About ZYPE

The Original Idea

ZYPE was originally created by Josh in August 2001 as a way to promote user interaction and accessibility in the software design process and focus on using web standards. This, along with a strong open source focus allowed ZYPE to work with a wide range of companies and develop partnerships with local software development companies, primarily working on web based applications and web sites.

... then Josh decided secondary teaching was the place to be and things got interesting.

ZYPE as it is now

ZYPE is a design company. The designers here live and breath the design process and can apply it to a wide range of media and contexts. We love it.

We continue to work on web based solutions and have picked up the open source infrastructure Drupal for web development work.

Cynthia, with her background in design, advertising and more recently educational resources, joined ZYPE formally to develop the graphic design side allowing us to offer a wider range of services. ZYPE will help develop your brand and then translate it to print and web as required.

The move towards education has allowed Josh to not only teach Design (the process) but also work with schools to help build up their use of open source and the internet. This has also led to the development of the Education side of ZYPE which offers students opportunities to work on live projects with experienced Designers looking on and advising.

Design Philosophy

ZYPE recognises the benefits of following a design process on all projects and while this process is kept flexible it follows this basic form:

  • Analysis: identifying and defining the elements of the project.
  • Concept Design: defining the user goals, user interaction, application structure, functional requirements and visual styles as appropriate.
  • Development: building the final solution described in concept design.
  • Review: Testing and quality assurance phase.
  • Delivery: Completing the project and delivering it to the client.

At ZYPE there is also a strong belief that Designers of all types make a great team when they work closely and a strong emphasis is placed on methods for interaction between Designers working in different media. We encourage crossover and teaching each other new skills.

Technology

The Designers at ZYPE are somewhat agnostic about our tools. We have a mix of open source and proprietary tools as required by the job. Josh works on Linux and uses tools available there for developing Drupal sites and themes. Cynthia is OSX based and thinks Adobe products are the bees-knees. We even have a Windows XP machine lying around somewhere.

Long story, short we deliver what you need in whichever way you need it.