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Archive for the ‘Clients’ Category
Posted: Thursday, July 22, 2010 in Clients, News, Site Launch
 Rue-La-La is an “invitation only” high fashion discount shopping service. Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive exclusive daily offers sent right to your inbox and then it’s up to you to spend, spend, spend until you’re totally fabulous and/or fierce.
Well, by happy happenstance, today’s exclusive offer was headlined by two Brand Labs’ clients: Madison Avenue Couture and Lois Hill. Both new store designs are still in progress, so we can’t link you to them, but trust us when we say they’re both fabulous and fierce.
It’s always exciting to see a client featured in another outlet (unless it’s on COPS or 60 Minutes) so today we’re doubly pleased.
Every shopping cart has default checkout process graphics (the “cart – checkout – receipt” icons at the top of the page during the checkout process) and there are literally bazillions of free icons available all over the interwebs for those who want to customize the process a little. However, there is a certain type of compulsive design nerd for whom that simply isn’t enough. For those poor souls, every element of every site must be designed from scratch. That compulsive attention to detail is exactly what we look for in a designer and our clients get to reap the benefits.
Take, for instance, the graphic you see above. Created for Flanigan Farms (purveyors of fruit and nuts), it isn’t anything you could ever hope to find on a stock icon site. Its non-literal interpretation of the order process is a lovely bit of storytelling and it’s exactly the kind of thing that makes a custom site so compelling.
While on the one hand, this post is most certainly an endorsement of (and advertisement for) our creative services, it’s also intended to point out that in the competitive eCommerce marketplace, you have to exploit every opportunity you have to reinforce your brand. In the end, when placed head to head with your competition, your brand is your strongest weapon. If people connect with you, they’re likelier to buy from you. Don’t squander any opportunity to distinguish yourself from the other guys.
See more great examples after the jump…
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 Do you have brick and mortar stores in addition to your Volusion store? Are you a manufacturer (with a Volusion site) who’d like to tell your customers where to find your products in the real world? Do you have no practical use for an interactive map, but you really, really want one anyway? Well guess what, buttercup… we’re prepared to hook you up!
We’ve been doing store locators for clients for some time, but every once in a while we feel compelled to remind you of the many, many ways we can alter your Volusion store to suit your particular needs. In this latest case, BulletProofDiesel.com came to us with an existing Volusion store, but no good way to tell their online clients where they could have their products installed locally. That’s where our Volusion store locator implementation came in. Now, anyone browsing their online store will be easily able to pinpoint a local vendor, helping to seal the conversion and creating a brand new satisfied customer. It’s just that easy.
Contact us if you’re interested in a store locator for your Volusion site! We’ll be happy to help.
Posted: Monday, June 21, 2010 in Clients, Design, Inspiration, Logo Design
 Creating a logo for an eCommerce website is a very specific challenge for a number of reasons. To begin with, you’ll often be working with a client with little (or no) experience with designers, or even with the concept of design. That can lead to some pretty literal design work, but it can also free you from the constraints of traditional logo design in the sense that you don’t necessarily have to consider how the logo will look in one color, a half-inch across, printed on the barrel of a pen. It isn’t better or worse than “traditional” logo design… just different. When you know that the primary (and often singular) use of your logo design will be in the header of an eCommerce site, your priorities shift. It’s a different world.
That’s not to say that some good old traditional logo design skills aren’t called for. Take the logo at the top of the post, for instance. It would be right at home on the barrel of a pen (or on a t-shirt or billboard) but it also has all of the elements you expect in an eCommerce logo. First, it’s horizontal. That’s not a requirement, of course, but since vertical space is much more valuable than horizontal in web design, you’ll find that the lion’s share of eCommerce logos are wider than they are tall. (There are always exceptions…) Second, it’s a quick read, both literally and figuratively. Not only can you read the copy, but the color palette and the stylized blades of grass give you a pretty good idea of what you’ll find on the site. Finally, it’s not challenging. In a lot of “best of” logo lists, you’ll find that the ability to hide the intent of the logo so that the viewer has to figure it out is a highly prized characteristic. If one has to look at a logo for a minute to “get it” designers go crazy patting each other on the back for their mutual cleverness. We love that stuff, too, but much of it simply isn’t practical for eCommerce. (There are always exceptions…)
Continue reading and see the rest of the logos after the jump…
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Posted: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 in Clients, Industry, Internet, News, Volusion, eCommerce
 Last week, our founders (and senior corporate officers) Kevin Harman and Dane Downer, attended the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. In addition to representin’ for Brand Labs, they had the opportunity to meet with our friends at Volusion, including founder and president, Kevin Sproles (seen here chatting with Kevin and Dane).
