Our Task

To design a site that is beautiful and represents their brand and their mission.  CARES  wanted to boost online donations, gain more advocates, encourage volunteerism, and have an online store all connected to a Content Management System (CMS).

Our Solution

We chose to build their new site on WordPress. This allowed a customizable CMS that moderately web savvy staff could use. It’s easy to use,  open-source, and has plenty of plug-ins for social media. We built their template from the ground up—taking our design, coding the front-end, and hooking it up with the back-end database.One part of our design was a nice, big, colorful “Donate” button to help generate online giving from the site’s visitors. The button links directly with CARES’ Paypal account.

However, getting funding and donations is one thing, but gaining voices to spread the message and getting folks to volunteer is another. To help CARES generate a grassroots effort  we connected the site to their Flickr account and Google calendar.  This allowed them to show off their new photos and keep their advocates in the loop with upcoming events.

Finally, CARES needed the ability to run an online store within their site.  So we beefed up the layout of their store using custom code snippets that have buttons linking directly to Paypal. We educated CARES staff through a series of online classes—led by Stalielife—so they could cut and paste the snippets and edit using WordPress’ basic functions.

The site has an overall robust feel from a simple easy-to-use blogging engine. The site helped sell out a benefit show of The Full Monty and has boosted volunteerism and involvement at all of their recent events.

View the site >

Identity: Bold and Playful

How do you create a new brand when the old brand is based on a childhood toy that the client loves?

To keep a personal approach (while creating a bold and recognizable identity), we created a silhouette of the iconic sewing machine toy and added a knitting needle to the baseline to promote her two areas of expertise. The rounded font is easy to read and playful, too.

Caro even liked out alts and went with the circle version for her store and (possible) future product logos.

Website Design: Fun and Informative

To reveal her new identity, Caro also wanted a website re-design. Originally, she just has a simple TypePad powered template that featured little customization. The new site was to be a CMS website where she could post thoughts, tutorials, showcase her products and interact with friends and clients. Our overall goal with the design was showcase a wide range of content on the home page without overwhelming a visitor.

To enable a more robust set of features, the new site is built in WordPress. (See our previous post about why we love WP.) We approached the design by utilizing a ‘magazine-style’ template called Arthemia.

This magazine style layout displays a main article with thumbnails for latest news, a small side bar with the latest product info, blurbs of the latest posts, category browsing, ad space, Social Media integration with Twitter and a widget-ready area for RSS feeds. The main Splityarn site linkes to her store, RSS feeds, info about Splityarn, and her full photo gallery from Flickr. (She’s an avid photographer.)

Store Design: Powered by Big Cartel

Splityarn uses BigCartel to power online shoping. This is our first time using BigCartel and we love it – you can create you own store, upload product photos and text, set discount codes, add sale and clearance items, manage inventory and you can customize one of their templates or design your own using their API. They help integrate with Paypal to process your order payments too.

Thanks, Caro. We can’t wait to watch your brand gain even more momentum.

Here’s a basic tutorial we created for our client, CARES, who recently underwent a Stalelife re-design using WordPress.

Links for the plug-ins we mentioned that are quite helpful:

Viper’s Video Quicktags – Helps you embed videos from various sites by simply adding the link URL to the video. The quicktags do all the heavy lifting.

Flickr Manager – This handy plugin helps connect your Flickr library to WordPress to you can browse your galleries and post pictures from Flickr straight into your pages and post.

Like other CMS systems or have plugin recommendations? Please let us know your thoughts.

Hal Measley, the Founder and President, had a smart idea for an in-browser audio class (the previous version relied on CPU-based players). Our initial assignment was to re-design and incorporate the new player. But we had some additional ideas we thought NLF would like.

For instance, we created a new product page design that uses best-in-class eCommerce tactics for easy purchase and sharing. We also refined the checkout process to make it more seamless. You’ll note a refined brand presence, too.

Our new design focuses on benefits first and includes an incredible amount of keywords for effective SEO.

The previous design worked hard but appeared dated.

We’d like to give special thanks to our everyday client contacts, Marcia Sholl and Sue Odenburg, for making the wesbite a true collaboration.

