Tony's
Chocolonely
Front‑end development for Tony's Chocolonely's custom website and Chocoshop rebuild, using a standalone Node.js application to produce highly animated and dynamic templates for integration into Laravel.
In Detail
New vs. Old
The previous Tony's website had served the company well, but by 2017 it was showing its age. It was slow to load, non‑responsive, and based on a simple WordPress theme that no longer matched the scale, personality, or customer expectations of the brand.
The replacement site introduced a more flexible, animated front‑end built around Tony's distinctive visual identity, mission‑led content, and growing e‑commerce requirements.
A Colourful, Animated Experience
The website was designed around a three‑panel structure: mission content to the left in red, the Chocoshop to the right in white, and the main homepage in blue. Page transitions helped create the feeling of moving laterally between those areas, supported by large arrow‑based navigation patterns.
Beyond the page transitions, GSAP animation brought movement into the wider interface, with scroll and mouse interactions used to make the site feel closer to Tony's physical brand world.
The Chocoshop
The Chocoshop balanced product discovery with Tony's wider brand messaging. Product listing and product detail pages used a cleaner white background so the colour and irregular shape of the chocolate bars could carry the visual identity.
Product listing pages included a distinctive product spinner, followed by a more conventional product grid, filters, and the ability to add items to basket directly from the listing page.
Products in Detail
Product detail pages were responsively optimised around product imagery, bar size, purchase options, and brand messaging, keeping the e‑commerce journey clear without losing Tony's campaign‑led tone.
Fun Alongside a Serious Message
The 'Our Mission' page gave visitors a deeper view of Tony's work against exploitation in the cocoa industry. The challenge was to support a serious, heavy‑hitting message without losing the brand's playful character, using JavaScript‑driven stop‑frame animation to add movement and emphasis.
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I had the pleasure of working closely with John Kavanagh at Selfridges. He is an exceptional programmer who consistently delivered high‑quality work. John possesses a deep understanding of exceptional front‑end development skills and has a remarkable ability to tackle complex problems with creative and effective solutions.
What sets John apart is not only his technical expertise but also his strong work ethic and dedication to delivering results. He is a reliable and proactive team player, always willing to go the extra mile to ensure project success. I was particularly impressed with his ability to help with issues and make the explanations simple and succinct.
Beyond his technical skills, John is a pleasure to work with. He communicates effectively, collaborates seamlessly with team members, and approaches challenges with a positive and solution‑oriented mindset."
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John Kavanagh's biggest strength is his ability to deal with conflicting priorities in high‑pressure situations. Along with his excellent development skills, John's ability to manage difficult stakeholders and requirements is one of the key reasons that the projects he led were completed on time without too many problems."
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I worked with John Kavanagh at AND Digital for a client focusing on the development of web pages through Gatsby and Contentful. His experience and skill definitely showed but alongside that he was enjoyable to work with. He was always available to the team in any capacity; whether that be to help get a ticket over the line or to teach new ways of doing things. My time with John has personally been a great learning experience and I hope to work with him again in the future."
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John Kavanagh was undoubtedly the best UI developer on the programme (often carrying the burden of his team) and played a crucial role in rebuilding the look and feel of the bank's global online platforms. John was always articulate, willing to speak his mind, helpful and always did an amazing job ‑ he clearly takes immense pride in his work (and rightly so!). His attention to detail and perfectionist attitude helped produce a product that we could be proud of, despite the extremely difficult environment we had to work in.
John would suit any senior or lead UI developer roles and I would have no hesitation in recommending him."
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John Kavanagh is one of the best front‑end developers I've had the pleasure of working with. Incredibly knowledgeable, great attention to detail – he understands design and why it's important to get it right, and he's also very experienced coding for accessibility. Always professional but with a great sense of fun, John would be an asset to any team and project."
