2022: Parallax Year In Review

The busiest year since records began

It’s been a busy one this year, hasn’t it? Heading back to (relative) normality allowed us to spend more time in the office, more time socialising out of the office and inevitably spending every weekend with plans aimed at catching up for lost time from the past few years.

As a result, 2022 has flown by, so it feels important to reflect on the work delivered, goals accomplished, and progress we’ve made that has helped propel Parallax to new heights.

Client partnerships we’re particularly proud of

Product development partner for Chatloop

This year we worked with the Chatloop team to help them design and build their game-changing social media app.As product development partner for Chatloop, we helped to scope and build their ambitious social media platform that transforms every page of the internet into a place to start conversations with friends.

One of the highlights (and challenges) of this partnership was the need to build an entire web browser from scratch. Alongside the Chatloop team we were able to plan, design, and build this unique social media app at pace. Want to see more? "Have a look at Chatloop in the wild.

An award-winning partnership with Hexagon

This year our continued partnership with Hexagon reaped huge rewards and a few awards as well as earned a number of our team a trip out to Las Vegas early in the year to attend the global HxGN LIVE conference.

Our work alongside Hexagon on their Nexus Portal earned us a BIMA Bronze Award in the ‘Trailblazer’ category, a win as the "CSS website of the day" on the 15th October, "Awwwards Site Of The Day" on the 9th December, and "FWA of the day"on the 12th December, too!

An award-winning collaboration with an excellent partner showcasing some of our team's cutting-edge work, you can't ask for much more than that!

IoT product and companion app development for Brass Monkey

Brass Monkey make ice baths (like hot tubs but icy cold) for cold water therapy - the practice of submerging yourself in cold water which offers huge health benefits.

A particularly exciting element of our partnership has been working with their team to develop firmware that allows over-the-air updates for their ice baths. We've also helped the team build an app that enables control of the icy water temperature as well as a host of other internet-powered features within their products.

A new chapter for Perform Partners

Perform Partners approached us with the need to revitalise their branding and website to improve sales and marketing activities and better represent their expert status. With a collaborative approach, we worked closely with the Perform Partners team to overhaul their branding, messaging and website to communicate their proposition to audiences. See the Perform Partners site here.

Digital transformation for True student

We took True Student, a leading purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) brand, on a digital transformation journey to create the foundations for rapid growth.

In under a year, we have overhauled the entire digital strategy for True Student, improving every aspect of the customer experience – from initial awareness all the way to building loyalty. One that is operationally efficient, allows them to scale efficiently, reducing the need for manual processes and people involved.

Breaking the mould with TIEVA

As part of a major acquisition and business transformation, we were able to work alongside the team at TIEVA to construct a whole new brand and proposition for this ambitious enterprise.We worked in collaboration with the Tieva team to bring their vision to life, the result being a super sleek, modern and professional brand that suits their position at the cutting edge of IT and digital transformation.

As well as nailing the branding side of things we’ve also recently launched the first phase of their new website offering.

With a stylish and distinctive brand and the new website in motion, we’re well on our way to seeing TIEVA take over the game.

This year in-person events were back

2022 saw the welcome return of in-person events. As much as we enjoy a good virtual conference, we relished the opportunity to host our peers at Parallax HQ as well as attend some amazing conferences and industry events too. Here’s a round-up of what we got up to.

Events we hosted:

Leeds Digital FestivalWe hosted two Leeds Digital Festival events this year one focused on User Centred Design and the other on AI and creativity. Both were great opportunities for our expert teams to share their insights, ideas and a few beers with the Leeds digital community.  

BIMA Digital Day

BIMA Digital Day is an opportunity for companies around the UK to pair up with local schools and offer expertise and skill-sharing for all things digital. A group of the Parallax team from all different areas of expertise headed to Boston Spa Academy to run a full-day workshop with a group of students.

It was a great opportunity to educate future candidates of the opportunities within digital and offer insight into how they can get into the industry."Learn more about the team’s role in the BIMA Digital Day.

Talking digital talent with BIMA Yorkshire

Andy, our People Director, talked to the BIMA Yorkshire community about how we attract and maintain talent at Parallax in an ever-changing professional climate.

Hosting the Leeds JS meet-up

LeedsJS is a free, monthly meetup based in Leeds with a focus on JavaScript in all its forms, whether that's frontend development, Node.js or hardware. Our team talked about scaling up to 250,000 players in a single game with React.js as well as sharing a few beers with the Leeds Javascript community.  ,

Some of the amazing events we attended:

HxGN LIVE

As part of our ongoing partnership with Hexagon, our team were lucky enough to make the trip out to Las Vegas to attend the global Hexagon conference HxGN LIVE. This pioneering event showcases the latest in manufacturing innovation as well as a host of inspiring keynotes detailing the future and power of digital reality and autonomy.

AWS re:Invent

James Hall, one of our noble founders, also made the trip out to Las Vegas later in the year to attend the annual Amazon Web Services event. Here he soaked up the latest news and innovation in the world of cloud computing. This was Amazon’s biggest AWS re:Invent conference with plenty of new products and features that James was amongst the first to experience.

+React Amsterdam+

Our Software Developer, Will, attended the React Summit conference in Amsterdam - the biggest React conference worldwide. Not only was this a lovely trip to sunny Amsterdam but it was a hugely beneficial event learning about the latest React features through interactive workshops. ,

Team highlights

More talented team members than ever

The Parallax headcount was at 40 at the beginning of 2022 but will end at 55 with another three team members we’re excited to welcome in the new year. Our new hires have helped to bolster our teams across the business; from design (which has doubled this year), delivery and development to our consultant, marketing and people teams we’ve added capacity and capability to help fuel our growth.All of these fresh faces have made an immediate impact and helped to broaden our services and make our work even more impactful for our partners.

Continued focus on mental health

We’ve continued to make mental health support for staff a priority as well as ensuring we maintain an environment where our teams can raise mental health concerns with no stigma.As part of this, we’ve organised mental health first-aider training for a number of staff members enabling them to better understand mental health, provide urgent assistance and signpost those experiencing difficulties to appropriate support. We're now up to 18 trained mental health first aiders in the business.

Introducing the Parallax Academy

This year we launched our Parallax Academy initiative offering a one-day-a-week work experience opportunity to Year 13 students.During their day a week with us, our Academy students follow a set of tailor-made modules written by our staff that take the learnings from the classroom and apply them to projects similar to those that we do every day. We’ve already welcomed four excellent students with this scheme and hope to welcome many more in the years to come.

Team socials came back with a bang

After a rocky couple of years, it’s been amazing to be able to get back to all the social events and activities we love at Parallax. On the schedule this year we’ve had Tough Mudders, Park Runs, photography workshops, bouldering, board games, bike rides, five-a-side (to name a few) and a fair few parties thrown in for good measure. Safe to say the Parallax crew are a sociable bunch!

The podcast host with the most

Our founder, James Hall has been incredibly busy this year sharing his ever-flowing fountain of knowledge on the audio airways as co-host of the HEY! Podcast's Off Script series. James joined founder of the pod and original co-host, Josh Nesbitt to discuss all manner of cutting-edge tech topics from the Metaverse to Internet Of Things to the future of AI. Give Off Script a listen.

*As you can see, it’s been an incredible year at Parallax! Roll on 2023.**From all the team, we hope you have a great Christmas holiday and a happy new year.*