Article | Georgia Harris
Barns Bulletin #5: February
February was packed with anniversaries, food and travel. See what we've been up to outside client work.
Article | Georgia Harris
At the beginning of May, we said goodbye to our UX Specialist, Amy, who’s moved back to her roots, up North! We celebrated Amy’s (nearly) 2 years at Freestyle with a group outing to a returning favourite, Digbeth Dinning Club, for a last hurrah. After consuming our own bodyweight in delicious food, we headed over to Ghetto Golf for an evening of cocktails and some (questionable) golf. From all of us at the Barns, we wish you the best of luck for your new chapter, Amy!
Digital Executive
During May we also welcomed Eleanor to our team, as a new Digital Executive! Born and raised in Paris, Eleanor adds to our collection of bilingual Freestylers, as she’s fluent in both 🇫🇷 French and 🇬🇧 English, très bien! As well as having a Masters in Global Media and Comms from Warwick Uni under her belt, Eleanor also enjoys baking sweet treats, eating Asian food and Eurovision! We’re excited to have you onboard Eleanor!
Account Director
Another recent addition to the Barns is our new Account Director, Sophia! A local to the area, Sophia comes with a wealth of experience in web build delivery and optimisation, after spending time at a few agencies across the West Mids. She has pedigree in running and fitness - (we’ve been on the lookout for another lunchtime runner! 🏃♀️ ), and enjoys cooking, reading and travelling in her downtime 🌎. We’re sure she’ll be a fantastic addition to the Accounts team!
One of our Digital Executives (and aspiring UX Specialist) Georgia, headed up to Leeds to take part in the NUX camp. The full day of UX workshops included an insightful session on Task Modelling, where they used ordinary, day-to-day tasks - such as making a cup of tea - to practise designing their own personalised task model ☕️. During the day, G also got to meet a load of UX researchers and designers, who’ve been in the field for 20+ years - safe to say G was definitely one of the youngest at the event! We’re glad you had a great day getting to know all of the different avenues of UX, G!
At the end of May, our Technical Director, Guy and Insights Manager, Becki, enjoyed a day out of the studio, at the seventh annual WXG event in Guildford! The day was centred around the theme of ‘Tech for Good’, and featured top-notch nerding from all the interesting speakers. They enjoyed talks from the likes of Steven “Woody” Woodgate from Microsoft, who discussed prioritising accessibility and inclusion within the company. In amongst the tech-chat, they also got stuck into some audience participation, which involved arcade gameplay with lasers! Sounds like you had a great day guys!
May also saw the return of the prestigious, Sheepie award! This month, the Sheepie was awarded to one of our dedicated Senior Developers, Will! Throughout May, Will has gone above and beyond to bring determination, creativity and perseverance to one of our newest projects. Great work, Will! 🍾🏅
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The highly anticipated (and best kept secret in the studio), company excursion also took place during May. Freestylers enjoyed a break from the office and a day out at Adventure Sports in Warwick, where we threw axes, drove off-road rally cars, wielded crossbows and tried our hand at reverse steer driving! In the end, it was Team 4 that took home the prize (aka a big bottle of bubbly 🍾) and our MD, Suzanne, who won the ‘Top Shot’ award for having the steadiest hand at crossbow, earning her the maximum amount of points! It’s safe to say everyone had an amazing day out! The fun didn’t stop there though, as the daytime activities were followed by a fun filled evening, which included food, more fizz and even more games. Freestyle really know how to throw a party! Check out the video our talented Developer, Perry, captured and put together of our day out
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