We're looking for inventive freelance web programmers and designers to work with us on on forthcoming client work and some cool internal projects.

We expect our team to have a keen interest in the web, have a really good understanding of PHP, JavaScript and Photoshop or Fireworks but also willing to experiment, test and develop new areas.

Our key focus is on delivering well designed and thought out web sites and applications for customers we have fun working with. We all work remotely but regularly meet-up to improve the way we work, discuss cool ideas and tech and have fun.

If you're interested then send at least 5 links to recent examples of your work to ben [at] rather inventive.com.

Darren and Ben from CleanMy have recently asked us to help market and develop their website and online shop www.cleanmy.biz.

We're all thrilled to get involved with this growing company and look forward to the challenges presented.

CleanMy Ltd. are one of the largest suppliers of janitorial & cleaning equipment in the country.

Ben was asked to present at a Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce business breakfast last week.

He spoke on how Rather Inventive work as a team without any central office operating entirely on the internet.

Slides from the presentation

We'd love to hear about inventive ways you have solved digital marketing challenges and share them with others on our blog.

Just send your story along with any related images to story [at] ratherinventive.com.

Last week we all took part in a "It's a Business Knockout" event in aid of the Noah's Ark Trust charity. The event was organised and held locally by Dawn from Genesis TMC a meeting and conference environment.

Sadly, there wasn't the opportunity to fill buckets of water on a revolving platform while dressed as an 8 foot penguin, but instead there were equally enjoyable initiative and skill games. Competing against teams from around the County, we called on our problem solving skills to solve practical and puzzling tasks and had a very enjoyable day. Ironically beaten by a team of avatars, we were very happy to finish in 3rd place.

A big thank you to all who helped on the day providing the venue, team-building games and refreshments. Look closely and spot our new team member, you'll hear more over the coming months.

Team RI signed up for 'It's a Business Knockout!' organised by Genesis - Looking forward to getting our hands dirty

Some amazing entries in the T.G.I. Friday's Mixology competition where stores compete to create new and funky cocktails.

View Mixology videos (scroll to the bottom of the page)

This month saw we were focused on 'Being the boss of time' which was a final review of time study on the areas we work on, ultimately looking at where we spend our time and which areas could be improved.

Dan also walked us through progress of our new online website admin software which we'll be starting to use in the next few projects - Looking good so far Dan!

Meeting took place at Holmer Park Spa in Hereford

We rely on "Skype":http://www.skype.com/intl/en-gb/home as our phone system and use it daily for our morning catch-up call.

While Skype has been rather good at video conferencing for a while it was only one to one. However Skype released a beta version of its software allowing up to 4 people to video conference together. We've been waiting for this and now use video and voice for our catch-up call, which despite revealing who didn’t brush their hair, really does bring our team that little bit closer together.

The secondary benefit we have found is being able to share quick design roughs made with a classic pen and paper.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en/get-skype/on-your-computer/windows/beta/ - Works really well

This month we met at the Courtyard Theatre in Hereford with our key topic being 'Communication with clients. When where and how'. We wanted to find better ways to manage the varying requests we receive in particular dealing with urgent and important issues.

Following on from this we also discussed what attitude we want to present to our clients?. This is an important part of our brand as much as the logo and colours that we use as it spreads throughout all our communication. We resolved that we're best to stay honest and upfront, and we want you to let us know if we don't hit this mark.

Book review this time was Rework by 37 Signals. It's a business book like no other and strips away the gloss to reveal solid and often controversial advice and ideas that have helped the authors build the multi-million dollar business they have today. Well worth a read

I noticed some weeks ago that while using google, the design had been updated to accommodate 3 columns and some elements had been moved around.

I eagerly talked about it with the other inventors at Rather Inventive, but alas google had gone back to how it was the next time I used it! As I had no screenshots or supporting evidence that I had in fact seen a sneak preview of the 'new' google I was wondering whether I had imagined it myself.

However, the new design intermittently became visible for a few weeks before the offical update and overall I like the changes to it. The easy-to-use date related searches on the left panel are extremely useful if you are searching for something current. This led me to question whether content that has been around for a long time which google would generally give greater relevance to, is in fact inferior to the most recently updated or fresh content?