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How did the project start?
The market for arts, crafts and textiles is huge and is increasing in popularity all the time. Many people are keen to ‘have a go’ but need help, guidance and confidence to start or undertake a project.
The Stitch Arena website is aimed at people who want to try stitching for fun, but provides the same high standard of tuition as that provided for those undertaking a qualification (but at a fraction of the cost).
Last year the funding for part time courses in Further Education was re-allocated towards full-time education and many students could no longer afford to pay the full price for their part-time classes. Our client, Sally McCollin decided to work out how to "take the class to the students" at an affordable rate.
After much brainstorming, Sally came up with the idea of an online textile resource that would be available to subscribers for a nominal, annual fee.
Sally then approached Fat Frog to help with the design and development of her site as she was impressed with the quality and professionalism of the work featured on our website.
What options did you consider?
We considered various different options for accepting subscription fees and taking payment for the e-commerce section of the site. We decided that Worldpay provided the service that best met the needs of our client.
What help and expertise did you receive?
Fat Frog worked closely with Sally to ensure the site met her exact needs. The website was entirely designed and developed in-house by the Fat Frog team.
Fat Frog are a multi-disciplined agency and thus far have not had a need to outsource any aspect of a website's development.
This project was part-funded by Business Link.
Did you face and challenges or learn any lessons?
The biggest challenge we encountered was working with designs which had been created using cross-stitch in an online environment.
What are the outcomes and how has it improved your business?
In response to the launch of the website Sally's profile has been raised. Sally has been asked to feature in various magazines, has given talks and workshops up and down the country and has been in contact with people as far away as Australia, South Africa and South America, as well as across Europe.
Sally also sells digitally-produced textile editorials to magazines on a 1-year First British Publishing Rights contract. Once the year is complete,Sally can now upload the same editorial project onto the web site and gain extra mileage and exposure from it.
What are your plans for the future?
Fat Frog are currently considering way in which to develop the Stitch Arena site to include real-time cyber classes for subscribers.
Sally is also considering developing additional sister sites with Fat Frog by expanding into other craft areas such as beading and soft furnishings.
