Who designed and built the website for the Baltic Contemporary Arts
centre, Gateshead, UK?
http://www.balticmill.com/

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 09 Mar 2004 11:55 PST

The Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre has a media lab located on level 1a. 

?The web lab is at the cutting edge of interactive web/media
production, enabling both the production of the BALTIC web presence
and artists' commissions. The web lab includes the facility to develop
web TV content that can be streamed on the Internet.?

I searched the staff listing at the centre and found that the Multi
Media Manager and the IT Coordinator positions are vacant.


I have only been able to locate the service that designed the old
Baltic website from December 2001. Would this information be of your
interest?

Thanks,
Bobbie7

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Clarification of Question by klycett-ga on 09 Mar 2004 14:40 PST

Hello Bobby

Thanks for your interest. I want to know what company designed the
current website http://www.balticmill.com/. I don't know if the
current site is the same as the one that was designed in Dec 2001. It
would be of interest to know who did that job but not answer my core
question.

It would be very unusual for an organisation like the Baltic to get
their site done 'in-house' i.e.  by the staff of the Baltic.

I run a young, small web design company in the UK specialising in
providing web design for the arts, www.cds-studio.co.uk. I've heard
that the Baltic are considering a re-design of their website. There
are some big fish out there and it would help me if I knew who the
Baltic used for the current site, then I can better judge the scale of
the potential competition for the re-design.

Hope that isn't too much information!

Thanks,
Kevin

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 09 Mar 2004 15:00 PST

Hi Kevin!

I have sent off some e-mails asking about the company that designed
the current Baltic Website. I?ll let you know as soon as they respond.

Thanks,
Bobbie7

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 09 Mar 2004 19:35 PST

Baltic launched a very extensive, very professional "identity"
campaign involving the design of stationery, newletters, billboards,
reports, and even beermats.  I wouldn't be surprised if the same group
that spearheaded this, also designed (or at least, worked directly
with the designer of)the Baltic website.

Are you familiar with their identity campaign?  Would you like details about it?

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Clarification of Question by klycett-ga on 10 Mar 2004 01:34 PST

Hello bobbie & pafalafa

I really want to know the name of the company that designed the
website, sometimes this wil be the same as the general design company
but it's not something you can assume. I'm only interested in the name
of the web company.
Thank you.

Kevin

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Clarification of Question by klycett-ga on 10 Mar 2004 06:08 PST

As a potential bidder for a contract to redesign the site it would not
be easy. Most organisations become very cagey and unhappy if they
sense this is happening. I don't want to get into any tangles and half
baked subterfuges. It seemed worth seeing if anyone knew or could find
it out in an way that was entirely independent of me and my company.

Dear Kevin,

According to Conan Cook, IT Coordinator of the BALTIC Centre for
Contemporary Art, the Baltic website was designed and is maintained
in-house.


During my search I discovered that the old Baltic website was designed by 
Gateshead Council Libraries Arts and Information Service.

I located the previous site via the Wayback Machine at Archive.org.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and will see? Site design by
Gateshead Council Libraries Arts and Information Service 2001?

Archive.org: BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
http://web.archive.org/web/20010302070843/www.balticmill.com/menu.html

Archive.org: BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art
http://web.archive.org/web/20010223213534/www.balticmill.com/whatis/airstudios.html


I wrote to Gateshead Council Libraries and John Hudson, Multimedia
Information Officer confirmed that they were indeed involved with
setting up the site initially and that I should contact Baltic
directly at info@balticmill.com or marketing@balticmill.com

Central Library Contacts 
http://www.asaplive.com/AIRS/Contacts.cfm?cls=4


I sent off an email to the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and
Conan Cook the IT Coordinator replied this morning that the Baltic
website was designed and is maintained in-house.

Here is his contact information:

Conan Cook
IT Coordinator
BALTIC The Centre for Contemporary Art, South Shore Road, Gateshead,
NE8 3BA, United Kingdom.
Tel: 0191 478 1810
Direct Line: 0191 440 4928
Mobile: 0777 569 2424
Fax: 0191 478 1922
Mailto:conanc@balticmill.com
www.balticmill.com

The Baltic Media Lab is located on Level 1ª at the BALTIC Centre for
Contemporary Art.

?The web lab is at the cutting edge of interactive web/media
production, enabling both the production of the BALTIC web presence
and artists' commissions. The web lab includes the facility to develop
web TV content that can be streamed on the Internet.?
http://www.balticmill.com/html/exp1am.html


As my collegue Pafalafa-ga mentioned, Ripe Design Consultancy is
indeed responsible for the design of the Baltic stationery, display
panels, corporate book and newsletter; however they were not involved
in the design of the website.
http://www.ripe.uk.com/clientwork.php?client=11&id=38
http://www.ripe.uk.com/clientwork.php?client=11

I sent an email to Ripe Design Consultancy and Martyn Price replied he
was not sure who designed the current site, and perhaps it was
Gateshead Council.

Martyn Price
Ripe Design
http://www.ripe.uk.com/


I hope you find my research useful even though it is not the answer
you were expecting.


Sincerely,
Bobbie7

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Request for Answer Clarification by klycett-ga on 10 Mar 2004 07:14 PST

Thank you, Bobbie. I'm really pleased both with the speed and accuracy
of your reply. I'm not disappointed with the answer either, it is very
useful and is something I would have found almost impossible to get
myself as I mentioned earlier. So I'm delighted. Thanks again.
Kevin.

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Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 10 Mar 2004 07:43 PST

Dear Kevin,

Thank you for the five star rating and kind words. 

I'm pleased that my answer was helpful.

Sincerely,
Bobbie7

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Clarification of Answer by bobbie7-ga on 10 Mar 2004 07:56 PST

Dear Kevin,

I had written to the Gateshead Council Libraries, Arts & Information
Service as well, and I just received their reply.

According to Stuart Phipps, from the Information Team of Arts &
Information Services wrote that Baltic informed him that the name of
their designer is Chris Petty.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Bobbbie7

Contact Information:
Information Team, 
Gateshead Council Libraries, Arts & Information 
Tel: 0191 433 8430
Fax: 0191 477 7454 
http://www.gateshead.gov.uk/
http://www.asaplive.com/

Very thorough research, careful checking with me, and a perfect result
in less than a day.

Have you tried the obvious, and e-mailed them to ask?  They seem to
actively invite enquiries.  If they don't know who designed their own
site, then I don't know who will.

I know another commentor has contacted them.

Just unclear why you didn't try this yourself, before offering $50 for
an answer?  Have you already tried, but got nowhere?