If we ask you to think back to the year 2021, what would you say was the best thing that happened? Don’t worry, we had to scratch our heads a little bit too when it came to world news. But when it came to Pixel news, 2021 was in fact, a fabulous year! We took on new clients, launched new websites, expanded the team and there we’re plenty of promotions! Here's a look back on everything that happened in the world and here at Pixel over the course of 2021...
January
World News:
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all banned Donald Trump for 2 weeks following the Capitol riot. It was later announced that he wouldn’t be allowed back on Facebook until at least January 2023. Twitter on the other hand decided to permanently suspend his account due to the risk of further incitement of violence. Did you ever think this would happen in real life?!
Good old Boris Johnson announced a new national lockdown for England, as COVID-19 spread rapidly resulting in hospitalizations higher than the first wave. We were instructed to stay at home to control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives.
Oh, and how could we forget, Bernie Sanders sitting with mittens at the inauguration became a new meme. Did you or your business jump on the trend?
Pixel News:
Following this news, we went back to working from home (WFH) full time, all meetings went back to being virtual and the loungewear was back in full force. Thinking back, did we wear any form of normal clothing once?! But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, Matt, our then Head of Technical was promoted to Head of Operations! Virtual celebrations all around!
February
World News:
Scary times in February - wildfires ignited the outskirts of Perth, Australia, resulting in countless fatalities and massive amounts of land being damaged. In just 5 days, the fires destroyed at least 86 houses and 2 fire trucks and burned out an area of over 10,500 ha (26,000 acres).
Pixel News:
We made our first recruit of the year with our new Technical Delivery Manager, Ollie. Since day one he’s fit right in with the rest of the team – he likes to talk a lot (his words), snack whenever possible and he enjoys managing projects. The perfect combination if you ask us!
March
World News:
Nearly 11.1 million people in the UK alone tuned in to watch the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan open up about racism, mental health, the media and other members of the Royal Family in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Did you watch?
Pixel News:
We helped Burtons Biscuits launch their #keepitkookie campaign by creating a microsite which showcased the new cookies available. You may or may not have seen their Kookie Face Race TikTok campaign featuring Perri Kiely from Diversity!
We also celebrated Internationals Women’s Day with the ladies who really run the business (shhhh, don’t tell
the bosses). And the team grew a Carl, who joined us as the latest Web Developer recruit.
April
World News:
The UK loosened its COVID-19 restrictions and opened pubs and shops after 175 days of lockdown... HUZZAH! It’s safe to say there we’re a few sore heads the next morning! The 9th April was a sad day as it was announced Prince Philip sadly passed away at the grand old age of 99! His funeral took place on the 17th April and 13.6 million people tuned in to pay their respects.
Pixel News:
We became finalists at the Kentico Xperience Site of the Year Awards for the website that we built for Dalesman Direct. We didn’t win, but it was nice for our work to be seen and acknowledged! We also launched Dudley Building Society’s new website! In under 14 weeks we delivered a brand spanking new site, fully equipped with a brand- new CMS, site structure, design and a host of new integrations! Let’s just say, it kept everyone busy!
May
World News:
Love it or hate it, the 65th Eurovision Song Contest Final took place in Rotterdam and of course, the UK didn’t win. BOOOOO. We didn’t even come in the top 10... try 26th place! But it’s about the taking part, right? The competition was won by Italian metal band Maneskin with a whopping 524 points!
On the 27th May, 5.3 million of us tuned in to watch Ross, Chandler, Joey, Rachel, Phoebe and Monica returned to our screens for the long-awaited FRIENDS REUNION! After 17 whole years the cast returned to the famous sofa in Central Perk and, well… talked about the show. Whilst it was amazing to see them back together and re-read through the old scripts, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all left wanting that little bit more!
Pixel News:
Pixelbuilders turned 13! Unlucky for some but not for us – our directors got their heads together and worked out that in 13 years, we have moved offices 6 times, housed 22 past and present creative individuals, and worked on 227 client wins… Not bad going if you ask us.
June
World News:
Cristiano Ronaldo made waves at the 2021 Euros with a small but mighty move. The slight nudge of a Coca-Cola bottle away from the camera and replacement of a water bottle during an interview cost Coca-Cola $4billion drop in the market value. Moral of the story… drink water people, it’s way better for you!
Good old Queenie, Queen Elizabeth turned 95 on the 12th June! The day was celebrated with a military parade in the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle followed by The King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery firing a 41 Gun Royal Salute from the East Lawn at Windsor Castle. What a way to celebrate a birthday!
Pixel News:
Our developer Sam celebrated 4 years with Pixelbuilders. And it just so happened to be on the same day as National Martini Day! In true Pixel style, Sam wasn’t the only one who celebrated an anniversary... our office manager Vicky celebrated 3 years with the company and Kristian celebrated 2 years… little did he know that a promotion would be on the cards the very next month!
