A multilingual & multidirectional content platform custom built especially for this project
Introduction to Saudi Fashion magazine
Saudi fashion and retail is HUGE. Malls out there are something else… they are not only places to shop but families and friends can meet, dine, have fun and of course do some shopping.
I was hired to build a website and CMS to promote fashion and retail for one of the largest retail companies in Saudi. Alongside supporting the brands that they serve this was an especially lucrative and interesting bit of work.
The project would focus on providing multilingual/multidirectional content, flexible bespoke templates, competitions, videos, articles and all the other things that are on most other fashion websites.
I developed a bespoke, platform built with ExpressionEngine that enabled non-technical editors to easily manage articles, images and video.
The site was fully responsive across devices and supported both left-to-right and right-to-left text, including an Arabic edition written by content creators and editors based in Saudi.
To improve engagement, I created custom plugins for social sharing, advanced search, and user comments, while also optimising performance with efficient coding and database management. Security and data protection were priorities, kept up to date through regular monitoring.
The cover page for the Saudi fashion website
Working closely with designers and a content team, the platform achieved a consistent, user-friendly experience, refined further through testing and feedback along with meticolous attention to detail for the language switch. Some interesting things occur when you copy/paste arabic so we had some curveballs thrown at us on occasion.
Mult-directional/multilingual - no easy feat!
Social media games and applications driving brand engagement
On the back of working with one of the largest retail companies out there I was lucky enough to develop social media games for major retail brands such as Gap Inc. and Marks & Spencer. They were designed to increase brand awareness and page interaction on platforms like Facebook.
We came up with some creative ideas: card matching games, upload fashion image competitions and a casting call competition for Gap was run for a number of years.
Below was a competition we built and ran to find matching pairs: an app that ran in the browser on Facebook. A timing mechanism was implemented, that counted down and if you did it within the time limit your time would be added to the scoreboard. The fastest top 3 would win then prize.
A competition to match pairs of cards with the brand’s items on them
Content team management and support
I also managed a content team in Saudi Arabia to ensure smooth delivery of articles and imagery. The site launched successfully, on schedule and to budget, receiving positive user feedback.
