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iya; I'm Akaihane. I am a Digital and Print Designer, as well as a budding Illustrator. I’ve had a love of art and design since I was a child, back when I used to "design" album covers for my much older brother's band. I’ve been building websites since I was 15, back in the days of Netscape Composer, and have now been working in the digital design industry for six and a half years post-graduation, the last two self-employed.

Design is my passion, whether it is Interactive Design, Graphic Design, or even Fashion and Interior. I strive to make sites that not only look great and unique, but are intuitive and fun to use.

I pride myself on producing XHTML/HTML5 and CSS that is as lean and standards/browser-compliant as possible. However over the past while, I have been focusing more strongly on the design side of things, extending my abilities towards graphic design, and moving a little away from the coding arena.

Lately, I've been working more and more on apps, from mobile and native to Facebook, and learning how to best present websites on traditional screens, tablets and mobile devices.

Away from work, my biggest loves are reading, both novels and comics/manga, illustration (though discovering my own style is a little work-in-progress at the moment), and creating/personalising clothing.

You can view my CV (PDF) here »

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elow are a choice selection of some of the web projects I've been involved over the past few years. Some have been done purely for my own entertainment, and others as a web and graphic designer, either at various companies or as a freelancer.

Akaihane, Version 2

Role // Designer
Website // Not Yet Complete
Year // 2012
About // I'm currently working on new branding for myself, as well as a new website to replace this current one. Progress is going well, but it will still be a few months before the live date (as you can see form the mock-up to the left), so unfortunately you'll need to use this old (over two years!) site for now.

Daisychain Day Nursery

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; jQuery Implementation; Wordpress Integration
Website // DaisychainDayNursery.co.uk
Year // 2012
About // This site is due to go live very soon, after a few fixes. The client wanted a bright, cheerful site to help attract more parents/guardians to their day care centre. I took inspiration for this site from the murals the centre has as well as current trends in interior design for children's rooms.

Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference

Role // UX & Visual Designer
Website // RightsCon.org
Year // 2011
About // I was heavily involved from planning stage of this website, and was responsible for the user experience and the complete design, liaising with clients in San Franciso. The coding site of the site was undertaken by Clever Web Dev. I also designed their Facebook page.

Tra-Art

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; jQuery Implementation; Wordpress Integration; Paypal Intergration
Website // Tra-Art.co.uk
Year // 2011
About //Tra-Art required an easy to update, Paypal-integrated website to sell the contents of their art gallery.

Vertical Structure

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; jQuery Implimentation; Wordpress Integration
Website // VerticalStructure.com
Year // 2011
About //A collaboration between myself and Damian Heavern of Filled Soda.

Giants Causeway Coast Sportive

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; jQuery Implimentation; Wordpress Integration
Website // GiantsCausewayCoastSportive.com
Year // 2011
About //A collaboration between myself and Damian Heavern of Filled Soda.

Nandos - Spin the Bottle

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder
Website // Site no longer active
Year // 2010
About // A new microsite for Nandos aimed at students, this work was done in conjunction with PCW Media. In addition to this site, I've also worked on the Nando's UK homepage.

Dublin Dental University Hospital - Trinity College

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Wordpress Integration
Website // DentalSchool.ie
Year // 2011
About // A new website for the Dublin Dental University Hospital, a part of Trinity College, Dublin. This is another project done in conjunction with Mad Dog Media.

Red Sky Photography

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Wordpress Integration
Website // RedSkyNI.com
Year // 2010
About // When Rick Trainor, a local photographer, had a new corporate identity designed, he needed a new website to go along with it. By using the Magazeen Wordpress theme as a base, I created for Rick and all-new online presence to fit in with this new era of his business.

Branch & Worth

Role // Designer
Website // None
Year // 2012
About // This is a little quick design I did just to pull together a little idea I had for a modern, minimal but funky looking one-page website.

Hollystown Golf Club

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder
Website // Hollystown.com
Year // 2011
About // This site was commissioned by SiteCaddy, who, after I cut & built the site into XHTML/CSS, integrated it into their CMS.

Beech Park Golf Club

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder
Website // BeechPark.ie
Year // 2011
About // This site was commissioned by SiteCaddy, who, after I cut & built the site into XHTML/CSS, integrated it into their CMS.

Pretty Ginger

Role // Designer
Website // Currently under development
Year // 2011
About // A new website for a local band, Pretty Ginger. The guys wanted something that invoked the psychedelia of Jimi Hendrix posters. This website is currently under development.

