Category : Portfolio

Envision

Posted by Citrus Frog at 6:20 pm

Environmental Vision needed a vibrant and powerful new website to handle the needs of their incredible growth, both as a company and in the numbers of schools that they engage with.

This youth education charity was promising exponential growth and Citrus Frog helped them build a platform to give all their school members and teams a voice and an opportunity to share their ideas.

Citrus Frog encourages any business needing a new or updated website to get involved in the creative process from the very start.

We worked with Envision to build their next generation website into a social networking platform that allowed their site members to publish their own content and to interact with each others groups for the purposes of mutual encouragement and critique.

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Environmental Vision also needed a bespoke content management system (CMS) to help present their company brand and vision for the organisational sections of the website.

Through consultation with Envision staff we went on to improve the initial specifications of the CMS to also allow attaching galleries, which became an important aspect of the in-site communication. There are many other custom modules that were developed for this website which work seamlessly in the background to help Envision deliver their objectives.

Citrus Frog has also been involved with many other Envision projects from printed material, newsletters and apparel. Below are a few examples of the work we have created for them.

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Why not take a look at the Envision website here: www.envision.org.uk

Or follow Envision on Twitter for their latest updates: www.twitter.com/envisionuk

B’ham Conservation Trust

Posted by Citrus Frog at 10:39 am

The Birmingham Conservation Trust is a West Midlands based charity set up to “preserve and enhance Birmingham’s threatened architectural heritage”. Their projects secure the future of buildings at risk in and around the City Center, the sort of buildings that many other charities or developers would rather not tackle.

Birmingham Conservation Trust asked Citrus Frog to redesign their visual identity to bring it into the noughties so it would appeal to a new audience of the social networking age without alienating their current supporters.

The Birmingham Conservation Trust’s (BCT) previous logo did not allow for easy manipulation for use on social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Our job was to give the Birmingham Conservation Trust’s visual identity a complete overhaul and ensure that its new logo was simple to convert into many formats across the web, as well as being a strong instantly recognisable brand across their printed material.

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We started by looking at what the Birmingham Conservation Trust was really about, raising the funds to not only save historic buildings, but also to give them a new purpose, we settled on their iconic work with the Back to Backs in the City Center near the Hippodrome. These historic building are a real part of Birmingham’s past, and now serve as a living museum for the thousands of visitors that see them every year.

Taking the Back to Backs as our inspiration we set about illustrating our version of the iconic buildings. We had to ensure that this would be detailed enough to capture the full likeness of the original buildings whilst being uncomplicated enough to be instantly recognisable even as small as 24 pixels square on twitter!

The other key elements in the new Birmingham Conservation Trust’s logo were the typeface and colour palette. For the typeface we used a bold, uncomplicated and easy to read font with a little styling. The colour scheme used bright orange to represent their creative approach to their work, against a deep graphite and stark white. These high contrast colours give the Birmingham Conservation Trust a positive visual identity and also allows for strong icons to be used across the internet.

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The final two elements that were added toward the end of the design process where the “bct” on the side of the building and the crane that can be seen clearly behind the Back to Backs. The decision to add the “bct” was two-fold, firstly it would allow for the building to be used as a stand alone icon without the full “Birmingham Conservation Trust” text and secondly the very act of putting “BCT” on the side of the Back to Backs illustration would give a new sense of ownership to their flag ship project that had previously been seen mainly as a National Trust property (The National Trust run the Museum but were not responsible for the restoration project.

The crane represents the true nature of the Birmingham Conservation Trust’s work, and is a reminder of the scale of the restoration work that is undertaken for some of their projects. The juxtaposition between the finished Back to Backs and the crane represents both parts of the Trust’s work – to restore old buildings and give them a new lease of life.

Having designed the main visual identity for the BCT we then went about creating their new printed identity with letterheads, compliment slips and business cards (all on recycled or sustainable pulp of course) and also their online web presence in the form of icons and banners.

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To stay up to date with their great work, why not follow them on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BirminghamCT

We also worked along side Nick Booth from Podnosh on this project: www.podnosh.com | www.twitter.com/podnosh

The Forest Hotel

Posted by Citrus Frog at 6:20 pm

www.forest-hotel.com

Citrus Frog was approached by the Forest Hotel in Knowle to update their website with search engines in mind. Their previous website was a small flash-based affair that was not getting them the search results they needed to drive traffic to their site.

With Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) as our starting point we set about redesigning The Forest’s online presence as a search engine friendly website with plenty of content and an understanding of what their visitors wanted to see. The main aim was to strike a good balance between engaging searchable text-based content and great images that would serve as a visual guide to the hotel, its restaurant and their eye for quality.

The Forest’s website was redesigned using their rich colour palette with a strong layout that would aid visitors in finding the content they were looking for, with bold imagery at the top of each page and well conceived copy beneath.

