Bringing Sports & Fitness To Life!

If you live in the Charlotte, NC area and you're into the fitness scene, or even if you're not... you have probably seen a few new orange signs shining brightly. Sports & Fitness (S&F) clubs are a new option in the fitness industry here in town. When I was approached early in 2009 by the owners of S&F, I was excited to hear their story about how the Charlotte area needed some better options when it comes to fitness centers.

We started the project on the ground floor with the development of the S&F logo and branding image. While listening to the goals of the S&F ownership and where they wanted to go with this new concept, it became apparent that they wanted to establish themselves as a clean, modern and professional brand. When it came to the logo, it was important to show the brand as an active and exciting place to take care of your fitness needs. The "swoosh S" mark (as it lovingly came to be known) was the final winner in a logo designing spree that lasted well over a month. The "swooshes" bisecting the "S" stand to show motion and a sense of activity. When it came time to decide on the corporate colors, their outlook was simple... "we want a bold color combination that will instantly stand out and identify our branding from that of our competitors." In the end, a color combination of a bright and bold orange and black was the winner!

Once the logo and identity was established we began the work needed to further that "look" into the advertising, marketing materials and website for the brand. Furthering the notion of the "swoosh" representing motion, we developed a consistent brand image with a prominent orange swoosh on all S&F materials. Having the overall "look" settled upon, we began the process of building the S&F website.

The overall design of the S&F site is closely tied to the clean, modern look of the other marketing materials, utilizing a pretty restricted color palette of orange, black and shades of grey. As for the functionality of the site, we implemented a Content Management System (CMS) for quick and easy client-side changes, Google Calendars for easy and quick updates to the various club fitness schedules, a banner management system, and all kinds of various back-end goodies that most visitors will never see. The site is still a work in progress with many new features coming in the next round of site additions, or as we call it "S&F v.2.0." These additions will include some new sections of the site showcasing new features offered by S&F, the ability to automatically sign up and process club dues online, and re-working the layout of a few pages to better represent the content. So, until then here we are with the new S&F website v1.0.

If you get a few minutes, or if you're in the market to join a new fitness center (we all have those New Year's resolutions to keep up with, ya know...) drop by and check it out.

www.sportsandfitnessclubs.com

-Justin

Happy New Year!

Well, the time is upon us again... it's time to put another year in the books. I just wanted to take a few moments to send out a special "Thank You!" to everyone, especially our group of awesome clients, for making 2009 the best year yet for Sublmnl Design!

So to each and every Sublmnl Design client... I want to say, thank you so much for allowing me/us the privilege of working with you and I look forward to working with you guys for many, many years to come! To those who aren't SD clients (yet), I also want to wish you a happy new year... and I look forward to possibly hearing from you in 2010!

Everyone have a safe and happy holiday! We'll see you next year!

-Justin

Sublmnl Design :: Photography

Photography is something I have always been interested in, and its something I've always said "Hey, you know... I really need to invest in some photo equipment and do some photography." Other than reading blogs and checking out various photographer's websites in my professional design work, I haven't really done anything with my desire to get into photography since taking some photo classes back in college. So in early 2009 I decided that was one of my main goals for myself over the next few years. So I began investing in some equipment, reading lots of books, reading lots of blogs, joining photography forums and all-around jumping head-first into the world of becoming a photographer.

I am not only delving into photography for my own personal artistic endeavors, I am also filling a much-needed service void for my clients. Photography and design go hand-in-hand, so it was a natural fit to add photography services to the ever-growing list of services offered by Sublmnl Design. There are many times that I have heard clients say, "I know we need some good photos for this project, but we just don't have the budget to hire an expensive photographer." Because of situations such as this, I saw the need to fill the void and offer services at a more competitive price-point for my clients. Just because a client doesn't have an extra $2,000-3,000+ to spend on photography services, doesn't mean they should be forced to work with sub-par photography in their materials.

Now, just because SD is now offering in-house photography services doesn't mean that we are turning our backs on our current list of awesome photography partners. There are just certain situations where a client's needs don't quite fit the budget needed to out-source photography services. So here we are... the new photo blog is now up and running, so feel free to drop by and check it out!

www.sublmnlphoto.blogspot.com

Til' next time,
Justin

Giving A Fresh Look To Old Stone Winery!

