Gillmark Gallery
Visit Websitewww.gillmark.comGillmark Gallery is an ecommerce website that sells antique maps and prints dating back hundreds of years. Gillmark started selling their maps within a shop front in Hertford and later went online only.
Completion Date:
August 2010
Operates:
Nationwide
Client Feedback:
"I have had some bad experiences with web designers in the past but AWD are friendly and efficient and have proved that good designers do exist!"
DO NOT HESITATE! I have had some bad experiences with web designers in the past but AWD are friendly and efficient and have proved that good designers do exist! My special thanks to Gareth for coming up with solutions to seemingly simple requests which often required complex programming to achieve the effect or facility we wanted, he was always patient, willing to listen and keen to explain. Gareth and Richard have provided us with a good looking website full of up-to-date visuals and features giving us all that we asked for and more. I cannot recommend their services too highly.
Read in full
The Brief
Gillmark had been selling antique maps for over 20 years in Hertford. In 2010, they approached us to develop their online presence for selling antique maps and prints.
The main part of the brief for Gillmark was to create a unique website that could showcase maps in detail. Gillmark did not have a proposed solution for this but asked us to design and develop a method that would.
How We Responded
The site showcases some great functionality and at the time of development was a leader in usability and experience.
Navigation is very simple and the map listing is both visually outstanding and very easy to use. Each map on the page can be accessed at the click of a button without a refresh of the page.
Due to the nature of the products that Gillmark sells, it is important that visitors can view maps in detail. Therefore, we have developed a zoom system where all the user has to do is hover their mouse over the image and a small zoom window appears. This allows users to individually examine each map before they proceed to purchase.
Each photo on the website is saved in high resolution so at any time Gillmark can download the original they had uploaded. We developed a compression method to store these high res photos which can be decompressed on the fly at request.