July
World News:
Britain's Princes William and Harry unveil statue to their mother Princess Diana, on what would have been her 60th birthday, at Kensington Palace. And after 17 years of development, billionaire Richard Branson finally skyrocketed to the edge of space in his Virgin Galactic rocket plane! Following the success, space tourism flights are now on the cards from 2022! WOAH!
Tokyo 2020/21 finally kicked off will go down in history as a unique Olympic Games (we think anyways!) Team GB won a total of 65 medals, the second-best performance EVER meaning that we finished fourth place in the final medal table... FINALLY, we’ve done something good this year!
Pixel News:
We celebrated lots of promotions after our annual reviews. Andy Boot, was promoted to Senior Web Developer & Umbraco Lead, Kristian to Account Manager and Rachael became our new Digital Insights & Performance Manager. We celebrated a whole year of our Web Developer Warren and TEN whole years of our Head of Operations, Matt. Celebrations all around FOR SURE! We designed and built a vibrant, futureproofed and easy to use website using Umbraco for our client AG Barr.
August
World News:
The Shenshuping breeding base in China celebrated the one-month birthdays for two pairs of panda cubs by releasing the first-ever group photos - and let us tell you, they look adorable!
Pixel News:
We launched 2 new websites! Arena Group and Wakefield Hospice. We were shortlisted for two awards at the Prolific North Awards. CAN I GET A OH YEAH! We we’re nominated for Small Digital Agency of the Year and Development Project of the Year with AG Barr – we unfortunately didn’t win… but it’s the taking part that counts… right?
September
World News:
FInally, after 3 release dates that got pushed back, the long awaited James Bond film No Time To Die hit the cinema almost 18 months after it's original release date - but let us tell you it was totally worth the wait. More than 30,000 people attended midnight screenings across the UK and Ireland and the film sold 1.6 million advance tickets for the opening four days - WOWZERS.
Yorkshire based firm Whitakers Chocolates launched the UK's first ever Vegan Chocolate Selection Tin. The new tin has been named 'Vegan-Tin-Tations' and it contains an assortment of vegan milk and dark chocolates and toffee in a variety of flavours. Carl - this ones right up your street!
Pixel News:
We welcomed another member to the Pixel team, Jamie, who joined us as Junior Digital Designer. If you ever need any music recommendations... Jamie's your man!
October
World News:
Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled the contents of his Budget in the House of Commons with a key focus on the "post-Covid" era and an economy of higher wages, higher skills, and rising productivity. The key points we took away were - Flights between airports in the UK nations will be subject to a new lower rate of Air Passenger Duty from April 2023, schools and colleges will recieve nearly £2bn of new funding to help recover from the pandemic, the planned rise in the duty on spirits, wine, cider and beer has been cancelled and £640m a year will be invested to address rough sleeping and homelessness.
Oh, and how could we forget? The social media platform Facebook announced that they we're to rebranded as Meta, in an attempt to own the metaverse - a concept for a 3D version of the internet that a number of companies are working on.
Pixel News:
Wedding bells we're ringing for our Senior Digital Designer Alex, who married his lovley fiancé Lizzie. And our Web Developers Carl and Warren passed their Umbraco Fundamentals Course, making them Umbraco Certified Professionals. Celebrations all around for October, congratulations guys!
November
World News:
The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) took place at the SEC Centre in Glasgow. Sir David Attenborough kicked off a vital two weeks in the fight against climate change with a message of hope to the world, and we saw a HUGE breakthrough on a key UK climate promise.The announcement of new rules to make it mandatory for big UK firms to show plans on how they will hit their climate targets.
Pixel News:
It was all smiles for the camera at our photoshoot that took place in our office. We've got a tonne of exciting photos to share with you all and a little freshen up of the website will be happening in the New Year - watch this space! We also gained another qualification in the team. This time it was our Head of Operations, Matt who became a Certified Umbraco Professional - following in the footsteps of Carl and Warren. Well done Matt!
December
World News:
If we told you there was a chip shortage at McDonalds in Japan due to the pandemic... what would you say? At first we we're like
woah no way and then panic set in a little bit and made us realise that if that happened in the UK a small fries option with a Big Mac meal just wouldn't cut it. The shortage came from delayed shipments from North America as well as from shipping disruptions in Canada. What has this world come to?!
Pixel News:
We took Christmas into our own hands this year and made our own decorations for the tree! Shout to Gabbi for hand drawing such amazing illustrations based on everyone’s hobbies! They look fabulous on the tree, even if we do say so ourselves.
And there you have it. That's our 2021 Pixel and World News review. As a business we had an amazing year, the team grew, qualifications were gained and there were lots of laughs along the way. We've enjoyed being back in the office and getting face to face meetings booked back in - virtual just isn't the same.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
With Love
The Pixelbuilders Team