Posts Tagged ‘design’

Drum Central goes live

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

Drum Central is Scotland’s leading provider of drum kits, accessories and hardware in Scotland.

Selling their wide range of drumming products both offline and online Drum Central appointed 360innovate to redevelop their existing website with the intentions of making the brand image more current and the website easier to administer.

360innovate proposed an ecommerce shopping cart that allows shoppers to find their desired product with ease, purchase gift vouchers to spend instore, sign up for newsletters and connect with the brand via social media. The final result is a vibrant website that is sympathetic to the rock genre and information rich providing visitors to the website with a wide array of content to aid and enhance their shopping experience.

Visit the Drum Central website.

Like what you see then get in touch with 360innovate today.

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Ardanaiseig Hotel website goes live!

Friday, December 18th, 2009

blog_postit_logo-21360innovate are pleased to announce the launch of the Ardanaiseig Hotel website.

Ardanaiseig was built in the Scottish Baronial manner for Colonel Archibald Campbell of Clan Campbell in 1834. It was designed by William Burn and is listed for its architectural importance.

The Ardanaiseig Hotel approached 360innovate looking for a website redesign. Following a series of client meetings, which included a scenic and incredibly beautiful drive to Argyll where the hotel is based, we really got a feel for the exceptional service and luxurious surroundings and were excited to communicate it through the website.

We created a website for the Ardanaiseig Hotel using full screen visuals that let the sheer beauty of the hotel interiors and exterior landscape do the talking. Text and menu links were kept minimal keeping focus on the breathtaking photography.

An online booking facility makes it possible for customers to make reservations at the hotel with ease and the gift voucher page allows the hotel to showcase the various promotions and events held at the hotel- ideal gifts for friends and family.

Ardanaiseig

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Design Crush – edition 16

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Back again with another instalment of Design Crush. This time we are talking about current colour trends. While web design has had a long history with colour it hasn’t always been pretty. In the years gone by, when websites were in their infancy it was common place to see cyan used throughout. But we are not here to discuss the past, we are here to discuss the present colour trends that are occurring within web design.

One recent colour trend that is cropping up throughout the web is the use of Autumn colours.  With this time of year descending upon us, it’s no wonder designers are turning to the autumn season for colour inspiration. According to Linda Chadbourne’s article for thewebsqueeze.com these autumn colours are not necessarily your typical browns and reds. There is an array of warm pinks, greys, blues and natural tones that are storming the web. Below are the top picks:

Here are a few examples of where some websites have successfully used these new autumn colours in their design:

Of course there is a lot more to be said about colour other than just being a trend. Colours can not only promote a certain feeling and atmosphere within a design but they can also make a website more (or less) user friendly. Colours are a major part of any website design and by using these new autumn colours, websites are sure to be fresh, warm and welcoming.

Check back soon to find out what other colour trends catch our attention, in our search for design inspiration.

Let us know what colour trends you are linking at the moment…

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Design Crush – edition 10

Monday, June 15th, 2009

Blogs play a major role within the web; gone are the days where blogs were just for the normal individual who wanted to write whatever was on their mind. Most companies not only have a website but now utilise blogs too. More and more corporate companies from all sectors of business are utilising blogs to not only advertise their products or services, but to give their brand a voice. And with this surge of new blogs, came new design challenges.

Designing for blogs is not just about using the thousands of free templates that are so readily available or just sticking a colourful header graphic at the top. Blog design is about creating a solid visual structure, with a thoughtful hierarchy of content elements and should be able to connect the content of the site to the presentation.

For this to be achieved, you need to think about accuracy, simplicity and a good use of typography and illustration. Because blogs are content based, mostly being text, getting the typography right is the most important element of blog design.

There is a large difference between corporate blogs and personal blogs. With corporate blogs, they are often made to look the same, if not very similar to the main website. This allows them to tie into the main corporate identity to amplify the company’s personality. Good examples of company blogs can be seen from Econsultancy.com and Topshop.co.uk

However, personal blogs take a slightly different design slant, with many designs using slightly more adventurous styles to create attention-grabbing and unique identities online. Because of the nature of blogs, being that they are an expression of someone’s thoughts, likes and dislikes the designs often reflect this and become a very personal thing. Good examples of personal blog design can be seen from ilovetypography.com and bubblessoc.net

Overall, blog design relies heavily on how the content and text is structured and treated and for what purpose the blog is being used for, whether it is part of a company’s website or a standalone blog.

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Two new websites launched

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

New Promising Winners Website

Promising Winners is an exciting life coach and trainer that aims to help people enhance their lives.

They approached 360innovate with a desire to create an online presence for the company. 360innovate designed and built a content managed website that compliments the new logo and branding.

“360innovate have provided me with a website that is creative, unique, attractive, informative, client focused and easy for users to find their way around quickly. Excellent training enabled me to be able to add pages, content and images, create links and to begin to understand some of the complex issues involved in website design. I really do feel that I have total control of my website and can add and/or make changes as necessary. I am extremely proud of my site and have received many positive comments from my family, friends and other web designers!”

Pat Wakefield, Owner of Promising Winners

Visit the Promising Winners here: www.promisingwinners.co.uk

New DCS Payroll Website

DCS Payroll is a full bureau and payroll outsourcing service.

They approached 360innovate looking for a website that would allow clients to access information and login into a client resources area.

360innovate built a content managed website for DCS Payroll that allowed clients to log into a secure area.