A few months ago an email came through the Sublmnl Design contact form from the new owners of the Salisbury, NC based winery "Old Stone Winery" (OSW). The email said, "We have been working with another designer/developer, and they just aren't coming through for us. We need help!" So naturally, I had to reply and come to the rescue!

After speaking with the client over the phone we were able to come to the conclusion that they not only needed a web design, but also a complete branding overhaul! OSW has been a staple on most people's trip down I-85 from the great white north, down to the NC/SC beaches. It has a great reputation for award-winning wines, with almost all of their various wines winning at least one medal in each competition that they've entered over the years. The main problem they had is, that up to this point they have not had a professional image that projects the notion of being an award-winning winery. So our first step was to bring OSW into a more professional light.

The project started with a new logo/identity system. One of the only things that had been consistent over the years in the OSW branding was the image of a horse on the bottle labels, brochures, etc... To keep with this brand familiarity, we updated the logo with imagery of a galloping horse to signify OSW's roots as an old horse farm. The use of a stylized serifed font was implemented for the "Old Stone" and coupled with a more modern san-serif font for the "Winery" in the logo, to show how OSW was sticking to it's roots while moving toward the future under new ownership.

When it came time to begin the web design/development, it was important that the brand was shown as a professional and stylish operation. The use of rich colors and many textures shows that the winery is a modern operation who hasn't forgotten its humble roots as a farm. The site features a content management system on the back-end for easy client-side site management, as well as, e-commerce capabilities and the ability to sign up for OSW's Wine Club.

One aspect of this site that was a little different from past projects, was the use of Sublmnl Design's new photography services. Professional on-site photography shows the winery through rich, quality photos rather than using stock photography, or utilizing the client's point-and-shoot camera photos. Photography is something that can make, or break, any design and I think the OSW ownership made the wise decision to invest in quality photography for the site.

Thus concludes today's post... time to get back to the grind to launch one more website before Christmas shows it's beautiful face on Friday!

www.oldstonewines.com

- Justin

AfterWork CLT & CHS

As some of you may know, we have been working with the guys over at Carolina Nightlife (CarolinaNightlife.com) for quite some time. So it seemed like a natural choice for us to link up again when it came time to work on the design/development of their new spin-off company "AfterWork CLT" and "AfterWork CHS."

The idea behind the AfterWork organization is to appeal to an audience who look forward to happy hour after a long day at the office. The type of people who enjoy a drink at a swanky downtown bar after leaving the office for the day, but don't want to stay out late enough to be lumped into the "nightlife" crowd. The company focuses on hosting and promoting events targeted to the late 20's/early 30's professional crowd at various higher-end establishments in downtown Charlotte, NC and Charleston, SC (hence the "CLT" and "CHS" in the name).

The project started with the development of the AfterWork logo(s). The mark needed to be bold, simple and easily recognizable. To achieve these goals, we used a heavy block typeface for the main "AFTERWORK" brand, with the city surname in a smaller type beside it. To further the idea of the "happy hour" nature of this organization's events, a bottle shape was formed in the negative space in the "W" of the word "Work." Orange is used in the branding not only because it's a bright, bold color, but also to further the notion of this organization's ties to the Carolina Nightlife brand.

When it came time to develop the websites for both cities, we stuck with a simple to-the-point design where visitors could very quickly and easily find the ads for that day's event. The sites are identical in design and functionality, but will differ in content based on the events being held in each city. The sites are designed as a simple weekly calendar with each day having a spot in the main navigation. To view each day's event, the visitor would click on the day and quickly see the event's ad in the window below.

To add a little "pizzazz" to these sites, because of their simple nature, we used a nice little jquery script that slides the banners to their respective day based on which link the visitor clicks. Another cool aspect of these sites is the use of a sophisticated banner management system to control the event banner pages. This makes the updating and changes a much easier process for everyone involved!

Now, I know that a "nightlife" or "party" type of site isn't everyone's cup-o-tea, but even if you're not into the social scene... you should still drop by and check them out if only for their simple, but effective functionality.

www.afterworkclt.com
www.afterworkchs.com

Back to work!
- Justin