As always the first part of this project was to create the identity. Sam requested that the logo incorporate the recognisable RSS icon in a subtle way to hint at the purpose of the app.

The name Blogtrottr is obviously a pun on the word ‘bogtrotter’ and after a little research we discovered that bogtrotting is an outdoor activity similar to orienteering. This tied in a little with the app as it’s all about being on the go and discovery so we decided to base one of our concepts around this idea.

But what the name immediately reminded me of was a famous chapter from the Roald Dahl book ‘Matilda’ in which Bruce Bogtrotter is forced to eat an entire chocolate cake by the Trunchbull after being caught stealing a slice at lunch time. A proposed tagline seemed to fit in with this concept too: “Delicious news, fed to your inbox”.

Below are the two concepts we created:

Both incorporate the RSS symbol, linking the icon to the app. The logo on the right hints at “bogtrotting” as an activity while the left one is a direct reference to that famous chapter from ‘Matilda’. Besides, everyone loves cake, so anyone in the dark about the reference will hopefully enjoy the icon!

As a fellow fan, Sam loved the cake concept and after reading the strapline the logo was chosen. The next step was to redesign the web site. Below is a screenshot of how the site looked originally:

It’s always exciting to start the design process with a blank canvas, Sam contacted us originally after enjoying our other web design work, in particular the modern, web 2.0 styles and so gave us free reign with the design.

We felt that the site design should lend itself to the logo so we created some cakey, chocolatey textures and authored some introductory content.

I absolutely love it – just the right amount of cakeyness!
Sam Bryan – Blogtrottr

With the concept agreed we built the template using the Blueprint grid system, valid xhtml and css. We also featured a custom font using the css3 property @font-face which enhances the brand as we were able to use the same font for the headings as was used in the logo itself.

Below is the final template:

The new design will be going live in the next few weeks.

Related posts:

1. Case Study – Khodtech brand
2. Case Study – StickaStyle
3. Case Study – SPI

StickaStyle is a fresh business venture set up early in 2009 with a really cool product – highly detailed, high quality removable and re-stickable wall stickers for childrens bedrooms and playrooms. Stickastyle is initially a solely online business so the owners decided early on that they needed an extremely solid, reliable and feature rich eCommerce platform… Of course the package of choice is Magento and Jigowatt were commissioned to design and build the web site.

But before any web site building could take place we had to create a fresh brand identity for StickaStyle, one which represented the companies fun product whilst still being professional. This process was made easier for us as the client had already produced some solid logo mockups which we felt worked well, and with some magic touches would have great longevity and provide the perfect look and feel. Obviously StickaStyle is all about stickers so it makes sense that the logo itself is represented in sticker form.

Jigowatt’s approach to our new venture has been absolutely first-class.

One of the unique selling points of the StickaStyle product is the fact that these stickers can actually be safely removed and re-stuck on other walls/furniture, numerous times without damaging the product. This was something we wanted to put across in the logo which we achieved by making the “sticker” peel at the corner. We chose a friendly rounded font and rounded off all of the corners which gives the logo and approachable yet professional feel. As with all of our identity projects we were certain to make sure that the logo would perform well in different media at different sizes and in black & white. Below is the final result:

With the identity completed we could sink our teeth into a brand new Magento installation. StickaStyle were keen to spend their budget wisely so we recommended taking the popular Modern theme and adjusting it using the wonders of CSS to reskin the key elements and give them a unique look and feel. This turns out to be a much more cost effective solution and we feel that the final result is still far enough removed from the original theme to give the web site it’s own identity.

An example of the StickaStyle styling

For the design of the site we really wanted to focus on the stickers themselves and took inspiration from the stickers on our own office walls. We created a room-scape complete with wooden flooring, coving and light switches over which we laid transparent montages of the stickers. To make it a little more interesting we also used a randomising script to make the sticker collection change upon each page reload.

With the basic look and feel of the theme decided we set about refining the site functionality which in the end included making some heavy modifications to the Modern theme. Firstly the catalog pages were altered to include larger thumbnails and display permanently in “list view” which gives a better over view of the products themselves which we felt worked with this small quantity. We also made large adjustments to the product details page – taking our room-scape theme and placing a large image of the product at the center of attention whilst removing the rotating background stickers to avoid any confusion. These individual product pages also pull in random testimonials which leads us to the final part of the site creation process; wordpress integration.

Their creative flair has brought the product to life through the site they’ve built for us.

