cultureblog

With the launch of the new Durrani online retail division, S.A.W., we have had to take all of the advice we’ve given clients through the years about e-commerce and put it into practice in a very real way.  We always tell clients to stay in touch with their customer and their industry, and stay ahead of the curve when it comes to new trends, products, and techniques.  Since tradeshows are often a great way to do this, this weekend meant a trip to the Action Sports Retailer (ASR) show in downtown San Diego for the Durrani / S.A.W. team. 

In the Action Sports apparel industry, ASR is THE place to be, as it showcases products from over 700 brands in the action sports fashion and streetwear industry and promises to "ensure the growth of your customer base and keep your current customer satisfied."  It’s a place to check out new product lines, get a feel for the way the industry is trending, get some face-time in with the brands we already carry and forge relationships with those we’d like to carry.  Michaela McNamara, lead buyer for S.A.W., said,

"Meeting with others in the action sports retail community and networking are invaluable to our business.  The biannual ASR show is a great opportunity to see what products and trends will be a hit next season. It gives us a chance to forecast our purchases and determine the direction we’d like to take S.A.W." 

Some of the people and brands we were introduced to over the weekend include: Andre Sickinger with Filtrate Eyewear, an Australian sunglasses brand breaking into the US market; Ryan Farrelly, co-founder of Freeline, a company that invented and sells custom skates designed to give the feeling of skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing all in one; Malan Lai, owner of Laiph (pronounced Life), a Hawaiian brand that is dedicated to surfing, the ocean, and the outdoors. Their music, art and surfing influences are translated into their t-shirt, boardshorts and hoodie designs; and Ryan Davis with Spacecraft, an eco-friendly brand that specializes in handmade beanies that are knitted by local Indonesians in their villages.  These are some of the newer brands we’d like to incorporate into S.A.W.’s product line in the near future.  Check out S.A.W. online at www.skullsandwings.com

We were recently quoted in the September 10th issue of the online newsletter Ecommerce Notes, by Practical Ecommerce. This is something we stress to clients all the time. Sometimes in the rush to get their site designed and launched, many overlook just the simple basics like having solid product descriptions and clear images.

“Image is everything and online shoppers need to come as close to touching and feeling a product as possible. You need to overcome the obstacle of customers not being able to experience your product, like they can in a retail store. Take time to present your products in the best possible way with clear and vibrant images and accurate descriptions."

Joe McDonald, Managing Partner, Durrani Design

Click here to view the full newsletter and learn more about Practical Ecommerce.

Durrani Design and the launch of the new online apparel division, S.A.W. (at www.skullsandwings.com) was mentioned in the Regional Report section of the recent issue of the San Diego Business Journal.

ENCINITAS: Can’t Find Apparel You Want? Surf on Over to S.A.W.

Durrani Design has launched an online apparel division called SkullsandWings.com, dubbed S.A.W. The new operation sells boutique skate and surf brands that are hard to find on the shelves.

Durrani Design started in April 2007. Co-founder Joe McDonald says S.A.W. will address the gap in the market between what core retail stores will carry and emerging brands that are hard to find. The retailer has collected a lineup of local and edgy brand lines such as Raen sunglasses, Dekline Footwear, Ogio gear and Vestal watches, as well as green brands, including Elwood Clothing, Hippy Tree surf wear and MNKR Clothing.

“These days it’s getting harder and harder to separate the clothes from the lifestyle and the person,” said McDonald.

— Ned Randolph

Read more online at www.sdbj.com

They say a doctor is his own worst patient and the saying holds true with most businesses as well. Our own internal projects are always the last to get attended to but we were finally able to squeeze in some design and development time to re-launch or own company website. Previously, we had a relatively thin site that showcased some of our portfolio by type of work, as well as a company blog. The two sites, however, had very different designs and layouts. As with most companies, when we launched our blog a few years ago, it came after our primary site was already done and it was put together without spending much time unifying the sites and their themes. Many companies end up taking this approach just because they are limited on time and resources and they really just want to get their blog up and running. They compromise on design and branding and the blog ends up being this orphaned website that does not match their overall corporate look and feel.

It’s important, however to constantly go back and refine and polish your brand and your look so that you are always presenting a unified and coherent look to your customers.

Even though we just redesigned our website last October, we wanted to keep things fresh. So a task that has long been on our own to-do list is now complete and we are very excited by the end result. Our main site, our portfolio and our blog are now all using the same global design theme and the navigation is unified and consistent across all pages.

