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Web design as detailed as the shoes themselves

Our friends Sara and Nick crackle with new ideas. The concept of Billy Ruffian (there's a great story behind the name) is all theirs. So too are the shoes, beautifully designed and hand made. Not very many of them, but so nice they are building a loyal following. They knocked at our door because they wanted to find partners to help develop the branding and pave the way for increased marketing exposure. It is an online only business so the website is pivotal. We spent some time with Sara and Nick talking about the brand and getting a feel for its personality. And its the personality we love and gives Billy Ruffian the real opportunity to quickly grow. The brand has a skew to those of more discerning taste and we have a quirky, friendly and intelligent style of talking. This set the tone for our website designs. We stuck to our guns on the imperative of stylish, professional photography (thanks as ever to Photopia). We styled the site with similar flair and detail. Ultimately, the site is a shop but like a retail environment it is the style and the detail which creates the atmosphere. That's just what we tried to create in the Billy Ruffian shop.

Whilst creating the design of the shop we were busy developing a far slicker e-commerce system to help Sara, including integration into the systems of her preferred courier services. More time to help customers, less time duplicating admin.

Now we feel the elements are in place. A brand with personality. A website as carefully constructed as the shoes. And a growing customer base who get it ... and are happily sharing the story.

 

 

 

Orphans Calendar as desktop wallpaper

Due to popular demand ... well, anyway, we're making each month of our 2016 'Essential Dates' calendar available as a wallpaper for your computer. So instead of looking up to see the real calendar hanging on your wall you can keep your eyes pinned on your computer. Or if you are on the move, keep it on your tablet. No need to thank us, all part of the service.

THE ORPHANS CALENDAR - NOW THE YEAR CAN BEGIN

Every year Orphans produce a calendar. Sometimes it is ready in time for the New Year! In recent years it has built quite a following with our customers, many of whom anticipate it's arrival and are eager to see if it is a notch up on previous years. So here at Orphans we've realised that the pressure is back on us. We can't just serve up 12 landscapes of Herefordshire scenery.

Can we recommend a good photographer?

There's nothing which drains the colour from our designer's faces more then when a customer declares that 'I've got the pics with me ... on my phone!' It's just that we've worked on many a site where for budgetary reasons (mainly) we've had to head down the stock library route. Try as we might there's something unmistakeably familiar about these images!