The Killjoy Team
World Bicycle Relief
The Dirt Derby
The Bonebell (new site design coming soon)

So when Kevin Heppner asked if we could help design new logos for our favorite team (Joe’s a member), we jumped. Kevin made the new logo a center piece and pulled a 180º from previous designs with a clean kit that’s sure to stand out at the front of the field filled with overdone design and high sponsor counts.

Front and back, yellow and black – and a Stalelife logo that adds a splash of color in a subtle place.

The horizontal logotype is highly visible on a racer's thighs - perfect for the Chicago Cross Cup courses this team will dominate.

Look around Chicago and Austin, you’re sure to see this kit on the dirt and on the streets this year.

Around 240,000 people will benefit from the most recent Annual Appeal from World Bicycle Relief. If you don’t know them, WBR is a smart and well-run non-profit that provides sustainable transportation to help people go farther, carry more and cut their travel time considerably.

You can see our full case study here.

A lot of hard work and strategy went into this endeavor – a true team effort between Stalelife and the Communications and Development groups at WBR. Our approach was integrated with old and new tactics, and the results will make us stronger for years to come.

In the end, we surpassed initial goals by 25%, raised the total donation amount and nearly doubled the amount of advocates on the WBR lists. But most important, we helped the group that helps so many. And that feels good.

“Wait, this slider isn’t working. I’m grabbing the art off the page. WTH?”

It would have been the bee’s knees to manipulate that sliding chart on the homepage, after all I was just there to get into our checking account. This was a nice distraction.

Except, I don’t want to click through, especially after you made me grab a slider that wasn’t. And I feel well within our right to think that, after all your button is all the way right and here in the English speaking world we always start in the upper left. Maybe I’m just dumb.

Next time I’ll click through.

Maybe.

Clients, friends and cohorts – thank you for making ’08 great. We have the feeling that ’09 will be super fine.

So we created this video just for you:

Did you know that The Chicago Tribune averages 40% recycled stock? That equates to 116,377 metric tons of paper saved every year (and probably a few forests). Plus they use soy-based ink, bio-diesel in their delivery trucks and they offer a greener way to pay your bill. Easy Pay is their automatic service that eliminates monthly mailings and the need for checks.

We were approached by our client to create a mailer that would encourage people to sign up:

Our creative is hard-working, roll-up-your-sleeves direct response – a corporate communications envelope (6×9 kraft) that will be opened, crystal clear messaging and a fast call-to-action. The Tribune folks also threw in a solid premium – a re-usable grocery bag.

The letter is clean, with bold subheads that encourage scanning and instant understanding of the exclusive subscriber message. We’re hoping the results match our previous successes with the Tribune.

If you subscribe to the Chicago Tribune and get the above mailer, be sure to sign up for Easy Pay. Being “green” is practical choice that helps the world, and could be an easy part of your every day. Plus that bag is HUGE (we use ours all the time).

^ Click image to enlarge ^

There were some subtle modifications to the original – for instance the zippo/camera was removed and the cascading line elements now resemble actual film, but overall the initial creative remains intact.

If you’re a fan of independent film, be sure to get your tickets right away – the BIG show is next Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008. All profits will help fund next year’s awards.

Take our friends at eTrial, Inc. – they’re a successful trial support company that creates persuasive presentations for law firms. And after a few years of developing their business, they wanted to enhance that growth with new branding.

Our approach involved a day of creative exercises and discovery with eTrial’s leadership team. We evaluated the competition and defined their place among them. Using our findings we created all this:

The "Visible results" tagline hints at the clear work coming from eTrial, while the logo breaks through the clutter.

The new website uses modern imagery, clean design, focused navigation, a new blog and a portfolio page with a quick video to animate the quality work. Click the image to visit the website.

One of our favorite parts of the collateral are the clear cards. First impressions are important, and these cards set them apart while working well within the new brand identity.

The "Z" fold brochure allows us to separate portfolio display from skillset messaging. It's slick, and the involvement keeps the user flipping through.

ETC went new all the way through their printed presence: letterhead and envelopes, thank you cards and envelopes, notepads, business cards and brochures.

We’re thankful for trusting clients like eTrial, and we wish them continued growth with their new brand.

This year we’ve lent our support and design prowess to the Midwest Independent Film Festival, a year long fest that runs on the first Tuesday of every month in Chicago.

Help us decide – which awards poster do you like the best?

We’ve created three concepts for the annual “Best of the Midwest Awards” and we’d like your opinion. Please read our rationale and give us your thoughts to help pick a winner.

