checkout has
helped conversion massively.