DNA Informal Gathering at the Secret Garden Café

Several members of the Design Network Association met for an informal gathering in St. Albans, close to the Cathedral. This was the first for quite a while.

When Peter Carr and I arrived somewhat late, it looked more like everyone had become impatient waiting for us and was having supper instead. It was very laid back, so we greeted the others and then repaired to the next room to obtain something to eat and drink ourselves. A short spell was spent chatting before Mike Benjamin then introduced each of us going around the room, so we all had an update as to what areas of expertise each covered, then he updated us as to future plans and we discussed how we might try to improve our links with the University of Hertfordshire at Hatfield, and later discussions revolved around Mike offering to help other members get up to speed in the use of Freeway to build websites.

The outcome of the latter was that Mike said he was willing to arrange this at a later date, and the former would be discussed with a lady at the University. Later still Mike ran through some websites he had created using Freeway, and also showed an amusing parody of Master Chef on YouTube, and Tracy showed us a short video his son had made for a Lego competition which was well received by all present. Printer Richard Cockerill gave us all some calendars.

Even later five of us refreshed ourselves at the Peahen further into the town, before setting off for home. Somehow I hope I can get some sleep before a Networking breakfast that starts in Putteridge Bury at six-thirty in the morning – it is now coming up to 2am! So, Good night, or Good morning!

DNA Freeway Meeting at Hatfield

Richard Logan, MD of Softpress and his team were invited to show their powerful Website creation tool, Freeway, to members of the Design Network Association and students of the University of Hertfordshire, at Hatfield Campus.
Andy Coomar and Mike Benjamin introduced the team of Joe Billings, Product Manager, Tim Plumb, Creative Director, and Web Designer Paul Dunning to DNA members and students from the University. We were shown how comprehensive the program was and how simple it would be to create Standards-compliant websites without the need to dirty our hands with obtuse coding. A thank you to Louise Burns for allowing us to use the University facilities.
I just took a few quick shots as a record of the event, and as I left I took two handheld shots of the Art & Design atrium to stitch together later so that the unlit signage could be seen in the final image.