JSNI // Japan Society of Northern Ireland

Role // Designer
Website // JSNI
Year // 2011
About // A new website for the Japan Society of Northern Ireland.

Oscar's Bistro

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Wordpress Integration
Website // OscarsBistro.ie
Year // 2010
About // A Simple one-page site for Oscar's Bistro in Galway, done in conjunction with Mad Dog Media.

Sara-Jane Kelly | Pianist

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Wordpress Integration
Website // SaraJanePianist.co.uk
Year // 2010
About // After employing Red Sky Photography to produce amazing portfolio shots, pianist Sara-Jane Kelly felt that a clean, professional website using these images would help bolster her career as both a professional and a tutor.

FMI

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Wordpress Integration
Website // FMI.ie
Year // 2010
About // A Wordpress-powered website, created in conjunction with Mad Dog Media.

SineadMoriarty

Role // CSS/XHTML Coder; Wordpress Integration
Website // SineadMoriarty.com
Year // 2010
About // A Wordpress-powered website. Mad Dog Media provided the design for this site, and I undertook the cut & build/Wordpress integration.

Donaghy's Shoes

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Nitrosell Integration
Website // Donaghys.co.uk
Year // 2009/2010
About // Donaghy's already had an e-commerce back-end built, but needed a complete re-design, pushing the new photography they had invested in, and front-end re-code of their new online store. In less than two weeks, I turned the site around into what it is today.

Akaihane's Blog

Role // Designer; Blogger;
Website // Blog.Akaihane.co.uk
Year // 2009
About // This my online blog. It has three sections, each dedicated to a specific area of my interests. I have, taking the basic Wordpress theme, customised it fully to my own needs, including an large rewrite of the HTML and CSS, and added some additional PHP functionality.

Planet Environmental Design

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder
Website // PlanetEnvironmentalDesign.com
Year // 2009
About // To promote their services, Planet Environmental Design required a small, easy to maintain site that would still give enough impact to put their company above the rest.

NMNI

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder;
Website // NMNI.com
Year // 2009
About // The new extensive website for the National Museums, Northern Ireland, incorporating mini-sites for each of the four museums and more.

Armagh GAA

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder;
Website // Armagh-GAA.com
Year // 2008
About // Armagh GAA required a website from where GAA fans and team members themselves would have an online base, somewhere to find out about everything from news, events and about the players themselves.

Belfast City Airport

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder
Website // BCA.aero
Year // 2008
About // BCA required a site where visitors could not only check on the times of departures and arrivals, but also find all of the information they required to make their journeys go as smoothly as possible.

Golfing Union of Ireland

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Flash Developer
Website // GUI.ie
Year // 2007
About // GUI required an in-depth site that not only promoted their organisation, but would also enable, using Google Maps, visitors to find clubs throughout Ireland, as well as hotel accommodation, news and more.

Irish Ladies Golf Union

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Flash Developer
Website // ILGU.ie
Year // 2007
About // As a companion to the GUI website, the ILGU required a site with the same scope, but one that was designed to fit a different primary audience.

Altruism // A Sumeragi Subaru Shrine

Role // Designer; CSS/XHTML Coder; Content Writer
Website // Akaihane.co.uk/Altruism
Year // 2005
About // A just-for-fun site I created around one of my favourite manga characters.

From scanning required material, designing and coding the site, and writing all of the articles, the site is 100% my baby, and was made during my last few months at university (six long years ago!), as a way to get my head away from my final major project work.

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've been working lately to incorporate more Graphic Design and Illustration into my work, both as something to offer clients as well as in order to produce my own printed material.

Love You

Role // Designer
Website // None
Year // 2012
About // A little illustration I have done in pencil and then coloured digitally. I hope to eventually include this in a set of cards to sell.

Happy Birthday

Role // Designer
Website // None
Year // 2012
About // A little illustration I have done in pencil and then coloured digitally. I hope to eventually include this in a set of cards to sell.

Merry Crimbo

Role // Designer
Website // None
Year // 2011
About // A card I designed to give out for Christmas 2011.

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ooking for a new website? Something that is both beautiful and easy to maintain and update?

Need some fresh business cards? A new advertising campaign? Or even a complete rebranding? Or are you looking to reach a new market through mobile and Facebook apps?

Just send me an email, and I will try to get back to as soon as humanly possible with either further information, an estimation or a quote for what work you require.

contact@akaihane.co.uk