Outwith
A hand waving hello.
A hand holding up a trophy (it’s the Gold Lovie I won for a personal website.
This is my Gold Lovie. I’ve also been nominated for a Webby.
A hand holding up a very shaggy wee dog: Sylvie.
Sylvie is not always quite this shaggy.
A hand waving hello.

Hello. Outwith is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, making small-scale websites with care and by hand.

Need a website and want to chat? Get in touch!

Just a little nosy? See what I’ve been doing recently.

A hand holding up a trophy (it’s the Gold Lovie I won for a personal website.

Making sites that are a pleasure to visit & a breeze to update

I’m an award-winning web designer (that’s my Gold Lovie ↑↑↑ and I’ve also been nominated for a Webby), and I take care to make sites that are thoughtfully designed with their audience in mind.

There are lots of DIY website builders out there – some better than others – but you shouldn’t have to fit into a template. I like making websites from scratch, then I make sure the back-end is just as custom as the front, with a Content Management System that’s adapted for the site and is easy and intuitive to use.

I don’t make websites that harvest users’ data. That means only analytics that respect people’s privacy and no unnecessary cookies (so no unnecessary pop-ups either).

I like working with people in the arts and small organisations.

A hand holding up a very shaggy wee dog: Sylvie.

Who did you say you were?

I’m Alan Nevens. I live in Edinburgh with my partner and our dog, Sylvie (that’s her up there ↑↑↑. She’s not always quite that shaggy.). As well as building websites (which I started doing more than twenty years ago), I’ve been a copywriter at Penguin Books, I’ve got a PhD, I’ve written a novel, I take photographs and half the week I’m Head of Brand at Canongate Books.

Recently

Nan Prize Website screenshotNan Prize Website screenshotNan Prize Website screenshotNan Prize Website screenshot

The Nan Shepherd Prize is a literary prize for underrepresented voices in nature writing.

This was a complete transformation for the prize’s website: it’s now easy to navigate, attractive and accessible, with a bright, clean and modern look. I built it on Kirby CMS to make it easy to update.

It’s also structured to stay user-friendly as it grows – with more and more information and resources each year the prize runs.

See the site

Rafaela Romaya Website screenshotRafaela Romaya Website screenshotRafaela Romaya Website screenshot

Rafaela Romaya is a book designer and Art Director in Edinburgh…

… so it was important to get the look of her site just right. The minimalist look for the site has just enough character of its own while letting her design work take centre stage.

There are also small gestures to book design – through the use of footnotes, a grid layout and spot colour. All complimented by a stylish, unusual font choice in Garda.

See the site

Still other websites:

Need a hand with a new website?
Why not drop me an email? alan@outwith.work