Off Road Paws is a true start-up business serving Boulder, Lafayette, Louisville, Broomfield, and Superior, Colorado. They came to us at the very beginning of their process for logo design, branding, mobile adaptive web design & development of a custom WordPress Content Management System for the business. We worked closely with the business owner to incorporate all her ideas and concepts into the logo design, and then extend those elements into a highly interactive website featuring HTML5 video and mobile adaptive design.
Logo Design & Branding
The initial challenge of this logo design was to incorporate visual elements to tie the Off Road Paws company name in closely with the logo icon. The client requested that the logo contain elements of mountains, trails, and a dog paw or dog silhouette in a simple, modern and elegant way. Due to the outdoor focus of this pet-sitting/pet-adventure business, we chose natural and organic colors for the logo icon treatment.
The paw icon of the logo treatment was the crux of this logo design project to incorporate all the requested elements in a logical and non cluttered and iconic way. We were able to achieve this by pulling in snow cap treatments into the individual paw pads, a winding trail into the main part of the paw, and convey all the concepts in a single icon for this logo. The typeface is 2 different weights of a slab-serif font style (Museo variation) that we modified to fit this logo design and the various layouts needed by the client. Here are a few examples of the logo treatments that were delivered to the client at the end of this phase of the logo design project to account for full color, single color, inverted colors, and various layout options:
Mobile Adaptive HTML5 Design & Development
It was clear to us from the beginning of this mobile adaptive HTML5 web design & development project that the website needed to use HTML5 video to strongly connect with the site audience, and communicate a love and connection with animals. Additionally, we wanted to leverage slow-motion video assets of dogs and people on the site in combination with simple and effective messaging above the HTML5 video. Large buttons are featured above the fold for the primary actions on the site, and lower sections of the homepage layout highlight the key services and activities clients can expect. A custom icon set was designed for this section of the page design, and makes the communication of the options clear and useful to site visitors. These are also carried over into the pricing tables on interior pages of the site.
Mobile adaptive considerations are always at the forefront of our thought and design process, and this is especially true when leveraging HTML5 video on site pages in a prominent way. As a fall back, the HTML5 videos will default to a “poster” image in the same space which is a still shot from the video itself, and should connect with mobile users in the same way without having to load large videos on the site.
The mobile adaptive experience on this site build-out was an important one to consider based on the anticipated customers for Off Road Paws. The greater Boulder / Lafayette / Louisville / Broomfield / Superior Colorado area is a very tech-savvy demographic, and likely has high expectations for website usability on mobile devices. Our goal for the mobile experience was to deliver a high-quality website that’s easy to use on small handheld devices, while still delivering key messaging content and simple navigation for mobile users.
WordPress Content Management System (CMS)
This entire website design & development project for Off Road Paws was built on the WordPress platform as a fully-functional content management system, giving the client full access to manage and change content on their site going forward without impacting the design elements and overall brand style. Allowing true content management on the sites we design and develop is a huge benefit and cost-savings to our clients over time, and we have found that leveraging and customizing the WordPress platform for content management is an ideal solution that saves our clients money of the long-term.
About the Client
Off Road Paws is a new startup Colorado business (2015) specializing in pet-sitting, trail running, and pet adventures to help give pets the attention and exercise they deserve. The owner and founder is a former veterinarian with over a decade of experience in that field.