Magento doesn’t come with a very good news system built in so we decided to integrate our CMS of choice; WordPress. Besides the products themselves the dynamic content was to include news articles and the aforementioned testimonials, both of which needed to be easily added, edited and configured by the client. Integrating WordPress with Magento is a fairly smooth procedure and provides the client with 2 separate log ins, one for the shop and one for the dynamic content. With WordPress set up we went about getting Magento and WordPress to talk to each other which you can see instances of on the homepage and product details pages. On the homepage the latest news is pulled from WordPress and on the individual product pages random testimonials are retrieved from the WordPress database and displayed randomly on each page refresh.

Finally we went through the standard procedures of setting up a Magento store; creating branded customer emails, tabled shipping rates including free postage to the UK and all of the relevant cross-sells and up-sells etc.

In the end StickaStyle were provided with a high quality web site packed with features, flexible and expandable at a very affordable price. It was great fun for us to work on more of a ’boutique’ online store with a limited number of products which really allowed us to really elaborate the products themselves and produce what we would consider to be a fantastic web site!

Visit StickaStyle.co.uk.

Testimonial

Jigowatt’s approach to our new venture has been absolutely first-class.
They took the time to fully understand the product and our vision for Stickastyle, and helped guide us though every step of the journey. Throughout, Jigowatt were hugely consultative, ultra-flexible, and totally committed to making the site as user-friendly as possible. Their creative flair has brought the product to life through the site they’ve built for us.
I can’t recommend these guys highly enough. Thank you Jigowatt.

Jessica Watling – MD of Stickastyle

Related posts:

1. Case Study – Khodtech brand
2. Case Study – Bike Stop
3. Case Study – SPI

I can wholeheartedly recommend Jigowatt to anyone looking for a new web site or wishing to bring their web presence up to date and be in control.
Bill Clarke – SPI Ltd.

We immediately wanted to steer Bill away from this inflexible service, so we put together a themed package of our own, to rival the price-structure of the aforementioned option. Bill wisely chose Jigowatt to create his web site. Here’s why:

We opted to use WordPress as a solid foundation with a beautiful premium theme for the front-end which we felt represented Bills business to a tee. WordPress is a fantastic solution for both small and large web sites and it suited this project in particular as it allows Bill to easily edit his own content and even add his own pages and blog posts. On top of this there are a multitude of WordPress plugins available so should he wish to add extra functionality at any point. There’s a 99% chance that we will be able to achieve it using plugins – a huge time & money saver. This makes the web site extremely flexible and expandable. With the service Bill found originally he would have had to pay a lot of extra money to make these kinds of changes (even simple text changes cost money). After installing and setting up the WordPress theme we chose some additional stock photography and made some aesthetic alterations to put the finishing touches on the web site.

So while it cost a little more initially, Bill was provided with a beautiful, standards compliant and highly flexible web site which will fulfill his requirements for years to come at a price which represents unrivaled value for money.

Some of the features we were able to provide which weren’t offered by the templated package include;

• Built on WordPress – frequently updated, stable & secure Content Management System
• Easily added a highly configurable, Search Engine Optimised blog complete with archive system, blog categories and comments.
• Beautiful front-end premium, modern WordPress theme chosen from thousands of possibilities
• Adding pages and Editing content can be managed by the client, rather than paying a monthly fee for text changes This allows almost infinite flexibility and in the eyes of Google make his web site much more appealing in-turn improving search rankings
• Integrated a stylish contact form allowing the clients customers to easily contact him via his web site

Below is a short testimonial from Bill:

Setting up a new business is a busy time. I chose Jigowatt as they gave me confidence in the package they were offering. I particulary liked being in control of the content and the ability for the site to grow with my business needs.
Jigowatt delivered the site quickly, offered me excellent advice and training. I can wholeheartedly recommend Jigowatt to anyone looking for a new web site or wishing to bring their web presence up to date and be in control.

Click here to visit the new web site

Related posts:

1. Introducing Nanowatt
2. Case Study – StickaStyle
3. Case Study – Bike Stop

Before

Looking at their previous logo it’s clear to see that it has little/no relation to the business at all. The serif font said anything but “modern” or “IT” and the symbol did little the enhance it. The logo wasn’t even created in a vector format – so we had some serious modernisation to do!

During

We immediately decided that we wanted those themes, ‘modern’ and ‘IT’ to be represented in our logo and while the name Khodtech isn’t descriptive of the business, we wanted to incorporate the K to enhance it as a brand rather than put it out of sight. As it’s a more contemporary name this enables it to be strongly branded and become very recognisable.

