Hi 👋 we’re Ethical Pixels®. An award-winning digital agency founded on a single premise – your website, app or digital touchpoint can be better.
They can work better for the end users, can be easier for their owners to maintain, be better at doing the right thing (and we’ve all seen a few that could look nicer too).
From branding to websites, emails and hosting, we strive to make sure you’re using 100% Ethical Pixels® at every stage.
Your website can be better, and we’d love to make that happen.
Ethical Web Design is a way of designing and developing websites, applications, and other digital solutions that are responsible, sustainable, and aligned with values that prioritise user experience, data privacy, security, accessibility, inclusivity, environmental impact, and transparency.
It means thinking carefully about all aspects of the solutions we create – from the needs of our clients to the ultimate impact technology can have on the world and the people in it.
We strongly believe that our motivations are just as important as our actions. It says something about the people we are, how we approach the work we do, and the kinds of people that will have the most productive partnerships with us.
That’s why we seriously consider not only our own motivations but also those of our clients when starting a new project. We delight in projects that have the potential to change the world for the better – regardless of their size – but may choose not to participate in projects that we believe may deceive, manipulate or control users.
We’ve even been recognised for our efforts in this regard, and maintain an Ethical Statement, which is a promise to those we work with and a reminder to us to always strive to do the right thing.
2022 Northern Enterprise Awards
User Experience Design (more simply putting the user first) has been a core part of our DNA since long before we were Ethical Pixels®. In fact, our User Centred Design process is core to how we work and is designed to help us understand the needs of your users, and transform these ideas into a digital reality.
We know from experience that empowering users and finding an overlap between their needs and your business objectives is the best way to build a successful, trustworthy and ethical online presence.
It isn’t just about your end users either – we’ve spent a great deal of time and effort trying to ensure our websites are as easy as possible for our clients to update and maintain, if they want.
At Ethical Pixels®, we understand and champion the importance of privacy and security in the digital age. A disturbing trend of modern web design has been to gather more and more information on users in order to aggressively market to them. We don’t think this is particularly ethical, sensible, or a good way of approaching long-term relationships with your clients.
Did you know that privacy is protected by Article 12 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights? We interpret privacy regulations like GDPR conservatively, and always try to help our clients stay on the right side of both the letter and the spirit of the law.
To do this, we limit data collection and push back against practices that take control out of the hands of the user. We actively work to suppress tracking scripts and data sharing on our sites until your users opt-in, and can suggest privacy-friendly alternatives to commonly used technologies.
We also ensure that all our websites are protected against potential malicious actors by using the most up-to-date thinking in active and passive security techniques.
A lot of businesses don’t actually know how secure or compliant their sites are, so why not get in touch today for a free site audit?
Website hosting was once the largest part of our carbon footprint, and it had been on our radar for several years to try and reduce this. We’re happy to say that we now offer to host all our client websites using 100% renewable energy, independently verified by the Green Web Foundation. Furthermore, we’re working to migrate suitable existing client sites to this sustainable hosting.
We also approach our own commercial growth with a sustainable mindset. We prefer to grow slowly and modestly, preserving the level of quality and service we offer our clients over the inherent problems and impersonal drawbacks presented by pure profit-driven growth.
People use the internet for all sorts of tasks, from the fun to the necessary. Creating accessible and inclusive digital spaces provides more meaningful experiences to all users regardless of any difference in ability, or level of access to modern technology.
We advocate making the digital world as usable as possible to the widest audience. This is made possible using W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) accessibility standards as well as by simplifying industry-specific language.
By explaining the meaning of terms properly and reducing reliance on obscure expressions and acronyms in favour of simple language, we can make life easier for others – even if it makes it a little more difficult for us.
Some web design agencies talk a big game about embracing noble ideals, or doing the right thing. Most, however, fall short of actually understanding or living their brand values. For some, it’s just words. A marketing gimmick.
We want to convince you that we will be honest, reliable and deliver on what we promise, and we’ll show this through the work we do.
In an ever-evolving world of changing technologies, complex ownership relationships, multiple specialities and a whole lot of choice, it can be difficult to keep up. You might not be sure of just who you’re inviting into your digital estate, or what their motivations are, but we can help.
Unfortunately, some corners of the web are at odds with our own ethical vision, so we don’t use them ourselves. These include services that have a detrimental effect on society, that divide people, spread disinformation or erode the ability to communicate and function efficiently.
We believe in transparency in our work. We communicate openly with our clients throughout the design process, ensuring that you understand the decisions made and have input in every step of the journey to create your website.
We also do things a little differently from some other web designers:
No monthly fees – Some companies charge you a monthly “maintenance” fee for a certain amount of updates or changes that you may or may not use. We keep it simple – you pay a competitive, fixed price for your annual hosting. No hidden costs.
It’s your website – We don’t put our logo on your website or use your site as an advertising space. We love to shout about the websites we create in our case studies, but your site is for your content, not ours, and our work should speak for itself.
Easy to maintain – It’s our aim that non-technical users should be able to update their own website. We hear enough horror stories about so-called “build it yourself” solutions that we put together our own tried-and-tested page builder package that’s simple to use without the need for coding knowledge.
We also recognise the importance of open standards. Our team leverages open-source technologies like WordPress to build responsible and sustainable online solutions that align with your business needs.
WordPress is an ideal content management system for almost any size business and is not only stable but extensible, flexible and scalable to meet almost any need.
Select a logo to see a corresponding case study, where available.
We believe that when it comes to ethical web design, actions speak louder than words. That’s why we put our money where our mouth is and actively support or contribute to causes we see as aligned with our objectives to promote technology as a force for good.
We’re happy to say we’ve been recognised for our efforts to make better websites that are easier to use.
If you like how we do things and think we might make something amazing together, why not reach out to us for a chat? No obligation and no pressure.
We’ve all been there. Support for our website customers is now managed on a ticketing system, to make sure you get the help you need as quickly as possible.
Sending an email automatically creates a support ticket.