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For example their wedding section is now broken down into several sub sections, each tailored to help the happy-couple-to-be find everything they need to make an informed decision about booking The Forest as the venue for their special day. Rather than the usual catch-all info, the Forest, with our help, has crafted pages for Wedding Receptions, Civil Ceremonies, Civil Partnerships, and Wedding Fayres, and with the addition of transparent pricing, room capacities and sample menus the website is doing what it should – helping visitors imagine their special day before they even have to pick up a phone or fill out the contact enquiry form.

We have also added an extensive gallery to their wedding pages, allowing their visitors to see just how fantastic their weddings are, and having some of their many thank you cards also displayed in the gallery people get to read some testimonials directly from previous brides and grooms.

With our help they also have a large number of events fully documented on their website with menus and offers attracting some excellent search results and sending more people than ever to their website. With the addition of analytical software tied into the site, The Forest can also see what parts of their site are attracting the most visitors, and can adapt the pages that need more focus on marketing.

The website we have created for The Forest Hotel has now become one of their most powerful marketing tools, and a showcase for their fantastic hotel, restaurant and luxury rooms. We know they are now receiving more enquires than ever before for their wedding, conferencing facilities and events.

Not only did we deliver a new search engine friendly website for The Forest, but we have also gone on to produce their latest printed material. We have designed various flyers for them to go in local press and mail-shots, as well as their latest Christmas brochure that has attracted many people to booking their festive parties at The Forest.

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The Forest Hotel is a privately owned hotel with 12 boutique en suite bedrooms, a friendly local bar and contemporary restaurant listed in both Michelin and the Good Food Guide. Why not visit their site for yourself here: www.forest-hotel.com

Why not follow them on Twitter to keep informed about their latest offers: www.twitter.com/foresthotel

Skate Hut

Posted by Citrus Frog at 10:41 am

www.skatehut.co.uk

Skate Hut is one of the UK’s largest online retailers of Skateboards, Heelys, Scooters and all manner of extreme sports gear and streetwear.

Skate Hut approached Citrus Frog a couple of years ago to design their visual identity and their e-commerce website, since then our relationship has grown and we now regularly update the design and functionality on their online store as well as designing flyers and other printed material to designing and sourcing their latest clothing range.

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Our most recent work with Skatehut was the design and creation of their blog, this is the latest addition to their online presence along with their regular “Tweets” on Twitter.

Their e-commerce website, the Skatehut blog, and their printed material are designed to appeal to both their product target market of teenagers and young adults and also to their largest group of buyers – their parents. To achieve this we gave them a clean design with distressed graphical aspects to add a “street culture” feel to the site.

The clean layout makes for easy navigation and clear presentation of important product information, whist the distressed graphical look adds an edge to the site that will appeal to the younger audience without alienating their parents who hold the purchasing power.

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The website is very search engine friendly, and with naturally high search engine placing and help from their Google ads campaign, this website receives an average of 4,000 unique visitors a day!

Skate Hut has also taken our advice and fully embraced the Social Networking aspect of online marketing. Skatehut regularly use Twitter to not only advertise their site, but to also get their personality and ethos across to their many followers. In their latest update we integrated their Twitter feed into their main e-commerce site as well as their new blog.

Here at Citrus Frog we love Skate Hut’s attitude to really fun marketing, from using Twitter and their blog for constant up-to-date offers and news, to their cool stickers and flyers, even their business cards are cut into the shape of a skateboard!

Visit their awesome site here: www.skatehut.co.uk

Follow them on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/skatehut

Rival Insurance

Posted by Citrus Frog at 3:46 pm

www.rivalinsurance.co.uk

RIVAL Insurance are a forward thinking self drive hire insurance company who were established back in 2002, and have since been providing self drive hire cover to their clients across the UK, Northern Ireland and EIRE from their head office in Birmingham.

RIVAL chose Citrus Frog to redesign their website ensuring that it was optimised for search engines as well as having a fresh and engaging new look. Within the first few weeks of the new RIVAL insurance website going live, RIVAL were already starting to have better results for their key search terms like “Self Drive Hire Insurance”. From not fairing well in Google they now appear on the first page of both Google.co.uk and Google.com averaging 5th position from over 4 million results. This was achieved by using our Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques to ensure good natural listings within Google for their chosen keywords.

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The new look for the RIVAL insurance website was based around their strong branding and creative colour palette. This enabled us to create a bright engaging design that was clean and easy to navigate whilst really driving the RIVAL brand to the forefront of their website. We created a dynamic flash banner for their home page using their key messages and some testimonials to instantly get their core brand across to visitors to the website.

The new look web site was just the tip of the iceberg, as RIVAL wanted to fully embrace the latest social media techniques to develop a new customer support area, using a blog format to deliver frequently asked questions, video tutorials and online resources as well as a more informal area on the RIVAL interactive area of the blog offering related news and features. This is all accessible using the great archiving system that blogging provides as well as the integrated Google search features that visitors can use from any page on the RIVAL website and blog pages.

