Urban Originals

Our brief was to create a stylish and stunning website for funky accessories retailer Urban Originals; increase online sales, site traffic through search engine optimization, and improve brand awareness. The website would be co-ordinated with a print/billboard campaign.

Secondary objectives were to provide a cutting-edge ecommerce experience and enhanced product viewing, searching and sorting capability. Checkout process was to be streamlined as much as possible, and the addition of useful features like wishlists and "my account" were also required.

The entire site needed to be managed through a comprehensive CMS that allowed site managers to manage all product details, categories, customers, news, press, and orders.

Flash/Ajax provide smooth and fluid transitions throughout the site, from scrolling categories to "no-refresh" additions to cart, enhancing the overall experience whilst retaining lightning quick speed.
Flash zoom image functions provide a engaging way to examine product detail without leaving the page.

Database queries and backend processing are all optimised for speed, speed, speed. The site is managed by Evolution 7's comprehensive Insight CMS that drives all content to the site.

The site is search engine optimised with friendly URL's so although the entire site is run from a database driven system the URL's will be correctly indexed. Product and category keywords have been appropriately optimized to maximise SEO exposure.

The creative approach taken was to incorporate very deep, vibrant colours and a sense of the funky and diverse style that UO offer, but without overwhelming the products themselves. The deco "wallpaper" and ornamental motifs add flourish while the "hero" model shots add a dose of sex appeal and show products "in context".

The actual layout was kept deliberately clean and functional as the core purpose of the site is to sell product; the brand experience is of no purpose if it is difficult to actually buy anything.

As noted previously, Flash and Ajax are used throughout to enhance the overall impact of the site but without sacrficing usability.