Creative input:
Design a branded poster that exudes a “sharp, high-end, classy, for everyone” feel. Be sure to keep the film community in mind when designing.

Concept One

Dark and sleek, it plays off of the modern touches of legendary designer Saul Bass. The bright colors juxtapose the black background and pop off the page grabbing your attention. The stark white imagery shows the foundation of indie film – the old 8mm camera. While a classic Zippo top shows that these films are ‘hot’ and cutting edge.

Concept One

Concept Two

This poster an abstract heart is comprised of overlayed translucent cutouts of the states that make up the Midwest. After all, the Midwest is the heartland of our country. The clean white background harkens back to modern/minimalistic artwork form the 70’s & 80’s.

Concept Two

Concept Three

Our good friend Brian has knuckle tattoos that read ‘hold fast’ and it made us think about the dedication required for his permanent belief. Midwestern artists strongly believe the middle of the country is one of the best places to find emerging artists. So poster three showcases the strong love of the Midwest in a simple illustration accentuated with graffiti graphics.

Concept Three

So which one do you like?

What’s your favorite and why?

If you are in Chicago, check out the Midwest Independent Film Fest on the first Tuesday of every month at the Landmark Century Cinema. Amazing films and a good place to see film from artists before they get famous.

Three concepts were presented and what you see below is the dimensional mailer that was selected. 3D DM has near 100% open rates (who doesn’t open boxes?), and since our client is in construction we went with a blueprint theme. The tube is apropos, and rattling inside is a 256mb USB drive, pre-loaded with a splash site that launched upon insertion.

Our letter is 100% benefit driven for the developer’s who read it. The brochure showcases a diverse offering of Klein’s portfolio – everything from landmark construction to new Starbucks buildings.

We hear the reception so far is great, and it’s lead to many meetings and RFPs for Klein. If you’re looking for a commercial construction company in Chicago (and the suburbs), consider calling on our partners.

The blueprint theme is established with a teaser line above the addressing.

Once inside, the developer has an extraordinary kit – they don't normally receive 3D mailers.

The square brochure is light on copy and big on full-bleed images.

Like a good designer's portfolio, Klein's award-winning projects are easy on the eyes.

The copy we developed is all about value. For developers that means close personal service, quality construction methods and competitive prices.

Special thanks to our consumate partner, Kathy Labbe of PROforma. Amazing print and promotional capabilities – she helped make this mailing a success.

The biggest requirement was the ability to modify the website in a second’s notice, so we recommended a super blog, if you will. It has multiple URLs landing into one design, with three tabbed sections and 14 subpages.

It’s complex and the taxonomy was a great challenge to figure out with the group that is still trying to figure out everything that they do. Seems like Andrew Stackhouse, bike promoter extraordinaire, is always coming up with new ideas for cycling races in central ATX.

In the past Andrew’s team has posted lengthy reviews and notices, so we used a white content channel to ensure readability was kept to high level. The black border provides a nice contrast and also helps Glennon Simmons photos pop more on the page (he’s got a great eye, that guy).

Head out to the Dirt Derby – you’ll see us in our Stalelife kits every Tuesday. And at the Lone Star Cyclocross events, too.

Joe Doyle (the author and VP of the Intelligence Division):
“No way. Wine? What a dream.”

JU: “You don’t like marketing credit cards anymore?”

JD: “Sure, but wine is something we all believe in.”

We’re grateful for our friends and business partners, and it’s because of them that we can introduce you to a cool new company, Vinaire.

It’s the start up of Gary and Cindy Crowell, two accomplished businesspeople with the right drive and plenty of ideas. Soon they’ll lead an under-served market by offering life’s simple pleasures. It’s exciting to be part of their growth – to date we’ve developed brand messaging, their logo, tagline, business cards and letterhead.

The logo features a wax seal that embodies the heritage of wine. In contrast, the modern font is representative of Vinaire’s advances in construction. The tagline is apropos for Gary and Cindy and their customers, all of whom are friends of the grape.

The wood design draws upon the medium in which Vinaire creates. The wrap around wine bottle promotes user involvement and has drawn great initial impressions.

If you’ve ever considered a custom cellar or wine storage, please visit their soon-to-be-created website or Tweet @grcrowell. He’d love to chat with you.

Welcome to the world, Vinaire.