Puffin has commissioned digital agency Beef to design and create the website for the latest book by successful author Alex Scarrow. The interactive website will be aimed at the young readers of this latest novel ‘Time Riders’.

Beef, the Bristol based developers who specialise in bespoke digital solutions, will create a website that is both easy to navigate and interactive, to appeal to the ‘Xbox generation’ target audience of 11+ boys and girls. The site, which represents the third time Puffin has commissioned Beef on a creative project, is due to go live in mid January just ahead of the publication of ‘Time Riders’ in February 2010.

Ben Hostler, Creative Director at Beef said “We love working for Puffin, the nature of the work demands lots of creativity, rich design and clever thinking. Engaging a youth audience is one of our areas of expertise, we love the challenge of coming up with concepts they’ll really connect with.”

Ben’s enthusiasm for the project was reflected by Emily Cox, Marketing Manager at Puffin, who commented: “We are delighted to have Beef on board for this exciting launch. We have worked together on a number of successful projects and they continue to impress us with their innovative ideas, creativity and passion.”

The website will be closely linked with the concepts detailed in the novel, and will recreate the environment and scenes experienced by the characters, to enable visitors to the site to relive the book and explore the world of ‘Time Riders’ in new ways.

The book represents Alex’s first foray into children’s fiction, having previously written a number of successful thrillers and several screenplays. The author will be working closely with the creatives at Beef to produce a website that is imaginative, engaging and true to the heart-stopping action found in the book, with the site featuring an interactive game for the teenager readers to enter into. Based on the novel, this new game will feature an arcade-style puzzle, with players travelling throughout time to complete the challenge.

Previous projects Beef has undertaken for Puffin have included developing the website for children’s author Cathy Cassidy, whereby Beef successfully implemented a design solution and concept that has ensured 45% of visitors to the website returned repeatedly to keep in contact with Cathy and her latest work. The Cathy Cassidy website, aimed at young female readers of the novels, has received over 123,000 unique visitors since April 2007, and to date there are 4,751 user submissions in the reader online area.