With over 10 years commercial experience in creative design and front-end web development I have been given some brilliant opportunities to work on products which have been fun, engaging and challenging. A large proportion of my experience has come from Satzuma, a gifting and tech company based in London.
section of a flash memory sub domain
Projects have ranged from a tangible products to a new website which were created for promoting the product that was designed. ‘Branding’ and appearance was key, so the visual design for the website would have to work well for the packaging, the branding, the promotional material and all else in between, The design needed considered how it would be implemented across the board from start to finish.
What was the point in this website and application?
A product was designed so you could decorate your own smartphone and headphones with an all encompassing DIY kit. It was for the gifting and tech market. And for this, the website look and feel needed meet the criteria:
- Needed to be eye-catching and appealing to large retail stores on the high street
- The product was geared toward slighty ‘edgy’ young female teens – students
- The app needed to show the product in action from the ‘buyers’ browser. It was also used for the B2C market so ‘end-users’ could see what the product was about.
Creating An E-shop
It was discussed that it would be a good idea to create an online shop so business to business retailers could buy the products in wholesale. So a 1000 units, 50 units, etc and the platform would maintain the stock. After research and looking into core requirements, maintenance, ease of use and cost and stability OpenCart was the go ahead.
This is an example of the of the OpenCart theme with the core Satzuma branding applied to it.
The website needed to look engaging and in keeping with the brand as a whole. Packaging like one business and a website that looked like another would potentially put off customers and larger retail brands.
A Piece UI Design
This is a piece of UI design that was applied to one of the earlier original Satzuma brochure site designs. These buttons and elements were broken down and written into the HTML and CSS. This website gave a punchy brand experience whilst offering information on the product.
This design encompasses some of the core elements of the website. Such as :
- The user interface design – buttons, backgrounds, quotes, decorations, navigation, logo, social media and other ad-hoc parts that constructed the general interface of the website
- Buttons – Its not a coincidence that buttons are orange. Based on a seminar by a ecommerce consultancy. People clicked more often on the colour orange. Which was fortunate as so was the core branding of Satzuma. This allow for clear areas of Calls To Action on the web page.
- Dark Elements – The core branding of Satzuma was orange a black – fun and tech. Using these core principles of the brand, I created a look that was both functional and respectful to the branding of the business. This also plays into something called ‘semiotics’ you can read more on semiotic examples here. The main purpose of the black, in addition to be part of the black/dark branding was to act as a neutral bed of colour to emphasise the CTA’s and the content.
- Charm & Character – following the charming elements and the character of the brand you will see (or used to) the Satzuma Man drawing attention to promotions and core messages. He was a face / mascot which captured fun elements of the brand
Thank you for reading
If you need help with your website be it basic consultation, design, growing online, design the look and feel, helping to set up a WP website so you can manage your own website – feel free to say hello.