As with all of our branding projects we began sketching some ideas out, firstly creating stylised “KT” combinations, experimenting with whitespace & circuitboards before coming up with an idea which we became attached to quite quickly.

Given that Khodtech is focused towards networks and infrastructure as well as computer components the stylized K made of cables/cords worked really well on paper, especially as it offered an organic, friendly appearance too.

We took the idea and ran with it, creating various arrangements before settling on a refined concept and moving on to the colour scheme which at the request of the client was based on the colour Orange. (We also worked on 3-4 other possible ideas during this period including a simplified computer chip and a streamlined, knocked-back K before deciding that our first idea worked best).

The next challenge was to find a complimentary font. We went through several possibilities before settling on a contemporary sans-serif font; Grover, which relates to the logo mark well. To give the type some more character we made some typical adjustments to the kerning and edited the letters “E” and “D” slightly to make them more personal to the brand.

After

• голова болит секс
• голова болит секс

We’re extremely happy with the final result and feel it gives Khodtech a solid brand on which to base the new Magento store around and take the business successfully into the future.

Related posts:

1. Case Study – StickaStyle
2. Case Study – Blogtrottr
3. Case Study – SPI

WhyArai.co.uk

Jigowatt were hired to create the UK Arai web site over 2 years ago at a time when the previous web site was a nested table, HTML-only nightmare. Not only did it need modernising in terms of look and feel, but the entire functionality of the site needed a total overhaul.

Initially the site was designed and built with an inbuilt bespoke Content Management System allowing administrators to easily add new content such as new Helmet Ranges, Helmets, News, Upcoming Events and Testimonials.

Over the years the site has evolved and has recently had mini make-over adding several features as Arai look to spread their name the social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. There is now the ability to add videos to the web site front page which are pulled from the Why Arai YouTube channel, a Newsletter Campaign, the “Arai People” section, improved RSS feeds and downloadable media such as desktop wallpapers and screensavers.

Whyarai.co.uk has stood the test of time and is growing month on month into a market leading web site.

On-Page

Jigowatt also designs and prints the annual Arai brochure.

Related posts:

1. Case Study – SPI
2. Case Study – Bike Stop
3. Case Study – StickaStyle

Bike Stop is a multi award winning UK based motorcycle clothing and accessories retailer who were in desperate need of a web site redesign / architecture update who decided to hire Jigowatt based on our experience in the market and with the platform they wished to use; Magento.

A short, succinct quote from Bike Stop will go in this space right here

Previously the web site was built on a bespoke framework which was terribly outdated and not user-friendly at all. We knew that the majority of these issues would be ironed out simply by migrating to Magento itself but Bike Stop required more functionality than that which is supplied out-of-the-box with Magento so this made for a fun and challenging project.

Right off-the-bat we needed to transfer all of the current products on the site to the new one which not only involved porting the data from one SQL database to another, but we also had to format the products, sorting them into new, more user-friendly, sensible categories. This was performed quickly and efficiently and provided us with a solid base to build the rest of the site around.

Secondly we built a gorgeous custom Magento theme to give Bike Stop their own unique online presence. We based the aesthetic on their shop and current branding to create a page which successfully represents the Bike Stop image whilst looking modern and being as intuitive / user friendly as possible.

A short, succinct quote from Bike Stop will go in this space right here

Buying a motorcycle helmet online obviously requires utmost precision in terms of product fit so Bike Stop, like all other online retailers employ a no-refunds policy on helmets as the minute they’re dispatched they become “used”. This meant building a bespoke sizing chart page and adjusting the Magento product template for the helmet category only to provide a link to the sizing chart and ensuring that users have read and understood the terms of buying a helmet online.

Bike Stop also wish to engage in some email marketing beyond the capabilities Magento offers. To solve this we’ve set up and integrated a Campaign Monitor account which will allow them to send beautiful email newsletters (proven to increase sales) and evaluate the plethora of useful information/feedback provided by Campaign Monitor.

Finally Bike Stop wished to include a latest news and testimonials section. Again this is not a feature which Magento offers so we had to choose a Content Management System to integrate with. As we’ve vast experience WordPress we decided to use it for this process. The result is a Content Management System which functions simultaneously with Magento allowing Bike Stop to manage their store, their news and all of their testimonials in a clean and easy-to-use interface.

The site launched in __ and sales have increased by % making the Bike Stop redesign a shining success.

Related posts:

1. Case Study – Why Arai
2. Case Study – StickaStyle
3. Case Study – Khodtech brand