Cyber-Duck

For other uses, see Cyberduck (disambiguation).
Cyber-Duck
Private
Industry Digital media
Founded 2005
Founder Danny Bluestone
Headquarters Elstree, Hertfordshire, UK
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Danny Bluestone, Matt Gibson, Sylvain Reiter
Owner Danny Bluestone
Number of employees
 35
Website www.cyber-duck.co.uk

Cyber-Duck is a full service digital agency based in Elstree, United Kingdom, specialising in providing user experience (UX) design, mobile web productions and software as a service (SaaS) solutions to companies ranging from FTSE 100 companies to startups. The company was founded in 2005 and employs 35 staff across offices in Elstree, Hertfordshire and Farringdon, London.

History

2005
Cyber-Duck was established by Danny Bluestone in 2005 in his flat in Mill Hill. After a few months, Cyber-Duck moved into its first office in Churchill House, Borehamwood. Within the first year Cyber-Duck worked with Ogilvy, London Creative, A Right Result, Wisteria and Adaptive Affinity.[1]
2006
In 2006, Sylvain Reiter joined Cyber-Duck, now the companies Technical Director. In this year Cyber-Duck worked with SIM2000, Cavendish Brooke, Eco Drip / Life Irrigation, Sharpes Solicitors and Sparks Direct.
2007
In 2007, the company won awards at the Europrix Multimedia Awards,[2] British Interactive Media Association,[3] Webawards[4] and the Interactive Media Awards.[5][6] By 2008, they had gone on to produce websites for Jewson[7] and BAM Construct,[8] part of Royal BAM Group and clients from the entertainment industry had also begun to use their services, such as the Gilev Showband, incubator band of the popular musician Alexandra Burke. Matt Gibson joined the company, now Cyber-Duck's Production Director.
2008
In 2008, Cyber-Duck moved offices to Devonshire House in Borehamwood. The company won 7 awards in this year.[9] Rajkumar Remanan joined the team, now Cyber-Duck's Senior Visual Designer. This year Cyber-Duck started working with Optima, Strong Vend, Paper Round, Intel, Neville Lumb, Reset Finance and Permits2Work.
2009
In 2009, the agency won 11 Awards. "The Ducks" had developed a relationship with the mentor of the BBC's show Million Dollar Traders, Anton Kreil in order to produce his personal website[10] and several other web-based projects such as Hablib.com.[11] Following on from this, they developed a project for the virtual gifting service, BoonSpace.[12]
2010
In 2010, Cyber-Duck were commissioned to develop a website for the European Commission in the U.K.[13] The site went live in November 2010,[14] and was part of a new move from the European Union to make U.K citizens aware of the benefits of being an EU member state, thanks to wide Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom. The work was featured on BBC News,[15] Telegraph.co.uk[16] and New Media Age.[17]
By this point, Cyber-Duck began working on high profile software as a service projects and took on another in the form of OfficeCavalry.com.[18] The site was built as a portal for freelancers to find work from users with projects. Cyber-Duck also began work with Ashworth, Rosslyn Analytics, Symble, RedEye and Wisteria Formations.
Cyber-Duck also released the DuckPad, an iPad web app built as a way to provide an enhanced user experience for the growing iPad market. Danny Bluestone was a guest speaker at C21's iPad Entertainment Summit at BAFTA, where he presented the DuckPad.[19]
2011
In January 2011, the company announced that they would be working alongside Arsenal F.C on a project for Arsenal Double Club, a project started up by Arsenal in the Community. In February, Cyber-Duck was invited to SXSW in Austin, Texas on the UKTI "Digital Mission",[20] a yearly event designed to provide networking opportunities for U.K organisations in the digital sector.
In August 2011, the company moved to a self-contained premises in Elstree, Hertfordshire. At the same time, the company announced a new awards ceremony, known as 'the Duckies' to be held in September. This event also marked the 6th anniversary of the company's formation.[21]
After being asked to produce an interactive comic for Channel 5 (UK) television show, The Gadget Show, Cyber-Duck were featured in an episode which was first aired on 23 September 2011.[22]
In December 2011, Cyber-Duck founded The Digital Pond, a free networking group for business executives from across London. The Digital Pond was devised for attendees to learn, discuss and share innovations in the digital sector. The topics have included things like web design skills and practices, web development and best practice for digital marketing strategies. As of August 2013 the group consisted of 739 members.[23]
Cyber-Duck began working with HousePals, RetireEasy, Arsenal Double Club, The Far Horizon, Canadean, The Knowledge Online, KFTV, Pizza GoGo, Fresh Graduates, FitBug, Symble2, Cash in your Gadgets, London Cardiovascular Clinic, Maiden IIS, Paul Simon and Titanium Fire. The agency picked up 13 awards that year.
2012
In 2012, Cyber-Duck was listed in the top 20 Digital Agencies in the South-East at the Wirehive100 awards. Cyber-Duck also received the ISO 9241-210 for adopting the international standards of providing Human Centred Design on projects.[24]
Cyber-Duck were also listed as a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Company in EMEA, highlighting the agency's growth over the previous 5 years.
Danny Bluestone spoke at UCD2012 about how Cyber-Duck uses Agile and Lean frameworks alongside UCD to produce award-winning applications and websites.[25] He was also featured in UX Magazine and on Design Week.
Cyber-Duck also got involved with the Young Rewired State for the first time, hosting children and teenagers from Hertfordshire and North London.
Cyber-Duck worked on projects with Ritesim, dlc, RetireEasy, Liberty Wealth Management, Eurostar, Essex Governor Services, Aston Martin, Ashworth Sustainable, GS1UK, MaxiNutrition (GlaxoSmithKline) and GapYear (Flight Centre).
2013
Danny was featured in the BIMA (British Interactive Media Association) Hot 100, a list which recognises the 100 most influential personalities in Digital in the UK.[26]
Cyber-Duck completed the build of their new responsive website, which was featured in Smashing Magazine.[27]
Cyber-Duck continued to win awards, they notably won a WireHive award for their Symble Broker CRM product, for "Best Use of Technology". At the same awards, Cyber-Duck were listed as the 18th top Digital Agency in the South-East.[28]
Matt Gibson featured on the BBC Watchdog (TV series), where he helped the program research websites and their checkout processes. Matt also featured on the front cover of Web Designer Magazine, presented a workshop at UX London (with Danny) and spoke at meetups and conferences.
The team took part in several hackathons, winning the Spring Hackathon which was hosted at Google Campus in London.
Cyber-Duck achieved its ISO 9001 accreditation for its use of Quality Management Systems.
Cyber-Duck began work on; Symble 3, Need a Property, European Commission, iSmash, ANYVAN / ANYDROP, Digital Shadows, Import House and Eurofighter Typhoon.