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Supporting their new blog, RIVAL uses Twitter and YouTube to deliver content directly to their customers in a new and engaging format. Citrus Frog designed and implemented their Twitter and YouTube accounts to continue their visual identity across the social networking sites in such a way that the visitor never feels they are away from the RIVAL website.

Visit the RIVAL Insurance website here: www.rivalinsurance.co.uk

Follow them on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/rivalinsurance

Check out their YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/rivalinsurance

Sole Creator

Posted by Citrus Frog at 4:24 pm

Adam Duffy the founder of ‘Looks Can Kill’ came to Citrus Frog with a bold idea for a new web based application which would allow his customers to design their own plimsoles.

His simple request was for a ‘Photoshop’ for footwear. We worked with Adam to help him flesh out his idea and to advise on what was achievable within his budget but which would also provide an exciting playground for his customers.

Our main goals were to unleash the creativity in all visitors to the Solecreator website with an easy to use user interface that any budding designer of any skill level could use.

So Citrus Frog set about creating an application which would allow visitors to the website to work with text, photographs, clip-art and hand drawn artwork to produce custom designs which were delivered electronically for the Sole Creator bespoke printing process. There were a number of existing shoe design applications on the internet but we managed to create an application which was streets ahead of other efforts, not only in terms of functionality and usability but also in the possibilities it opened up for would-be-designers wishing to bring their ideas to fruition.

The Sole Creator application was integrated smoothly into a fully functioning E-commerce website, also created by Citrus Frog. We were pleased to deliver a complete end-to-end experience from designing to order processing and administration of the whole process.

Wildtouch and Zeco

Posted by Citrus Frog at 2:10 pm

www.wildtouch.co.uk | www.zeco.uk.com | www.verveuk.com

Kiran Chohan is a UK based jewellery designer and manufacturer that prides themselves on the fact the all their jewellery is handmade in the United Kingdom.

Citrus Frog started working with Kiran back in 2005 when we started doing their print based marketing for their new brand of magnetic jewellery VERVE.

Since then we have gone on to become their supplier for all their print, design and web based media. We currently manage all their brands including KIRAN CHOHAN: United Kingdom, Wildtouch (wholesale and fashion), VERVE and ZECO.

For each of these unique brands we have created the visual identities, websites and e-commerce platforms, and their printed material as well as being on hand for consultation on brand values and marketing strategy.

Below: Visual Identity for VERVE, WILDTOUCH, KIRAN CHOHAN and ZECO

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Below: Websites and E-commerce for VERVE, WILDTOUCH and ZECO

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Below: A selection of printed material for VERVE, WILDTOUCH, KIRAN CHOHAN and ZECO

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Visit the Zeco website here: www.zeco.uk.com

And why not follow Zeco Jewellery on Twitter too! www.twitter.com/zecouk

Visit the Verve website here: www.verveuk.com

And why not follow Verve Magnetic  Jewellery on Twitter too! www.twitter.com/verveuk

Visit the Wildtouch website here: www.wildtouch.co.uk

FIVE / 5th Gear / Gadget Show

Posted by Citrus Frog at 3:21 pm

Citrus Frog has produced various t-shirts and other printed material for channel FIVE’s two flagship shows Fifth Gear and The Gadget Show over the years.

Our favourite design was the Tiff t-shirt that was a weekly prize on Fifth Gear in 2008, along with a car! The t-shirt featured Tiff Needell’s face, a whopping pair of wings and the slogan “I Ride with Tiff” blazoned across the front. We even got asked to do a special edtition one for Vicki Butler Henderson that had “Tiffette” on it instead of the standard slogan.

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Citrus Frog has also produced certificates for the show’s competition winners, and various Gadget Show T-shirts that have featured in many of the program’s items.

Why not check out The Gadget Show web TV here: www.fwd.five.tv/gadget-show

Also take a look at Fifth Gear web TV: www.fwd.five.tv/fifth-gear

Kings of Neon

Posted by Citrus Frog at 3:58 pm

www.kingsofneon.com

Kings of Neon is the largest online retailer of customised plimsolls in the UK that works with many up and coming designers from around the British Isles.

Citrus Frog created their E-commerce store for them back in 2008, and since then it has gone from strength to strength coming number 15 in FHM’s top 100 websites, and appearing in many press articles from Elle, NME, Bliss, Shout, Zoo, The Daily Mirror and Sunday Express.

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We also worked a lot on their Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and have got Kings of Neon very high across all their key search terms in both Google.co.uk and Google.com, regularly appearing 3rd – 5th for “Plimsolls” and coming 2nd for “Design your own trainers” worldwide only behind NIKEiD.

Our aim with the Kings of Neon website was to create a neon haze of bright colours and a feeling of 1980’s street culture. Its a fun site with some amazing footwear, and we suggest you check it out now!

Visit the Kings of Neon website here: www.kingsofneon.com

And why not follow Kings of Neon on Twitter too! www.twitter.com/kingsofneon