We’ve been working hard for the past couple of months on a site refresh for Bailey Robinson, a client that Steve (and now Gibe) have been looking after for a couple of years. Their site was originally developed about 3 years ago and was in need of a refresh.

We had a slight challenge in that all the maps, images, resort information and core site content needed to remain the same as did the CMS platform that the site is running on. As a result we limited the refresh to style sheet changes and enhancements to a number of key pages.

The new design was intentionally sympathetic to the new brochures and other corporate material whilst being striking enough to give stand out from the competition. The homepage was designed to give big hero imagery the chance to really sell the amazing destinations on offer. In addition we added a rotating hero image area that allows the three core product offerings of Luxury Resorts, Safaris and Tailor-made Journeys to be showcased equally on the homepage.

On top of the new homepage and global style sheet changes we’ve implemented a new offers page that allows users to browse the various different offers quickly.

Take a peek at our handiwork – www.baileyrobinson.com

I attended Remix 08 last year where Microsoft's Bill Buxton surprised me with talk about how he loves Google, Apple and the iPod, then continued to talk about how design should be at the heart of all software and, not as it appears with most older microsoft software, an afterthought. Microsoft have traditionally been responsible for some pretty horrible sites. If you've ever used the Microsoft Partner website you'll know what I mean. Well looking at some of the newer Microsoft sites and software they've definitely been upping their game recently with regards to design. Take a look at a few of these and see if you agree:

• Bing
• Silverlight Blog
  
• Server Quest (based on the old sierra games)
• Photosynth
• Visual Studio Team System (I like the little video in this one)

They're certainly not cutting edge design but are a giant leap from the older Microsoft sites.