Accolades

In the early years, Cyber-Duck won accolades for working on the Greenworks Energy website on behalf of Jewson.,[29] part of the Saint Gobain group. The company also won multiple Interactive Media Awards,[30] Horizon Interactive Awards.

When the company moved its office in Borehamwood, it featured in the local press for achieving growth during the 2000s recession.[31] On 1 June 2007, the company received an honorary invitation to lecture at the Landsdown Centre and was featured in the Middlesex University's centre's media.

In 2010, the company claimed 3 Davey web awards [32] as well as a "Best Use of a Website" award at the Construction Marketing Awards for OAG.[33]

The company won a Webby, selection as an official honoree, in 2011 for their work on OfficeCavalry.com [34]

In 2011, the team was accredited with 14 industry awards, including an Interactive Media Award for the "Best in Class for Travel/Tourism" for The Far Horizons website.[35]

In 2012, Cyber-Duck claimed 13 accreditations and were listed on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 company in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, which lists the fastest growing tech companies in the region.[36]

References

  1. ↑ About Cyber-Duck
  2. ↑ Cyber-Duck Win Europrix award for Interactive Comic
  3. ↑ Cyber-Duck Win B.I.M.A award for Interactive Comic
  4. ↑ Cyber-Duck Win Webaward for Greenstone site
  5. ↑ Cyber-Duck Win IMA for Quirky Periscopix website
  6. ↑ Cyber-Duck Win IMA for Science website
  7. ↑ BuildingTalk - Greenworks Scoops Web Award in Media Competition
  8. ↑ ClickZ - Cyber-Duck constructs a building in 78 seconds
  9. ↑ Cyber-Duck awards
  10. ↑ antonkreil.com & Cyber-Duck Ltd win Outstanding Achievement Award
  11. ↑ Property Trading Goes Social as BBC Star Launches Web 2.0 Platform
  12. ↑ BoonSpace - Send Money as a Gift
  13. ↑ EU begins web push to promote services to UK Citizens
  14. ↑ "European Commission launches website for Britons", BBC News, 23 November 2010
  15. ↑ BBC News - European Commission launches website for Britons, 23 November 2010
  16. ↑ Banks, Martin (24 November 2010), "Telegraph.co.uk - EU launches website to dispel "urban myths"", The Daily Telegraph (London)
  17. ↑ NMA - European Commission takes public information online
  18. ↑ User-Friendly Freelancer Marketplace Created by Cyber-Duck Launches
  19. ↑ C21 iPad Entertainment Summit - Speaker Biographies
  20. ↑ UKTI Mission to SXSW Interactive 2011 - The Companies Announced
  21. ↑ A birthday, a new office and the Duckies awards
  22. ↑ The Gadget Show - Series 16 - Episode 6
  23. ↑ The Digital Pond
  24. ↑ Human Centred Design ISO 9241-210 for Cyber-Duck welcomes Danny’s talk about Agile UX
  25. ↑ UCD2012 welcomes Danny’s talk about Agile UX
  26. ↑ BIMA HOT 100, 2013
  27. ↑ Adapting To A Responsive Design (Case Study)
  28. ↑ WireHive 100 League Table 2013
  29. ↑ Greenworks' Solar Panels Website Given Mark of Distinction, Greenworks Energy
  30. ↑ Interactive Media Awards - Awards Gallery
  31. ↑ Company finds its wings amid economic dowturn, The Borehamwood & Elstree Times, 23 March 2009
  32. ↑ Cyber-Duck Strike a Hat-trick at the International Davey Awards 2010
  33. ↑ OAG - Best use of a Website (PDF)
  34. ↑ 15TH ANNUAL WEBBY AWARDS OFFICIAL HONOREE SELECTIONS - EMPLOYMENT
  35. ↑ Cyber-Duck win Interactive Media Awards for Best in Class - Travel/Tourism
  36. ↑ Cyber-Duck listed in Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA
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