The overall objective was to deliver a new e-commerce website that ensured greater user experience, highlighted the choice of available breaks in a clear and concise way, and enabled users to search for their breaks through a number of channels without being overwhelmed by the available functionality.

Planning

The project began with an intense planning phase which involved Creative State and partners Occupancy Marketing and Ezone Software.

To ensure we fully understood easy-breaks.com’s needs we met with all partners and mapped out a phased design and digital review, which took into consideration the improvements easy-breaks.com wanted to make, as well as research into competitors, target customers and market trends. We also reviewed current search engine optimisation reports which provided insight into how existing customers were using the site.

Following the review stage we presented concepts as well as a range of beneficial digital ideas that would help to not only shape the design but market the website changes to new and existing customers.

Solution

The improved design not only reflects the fresh approach of easy-breaks.com but delivers a range of new features that enable users to book quickly and easily. Emphasis has been placed on providing as much information as possible in a clear and concise way and new features include a search facility where visitors can search by break type, by hotel or by both.

A range of late deals and featured breaks are also available, which can be adjusted to suit taste and budget, and each hotel has its own page where you can discover more about the location, as well as view image galleries, online videos and customer reviews and available breaks. Customers can also manage breaks, view booking history and write reviews through an exclusively branded ‘mybreaks’ accounts.

To launch the site, we created a ‘new features’ animation which provided an overview of new and improved functionality.

Result

The design has proved a great success with customers and statistics have shown an immediate improvement in the way users interact with the website. The time spent on the site has improved, and sections such as late deals are more widely used. Customers are also making use of their ‘mybreaks’ page by managing breaks and writing reviews.

“Since the easy-breaks.com website has been redesigned the average time that users spend on the site has increased and the number of users leaving from the home page has dropped by 7%. The most important trend is the shift in the way that users are browsing the site, with traffic to some of the main offers and deals pages increasing many times over due to the inclusion of changeable drop down lists of offers on the home page.”

Jonathan Ellis, Occupancy Marketing

Magenta Ink! is a growing online stationery business owned and run by established graphic designer Adrienne Kerr. Alongside her keen eye for style, Adrienne has many invaluable years worth of experience in the social stationery and wedding industry.

Creative State first worked with Adrienne in 2007 and has since collaborated with Magenta Ink! on a number of projects including ongoing website developments, email marketing campaigns, and more recently the revamp of their new online shop which launched in March 2010.

The new e-commerce website benefits from an editorial feel, which was crucial to the development of a simple yet effective online ordering system for stationery. We found that whilst a number of online shops cater for the ordering of wedding stationery online,  it can be a complex process due to the various printing techniques, typestyle and ink choices on offer. Our challenge was to make this an enjoyable experience for the customer, particularly as users have the ability to add motifs to their designs and even have their very own personalised or wedding monograms created.

Adrienne commented on the Magenta Ink! blog: “Many thanks to the extremely talented team at Creative State for their valued expertise over the past six months…They are an incredible team of dedicated designers with exceptional talent and skills. Developing a brand over a period of time is not always an easy task, especially with so many other websites vying for attention…I love the fact that our image has remained clean, fresh and modern. Thank you Creative State.”

Thank you Magenta Ink! and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership.

We’ve launched the first in a series of online videos that are being created for Fountain Court Apartments, a company offering serviced apartments in Edinburgh’s city centre.

The launch video features their four city centre locations; EQ2, Harris, Grove and Grove Executive, as well as the new Fountain Court Cafe. It also highlights the shopping and entertainment opportunities available to those visiting the city of Edinburgh and introduces the various transport links.

For more information about our online video services and how they could benefit you and your business please get in touch.

JCI is a worldwide network of young active people in their twenties and thirties who organise and take part in a range of activities to improve their communities and develop themselves. JCI UK is part of the global JCI network which has 200,000 members in 120 countries. They have “chambers” in towns and cities in several parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and are also known as the Junior Chamber of Commerce and British Junior Chamber.

Sarah Jane Robertson, Director commented: “We’re excited to be working with JCI UK on this project. Not only do they recognise the importance of having a strong online presence, they appreciate that the online video medium provides a unique opportunity for organisations to reach a wider audience.”

Fountain Court Apartments has appointed Creative State to deliver a range of online videos promoting their serviced apartments in Edinburgh’s city centre.