Visit the DCS Payroll website here: www.dcspayroll.co.uk

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Design Crush – edition 4

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Design is everywhere, from street signs to simple food packaging, and much of it goes unnoticed by the untrained eye. Design can influence you without you even noticing and one major element of design that can be very influential is typography. The art of typography has been around for centuries, from cast iron letter and ink right up to our modern day fonts. The history of type and fonts is fascinating however, thats another area altogether. We at 360innovate pride oursleves in keeping up with current design trends and fonts are a major part of this.

Fontorama!

Choosing a font can be vital to the success of a design, whether its a logo or a website, getting the font to match the look and feel you are wanting can be time consuming but ulimately rewarding. With millions of fonts to choose from, your are spoilt for choice. And with sites like Dafont there is unlimited access to free fonts for you to use. Trends emerge through web design and print design and we thought we would talk about a couple of trends that we like within font design.

Hand-Draw Fonts

The first font trend that we love is the use of hand-written fonts. These styles of fonts are being used more and more because of the personal style they give to websites and other media. Hand-written fonts come in a variety of shapes and styles so it is best to use ones that are open and more legible than some sripts to overcome illegibility issues. However be careful not to overload your design with hand-written fonts, use them sparsely to create a more modern feel while still adding the personal touch that you are wanting.

Example of hand-written font:

Retro Inspired Fonts

Another font style we are totally crushing on at the moment are fonts that have a vintage and faded feel. This almost grundgy type of font gives an edgy feel to a design making it look old and used giving the impression of a retro era. Retro styles have had a large comeback and many fonts have embraced this by-gone era providing us with a selection for vintage inspired fonts. Again, this font styles should be used sparingly to really make a statment and impact.

Examples of good retro fonts:

So the next time you are designing, take advantage of all the great trendy fonts out there.

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Design Crush – edition 3

Friday, March 20th, 2009

This weeks design crush comes from our love of chocolate. Many a time there have been large Cadbury’s chocolate bars kicking about the office, soon to disappear. With chocolate on the brain and after just consuming a Creme Egg McFlurry (trying not to think about the calories), we thought we would have a look at the Cadbury site.

With the Easter period coming up and the award winning adverts that they have been producing, we were not disappointed with the official Cadbury site. The first thing that hits you is the colour. Their deep royal purple is the dominant colour ofcourse, but there is colour everywhere. Not one single pixel has been left untouched to create this Cadbury world. The website is successful in creating a complete environmet where you can explore the Cadbury factory through the fantastic Flash animation. Although Flash has been used to navigate the usability is not dependant on just this, and there is additional navigation along the top of the screen to allow for better accessibility. When you start to navigate, the rest of the site is less exciting than the home page due to the normal layouts that don’t have the same amount of impact. However, this does not derive from the overall strong branding that the design has created.

The Cadbury’s site successfully combines their creativity and unique marketing with their traditional yet fun image, producing a site that truely represents Cadbury’s products.

P.S. Only 22 days left to stock up on Creme Eggs, “here today, goo tomorrow” !

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Design Crush – edition 2

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

For the second post of the Design Crush series, we thought it apt to review the new online Zavvi (http://www.zavvi.co.uk) website. Since the high street chain went into administration last year, the online store has been re-launched and is now open for business as usual. As avid fans of buying DVD’s and CD’s online, we jumped at the chance to check out the website and pass our judgement.

There are plenty of sites out their all doing the same as Zavvi, such as Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk) and Play (http://www.play.com) so it faces stiff competition for established and popular sites. However, the Zavvi site feels a little fresher and slightly more straightforward than its more well known competition. This is largely due to the good use of colours and layout. The colour scheme is derived from the well recognised logo and it works well in creating an eye-catching and inviting theme that gives it strong personality and a bold statement to match.

One major element of the site that truly stands out is the lack of additional adverts that seem to cover the other entertainment retailing sites. Because of this, the website design seems to be clearer and gives the site a more welcoming feel instead of bombarding you with in-your-face advertising. This also makes it easy to work your way around the site, with an easy to use menu and clear product layouts.

We think that due to the websites clarity and bold design, Zavvi stands a good chance against its competition. We hope that Zavvi online sees more success than the stores did, but only time will tell.

What are your thoughts?

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Design Crush – edition 1

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

New to the 360innovate blog is the Design Crush series where we intend to talk about our latest likes and loves of design on the web.

Our design crush this week pays homage to British broadcasting as we admire the design of the Guardian site (http://www.guardian.co.uk/). Used by 12 million each month, the Guardian online is not only paving the way forward in terms of broadcasting and journalism through the web, but the websites design is unmatched and a pioneer in its industry. The first to embrace and combine quality design with online broadcasting, the Guardian.co.uk is a true example of how the line between online and offline design and marketing is becoming ever more faint.

Behind the Guardian’s online success is the editor-in-Chief Emily Bell, who has lead the way from the very beginning. Not only publishing the world’s number one podcast, Emily says there is a lot more to come with the next version of the site admitting that they have just “scratched the surface” of the possibilities.

But it is the design that we are really interested in. The site cleverly uses layout, typography and white space to create an ordered, modern and cutting edge feel. Although the site is primarily text based with heavy content, applying different colours to each section of the site enables ease of use and navigation as well as adding a quirky design element that we love. Strongly reliant on structure, the site is organised in a coherent manner, and with the addition of skilfully used typefaces, a contemporary look and feel has been created. The Guardian.co.uk is a perfect example of how traditional and online design can be combined to create a successful and contemporary website.

What do you think?

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