For much of the site, we used WordPress to manage the pages and content, as this is a superb content management system. We also separated our portfolio by type of work (website, photography, print and branding) and also by client and their industry. We think the presentation worked out well for us.

The lesson here, which is one that we also try to convey to our clients, is that your company website should not just be a “set and forget” one-time thing. It should grow with your company and be an ongoing project that is updated frequently and is part of your marketing plan that reflects your brand, products and services. Many companies just use their website as their online brochure that they create once but it can be so much more if you spend a little time building it right. It should be a tool that helps your business succeed, not just another to-do on your list weighing you down.

We invite you to browse through the refreshed presentation of our work, and as always, please let us know what you think… we love hearing your feedback.

We are excited to announce our new partnership with Estey & Bomberger, a leading California personal injury law firm headquartered in San Diego. Expanding into the legal field, Durrani was chosen to create their new logo, branding, print collateral, and website design. We are honored to be chosen from among several agencies to take on this project and are excited to show you the results in the coming months.

We’re excited to announce the launch of our newly designed Durrani website! Jump over to our main site at www.durranidesign.com and check it out.

It’s been almost a year and a half since launching our previous site and a lot has happened since then. Our client list has expanded and our talents and abilities have grown, so we’ve been long overdue for an upgrade.

The new site greatly improves the presentation of our client portfolio, organized by web design, print design and photography. The site is also built around a MySQL database for quick and efficient updating of information. As time went on, we found it more and more difficult to showcase the designs we are proud of to our perspective clients. Now we can post our latest and greatest works online immediately. Every business needs a showroom.

One of the biggest limitations many companies face is having a website that is out-of-date and hard to maintain. Their site doesn’t keep up with the growth and pace of their business. It’s important to make sure your company website is a tool for your marketing and sales departments, instead of overhead or just one more “to-do” obstacle for your staff to manage.

We invite you to browse through our updated portfolio and tell us what you think.

Our preferred shopping cart of choice has always been MIVA Merchant. We develop and support several other carts, but if we are building an e-commerce site from scratch or have the option of switching a client over, we use MIVA Merchant. MIVA is much easier to configure and customize and getting a site launched is faster. MIVA is also very expandable for the future growth of an online business.

Last year we designed and constructed a completely new MIVA 5.0 storefront for our client, Walleye Direct (www.walleyedirect.com). We’ve watched Walleye grow from a side-job dream idea to a full-time business with sales rolling in every day. We continue to manage the Walleye MIVA website and also provide SEO optimization and marketing.

We’re exited that WalleyeDirect.com was this months featured MIVA site in the MIVA Merchant Galleria.

Click here for the complete interview with Walleye owner Jesse Ness. And for some fresh Walleye fish from the brisk rivers of Canada, visit www.walleyedirect.com.

Our new Durrani vinyl window signs are up! Our graphic design services don’t just end with website and print. We provide sign design and printing services to clients and recently finished the window decal signs for our own Encinitas, CA office located right on Highway 101.

In December, we were notified by the San Diego Mayor’s Office that we had been awarded the project to perform photography services for the City of San Diego Think Blue Water Pollution Prevention Campaign. Many of Durrani’s clients are in the surf and skate industry and several members of our staff are avid surfers, so we are excited to be involved and working with the city to help promote clean water and protect our beaches, coastlines and surf spots. Our staff photographers can’t wait to get out into the local beaches and capture the nature, people and scenic views that make San Diego County such a great place to live.

The images below are some of the photography that we submitted to the city to win this bid. All photos were taken by staff photographer and managing partner, Joe McDonald. Click on the collage to view the slideshow.

Happy Holidays from the entire crew at Durrani Design!

Our custom Durrani holiday greeting cards are finished and in the mail! We wanted to send out the traditional holiday card to our clients but also wanted an excuse to flex our creative mind. As a graphic design agency, we always try to remember that everything we design is a potential marketing piece. Aside from the obvious happy holiday message and thank you that we wish to extend to all our clients, we also want clients to see our holiday card and be inspired to call upon us for their design and marketing needs.

The card was a square cut 5″x5″ that folded in half vertically. We took it one step further and matched it with a custom fitting green translucent envelope so the card design showed through. And to top it off, we added a custom printed photo stamp from Stamps.com with the Durrani “D” logo and green ~tilda.

We’re proud of the custom graphic design work we do and hope clients get excited about the possibilities for their business.

Wishing you and yours a happy holiday season!

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