The first of the online videos will feature their EQ2, Harris, Grove and newly designed Grove Executive apartments, as well as some spectacular views of the city of Edinburgh. It will also capture the diversity of Fountain Court Apartments and their success in both the city break and corporate markets.

This follows from our successful bid to design their new website which launched in 2008.

EasyBreaks is one of the UK’s leading holiday companies, offering great value short breaks throughout the country, and we’re delighted to be working with our partners Occupancy Marketing and Ezone Software to deliver a website that ensures greater user experience and the vast choice, value for money and exciting and unique break ideas that EasyBreaks have come to be known for.

As part of the delivery of this project we’ll also be assisting EasyBreaks with their social media strategy and delivering online video and animation services to accompany the launch of their new website.

Take a look at the review!

“Good quality stationery is surprisingly hard to come by without paying a visit to Bond Street, so it’s great to find a company like Magenta Ink! supplying a whole range online, as well as from its shop north of the border in Edinburgh.

ELEGANT & DIVERSE RANGE

This is a simply laid out and elegantly designed website, which showcases an extensive collection of bespoke and off-the-shelf stationery options. From stylish note cards, stylized notepaper and business cards to wedding invitations, quality printed correspondence and designer greeting cards – it is great fun browsing through the ranges, which are all beautifully photographed. The Magenta Ink! leather range, uses fine Moroccan leather in a variety of colours, combined with gold detailing of pages within the guest books, diaries and journals. There is also a comprehensive range of Christmas gifts and cards as well as a stylish gift wrapping service.

DESIGNER STYLE

Magenta Ink! stocks some of the top designer stationery products from Britain, Europe and around the world, with names including Crane & Co, G Lalo, Meri Meri and Vera Wang to name a few. We love the Custom Made Favour Boxes with novel designs such as a Square Box with a Heart Shaped Lid, the Cake Slice Box and even the Takeaway Box Style for one of the most elegant takeaways going. The style and quality of Magenta Ink! stationery rivals that of some of its most elegant southern counterparts, but it beats them on price time and time again. Watch out for its new blog, which keeps you posted with snaps and news of what’s happening at a new player in the world of superior stationery.”

Have you had a good experience of shopping online with Magenta Ink? Submit a mini review here.

The branding for the conference was to remain in keeping with the style we’ve created across the organisation’s literature design, and our main task was to successfully encapsulate the concept of creativity and leadership, the theme for this year’s event.

About the UK National Conference 2009:

JCI Leeds believes that it is important to promote “Creativity and Leadership” to its members in order to effect positive change and encourage them to focus on new opportunities. There has never been a better time to push these concepts than in the current economic climate and JCI Leeds feel confident that it can host a fantastic and beneficial weekend of activities.

The event will include, to name a few highlights, a superb welcome party on the Friday evening, interactive training and personal development sessions and the fabulous showcase Saturday night gala dinner. The theme of the social events is to be announced shortly, so please keep checking the JCI Leeds website for further details at www.jcileeds.org.uk or join them on Facebook to keep up to date as the exciting plans are released!

The website required the development of a bespoke content management solution to enable the company to manage content and online bookings, as well as handle online sales.

Kevin Robertson, Director at Edinburgh Holiday Lets commented:

“When setting up any new venture, it is essential that the guidance received is accurate, timely and cost effective.  With Creative State, we had an extremely communicative contact who went out of her way to assess our needs, and to provide the product we wanted, in the timescales given.

Within our first few days of going live, we had already started to receive bookings, which proves the worth of employing a company as effective as Creative state.”

Kevin Robertson, Director
edinburghholidaylets.co.uk

About Edinburgh Holiday Lets

If you’re looking for self catering accommodation for a holiday or city break, Edinburgh Holiday Lets is the ideal choice for those wishing to stay in the festival city of Edinburgh. Their apartments are available to tourists and visitors as well as business people looking for corporate lets.

To find out more about Creative State’s content management and online booking systems please get in touch.

They were keen to bring the site up to date with current standards, and working with our partners Occupancy Marketing and Ezone Software, we’ve delivered a site that ties in with the hotel group’s existing marketing collateral.

We were also commissioned to produce a series of quality Flash animations to promote the picturesque surroundings of the hotels.

Find out more about our website design services, or learn more about how you can partner with us.