codegent

Could this be our new office?

We've been looking for new offices as we're kind of straining at the seams where we are now. It was great when we started, but our numbers have grown and short of sitting on top of each other, we're running out of options. We want something where we can continue to feel creative and where people feel comfortable (clients and staff).

Opinion is divided on whether we go for the parquet floor shown in the picture above, or a carpeted floor option that has very high ceilings with a lot of natural light.

We seem to be spending a lot of time at the BBC recently, working across a number of divisions. But this week sees the launch of another project for our very good friends at CBeebies.

Doodle Do is a new TV show aimed at 3-5 year olds. The show encourages children to get involved in art and craft. Codegent was commissioned to produce an interactive game to support the show.

Paintpot pick-up is a fun game that first introduces children to trace shapes and guess what they are, by using their mouse. Children are then encouraged to create their own 'Doodle Do' character using colour and patterns.

Finally, once they have completed their character they get to use them in a fun game where they have to pick up paint pots and avoid getting tickled by their friends.

Doodle Do game »

McD is skiing

Just spare a thought for Mark - whilst we're all sat here busily working away, he is breathing in large lungfulls of fresh alpine air and traversing his way down a snow-covered mountain.

Tax doesn't have to be taxing...

...but it is a bit painful when you have to write a cheque handing over your hard-earned cash to Gordon Brown.

Well they say that nothing in life is certain other than death and taxes.

- David

Happy Birthday Martin

Happy Birthday Martin - you will always be younger than me.

It's properly freezing in London today. There were birds standing on the ice on the lake as I cycled through Clapham Common this morning.

- David

Round about this time of year, there's nothing nicer than curling up in front of the fire with a lovely mug of Horlicks before heading off to bed.

GSK are so confident of the relaxing nature of their beverages that they have produced a campaign called the Sleep Challenge. Working with Billington Cartmell, we were contracted to create a beautiful flash-based interactive microsite that supported the promotion.

The site allows users to find out more about the products available, request a free sample and recruit their friends to the Sleep Challenge. As well as supporting the above-the-line campaign, the site is also providing feedback on user interests: traditionally a challenge for FMCG brands.

2005 has come and gone and what a year it was! We picked up lots of new clients and hired more people. We ended up producing some great projects for the BBC and built a hugely successful recruitment website for Gap.

We also met lots of fabulous people who in various ways have suppported us. Some gave us work, some introduced us to people who gave us work, some ended up working for us and some were just inspirational people we want to stay in touch with.

Whilst the rest of the world was relaxing over Christmas, we were pressing on, launching two sites in time for January the 1st. The first one was a microsite for Evian which aims to help Christmas over-indulgers get their bodies back on the straight and narrow with tips and techniques and a pretty cool competition.

The second was a promotion for Tiger Beer; a site to support a sales promotion campaign created by our good friends, Toucan.

So what about 2006? So far we have a lot on and a lot more in the pipeline. In the run-up to Christmas we were overawed by the amount of opportunities that seem to be coming our way. We're always too cautious about counting our chickens, but all the signs are good. We've just hired a new designer and animator and we're in the process of hiring a new project manager.

Take One Museum is a six part series for BBC4. Each episode is a 30 minute presenter led journey around a different museum.

For BBC Interactive, we are taking one of those shows and creating an interactive broadband version as a pilot for further interactive television projects in the new year.

The idea is to take the linear TV show and at key moments, give the user the chance to pause and watch further, deeper content. This will effectively make the programme more of a user-led experience.

This is an exciting step in the convergence of digital television and online entertainment and is our eighth project for the BBC in 2005 - we love it!