Attendance for the conference was up significantly over last year and the prevailing tone was overwhelmingly optimistic, as eCommerce continues to assert its critical position in the world of consumer retail operations as a whole. The obvious buzzword (or buzzphrase, if you will) was mobile commerce, and as the first developers of a mobile Volusion platform, we weren’t surprised one little bit. Hit the jump to see a few pics of Brand Labs with all the party people…
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Posted: Monday, June 14, 2010 in Clients, eCommerce
 One of our most gracious and generous clients (here, here, and here) has (once again) attracted the attention of the national media with a cover story in the June issue of Home Accents Today.
Mixed in with Garden Gates’ truly interesting story is a special, secret Brand Labs testimonial. From the article:
What’s the best idea, event or change you’ve made recently in the way you operate or market your store?
If I told you my ideas, I would either have to kill you or charge you.
Granted, Chad could be talking about almost anything. He is, after all, an unstoppable marketing machine… but we like to believe that we’re at least some small part of his recent successes (based solely on the number of baked goods we’ve received in gratitude for a job well done).
We hope that our revelation of this bit of Chad’s big plan doesn’t mean that we’re now a target for assassination or some sort of unexpected chargeback.
Congrats on your cover story Chad! Here’s to your continued good fortune and us not being killed by your highly skilled team of ninjas!
(via Home Accents Today)
 We’re proud to announce the launch of CoolTools.us!
More than just a website design, our relationship with Cool Tools extends to merchandising, marketing and even custom development on an ongoing basis because they’re part of our growing family of Brand Labs Complete clients. Of course, we’d hate to make this posting all about us, so back to the topic at hand…
Even for the experienced metal clay artist, Cool Tools offers a unique line of products, because they’re not just a store, they’re a brand – offering a full range of supplies and tools that you can’t find anywhere else.
Congratulations on your new store, Cool Tools! We think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 in Clients, Just For Fun, Rochester
 South Street Skate Park, our across-the-street neighbors, are celebrating the Grand Opening of their new retail store on Main Street in beautiful downtown Rochester, MI today from 3-8 pm.
We’re sure there will be a great deal of sick shredding and rad wheelboard trickery for all of the young people. If you’re in the area and have no fear of breaking a hip, you should definitely check it out.
We, on the other hand, will be settling in with a nice bowl of Cream of Wheat and watching a Matlock marathon on Lifetime while we shake our fists at the neighbor kids until they get off of our lawn.
Congrats on the new digs, South Street!
Posted: Friday, May 14, 2010 in Clients, Testimonials
 We’ve posted before about the tasty-monials we’ve received from clients to thank us for work we’ve done for them, but today marks a new era… the Booze Era.
We recently completed some merchandising for TrainersRoom.com and in order to express their gratitude for a job well done, they sent an empty bottle of Grey Gooosh to ush. It prolly had shome booze in it at shome point, but it’sh empty now, shomehow…
… you know what? We love you, man. No, no… lishen to ush. We mean it. Really. You’re the besht. Thanksh for jusht being sho aweshome, man.
… you wanna go get shome pancakesh?
Posted: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 in Clients, Film, Television
 The Red Hat Society Store was our first client (back when they were known as Red Hats and More). We’ve been working with them for years, but without a doubt, the release of Damon Wayans’ novel, “Red Hats”, is the most unexpected bit of Red Hat news we’ve ever come across.
Damon Wayons (most widely known as a member of the comedic dynasty that includes his brothers Shawn, Marlon and Keenan) starred in the ABC sitcom, My Wife and Kids, as well as the films “Mo’ Money” and “I’m Gonna Get You Sucka”. It’s fair to say that with that professional history, Wayans seems the least likely person to write a novel about the Red Hat Society in the voice of an elderly woman… and yet, here we are.
Wayans is already a bestselling author for his book “Bootleg” – a collection of jokes and observations from his stand-up act, but “Red Hats” is his debut novel. We haven’t read it yet, but from the reviews that we’ve seen, if you’re an old lady or someone who TIVOs Hallmark movies, you’ll love it.
… in related news, Dane Cook has announced that he’ll soon be releasing 7 volumes of poetry based on the works of 17th century French philosopher, René Descartes, and Dora the Explorer will be starring in an off-broadway production of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross”.
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