Annertech is shortlisted 4 times for this year’s Spider Awards

This is for our work done on the Oxfam Ireland and National Library of Ireland websites – both incredible projects that we are so proud to be associated with. 

The Oxfam Ireland website was shortlisted in the Best in Universal Design category. And the website for the National Library of Ireland, for which we partnered with bigO, was shortlisted in three categories: Best Website (SME), Best Cultural Driver and Best in Universal Design. 

The Spiders are Ireland’s longest running digital awards, and this year’s edition will be its 27th. The event will take place on 1 March at The Mansion House in Dublin. 

“We are absolutely delighted to be shortlisted again this year, and not just once, but four times!” said Managing Director Stella Power. 

“We give our best to every website, and to be finalists in these prestigious awards means such a lot to us. These two websites are run by organisations that do incredible work in our society and we are thrilled that they entrusted us with their online presence.”

The Oxfam Ireland website 

Oxfam Ireland has been an Annertech client for more than a decade. The 2023 redesign allowed it to align itself with the international brand guidelines and also to move from Drupal 7 to the latest version of Drupal. 

Designer Luke Brennan utilised Oxfam’s stunning imagery to the full, allowing the pictures to draw the user in. He also made it as easy as possible for users to get involved with Oxfam, either by volunteering, signing up for news or joining a campaign. 

"The goal of the UI designs was to unobtrusively elevate the distinctive Oxfam branding while allowing for an accessible and intuitive user experience,” explained Luke. 

“The bold colour swatch and unique typeface form the basis for the atomic design, supported by the breathtaking selection of photography Oxfam has at its disposal. Together these elements are unmistakable as the face of Oxfam. Ease of access was achieved with a minimal design approach, allowing the form of the pages to follow their function. This minimal approach also serves to emphasise the unique Oxfam brand elements and create a bright, colourful, intuitive but still impactful experience for the user."

The National Library of Ireland website

We are incredibly proud of the work we did on this website. We led the project, taking care of the development and integration, while digital agency bigO took care of the beautiful design for the website. 

The two agencies worked closely together and the collaboration was a huge success, resulting in a website that we are all very proud of. It seems simple but behind the scenes a lot of planning and integrating had to happen to ensure the users got the streamlined experiences they needed. 

There were a few crucial integrations that were needed for the website to operate as it does. 

• The sophisticated Solr search tool allows users to search the library’s entire, vast collection – from books and manuscripts to events and exhibitions. 
• Integrating the Eventbrite event management system allowed users to seamlessly find and book events from the website. 
• The new website is fully bilingual, which means that all content on the website is translated. To make this process easier, an automated translation process was implemented. 
• An integration with Stripe allows for a donation system for single or recurring payments from visitors to support the work done at the library. 

Project manager Sean O’Connell said it was obvious from the beginning of the National Library of Ireland project that the team was working with something special. 

“The care and attention that was given to the research, decision making and implementation by the whole team throughout the project was really a sight to behold. Being nominated for four Spider Awards is just further evidence of this commitment,” he said. 

“I’m truly honoured that the NLI website, and all of the work and collaboration it took to make it what it is today is being recognised in this way.”

Conclusion 

At Annertech we are passionate about creating ambitious digital experiences, and we are proud that websites we create are regularly appreciated as some of the best in Ireland. 

Last year, we were shortlisted at the Spiders for best nonprofit website for our work on the Inland Fisheries Ireland website, as well as for Large Agency of the Year, and we’ve won Spiders before – in 2011 for runireland.com and in 2016 in the Best in Business2Business category for Glanbia Nutritionals. 

We’re looking forward to the event in March. If you’re going to be there too, pop round to our table and say hi to the team.