We have been working really closely the past couple of months with the team over at Red Dove Designs on the project of fully rebuilding and developing their website. This has been an really large project but they have been an absolute pleasure to work with.

Red Dove Designs hand-make a range of exclusive designer invitations to suit their clients event, style and budget. They are well known for their service and customer satisfaction which is evident in the amount of positive feedback and repeat business that they receive.

We developed the entire website around the WordPress back-end which allows them to easily update the site with news blog articles and add new invitations whenever they have new work to show. There are a few custom additions which allow users to interact with them which we have incorporated include live Facebook commenting, individual page sharing and search browsing.

Visit the website on www.reddovedesigns.co.za

The guys over at Revolution are always looking for new ways to make sure that their products can reach far and wide. As they are based in South Africa, and the country being very fresh to internet shopping, they have decided to revert to a modernised version of the “old school” mailorder system where customers are able to browse product online and then place an order through email. This allows them as a company to reach customers without credit card access in small faraway towns while also assisting them to keep costs down which they kindly offer back to their customers which benefits everyone really.

We have just launched the website which we have coded for them by developing a fully customised template theme to be used on a WordPress install. We have also built in some custom features including randomised banner advertising, video spotlights, products of the week banners, latest products display, great search facilities, order forms, main promotion slideshow and then social network sharing of their products.

Visit the site on www.revolutiononline.co.za

We recently had some work shirts embroidered for our friends over at Eco Tech Heating Services so that their staff could wear them while out on field. They came out really nice.

If you are in or around the London / Kent area and need help with your heating / plumbing then make sure to chat with the EHS team on ecotechheatingservices.co.uk

A few months back we were contacted by the team at Gro Hair Stylists as they were in dire need of a website update. They were originally running a free website which was not working well for them as it was mostly flash based and they were not getting the traffic that they deserved … especially considering the beauty of their salons and the quality of their work.

We sat down with their brand over-looker, Gabriella, and discussed what the salon is currently working on and what they hope to achieve moving forward. Taking this all into account we set about coding their site based around the WordPress back-end which would allow for them to update the site as they need with new looks, news blogs, new products, service pricing updates and how-to videos.

The site launched just over 2 weeks ago and the viewership has already grown from 320 unique visitors a month to almost 600 since launching.

The salons are beautiful and definitely worth checking out if you are in the South West London area. Have a look at the website on www.grohairstyle.co.uk

We just received exciting news and the website we developed for The Highway Collective has been awarded the Performance VW magazine site of the month which is an absolute honour.

We have loved working with the guys over at The Highway Collective and are excited to have contributed to this exposure for them.

We have just completely (for now) working on an incredible project. We were commissions by the group from How To Love London to design and develop an interactive website for them to allow an easy-to-use platform for them to share their gems (special finds) in and around the beautiful city of London.

We used WordPress as the backend for the website and it has just gone live as a first version. We will be working closely with them over the next few weeks to adjust the site as we see necessary depending on what readers request.

We love the idea though … one website with free information of places and things to look out for that show you how to love London. Have a look at the website on www.howtolovelondon.co.uk

Today Dear Reader released their new album entitled Idealistic Animals and we are really excited because we handled the album photography as well as all the press photography leading up to and supporting this album. It’s a special album worth getting your hands on. This was done together with Marcus Maschwitz.

These are a few pages of the CD inlay where our images have been used.

We are excited to launch the Beau & Arrow website today allowing their amazing works to finally be showcased/represented online. We have loved working with the team over at B&A and know that this journey together is bound to be a long and exciting one in the future.

Beau & Arrow create edgy unique handmade silver jewellery and they do this with a passion. Be sure to look them up or visit the site on www.beauandarrow.co.uk

Our client, Saint Andrews Montessori, was featured in Jo Frost‘s At Home Parenting Magazine all about Montessori education and their beautiful school over in Islington, London.

We worked closely with the staff at Saint Andrews to shoot photographs that would accommodate the article as well as proof read the copy and write content for the feature. The magazine is out now but if you cannot get your hands on it then make sure to visit www.saintandrewsmontessori.com

Today we launched the website for The Skillful Zone which is a South African based education facility based on the UK model’s of after-school education where learning becomes fun for the children and students involved. Studio Melon designed the brand identity as well as the website which is developed around the WordPress Content Management System so that the client can directly update the website with ease.

We love this concept and the people that that run the company are great with such a passion for youth development so do make sure to check them out on www.theskillfulzone.co.za

Together with Marcus Maschwitz we photographed new promotional images of the guys from What Now to use for their current publicity and it was a really good time working with such a professional bunch of guys. They used two of the images for their tour posters / flyers so we thought we would share.

For the past two years we have continually worked with Yellow Capital Wealth Management to develop their brand identity and recently we completed the design and printed business cards for each of their key team staff. We ensured that these are clean and professional to match the rest of the brand.

The cards were printed on 300gsm quality card stock and finished with a Matt Laminate on both sides. This is the front and back of one of the cards.

This month we launched the website for St. Andrew’s Montessori which is based in Islington (N1) in North London. The website has been completely re-developed from scratch according to a brief that we worked closely on with the client.

The site features photographs that we shot during the development process so that it all ties in and works well together. You can see the website on www.saintandrewsmontessori.com

After working with Revolution for the last 7 years we sat down with the guys to discuss moving forward. The site started off as a simple static 3 pager to supply information only on the brand but it grew rapidly being upgraded along the line to run on a WordPress backend so that they could log articles monthly … this became weekly and then daily and they have over 1000 individual articles in the database and a monthly minimum of 5000 unique users.

We completely rethought the idea behind the site and it has now been redeveloped into a skateboarding online resource and we have just gone live. We are excited to see the site grow and develop further.

The site now incorporates featured articles along with category specific pages for Skate, Music and Art. It also has a daily video placement, a fully working events calendar linked up to their facebook events and advertising / promotion banners around the site that they can control and manage with ease.

Visit the site on www.revolution.co.za

The Studio Melon team have been extremely busy on a batch of amazing projects and our website has taken second seat because of this. However, we are working hard to make sure that this site is updated with latest information and showcases of recent projects and we aim to have this completed in the next week so please bear with us until then and make sure to check back soon.

So let us use this post to welcome you all back to the new year although its flying by already. We hope that you had a good time off during the festive season filled with close family time. All the best for the remainder of this year, 2011.

If you require immediate assistance or would like more information, please contact us directly.

Thank you for understanding.

Team Melon (10 February 2011)

We have just finished printing A4 Presentation Folders that we designed for Yellow Capital Wealth Management. The folders will be used to house the business and portfolio brochures that we completed earlier this year so that they can pass on their information along with their business card in one neat pack to future clients.

The folders were printed on 350gsm card stock and finished off with a Silk laminate both outside and inside.

Our close friends Marcus Maschwitz, Atticus and We Are The Ocean have put together a collaboration t-shirt that we have already ordered. It’s a great piece of art.

Together with photographer, Marcus Maschwitz, we were commissioned to capture images of the beautiful Limited Edition T3 Triumph “Ace 904 Thruxton Special” Ace Cafe Racer which was custom built by Tony Scott of T3 Racing.

The client’s brief requested that we shoot the bike in an urban / street / grime style that they could use to compile a brochure together with Ace Cafe London as they are marketing and selling the bike.

The hardest thing as a design company is trying to put time aside to update our own portfolio’s especially when we are working late hours to look after our clients and make sure that their deadlines are being met. Today we finally had a gap to update our Website Portfolio with a few of our favourite sites that we have worked on over the years. Hopefully it won’t take too long to update the rest of the site. Until then, if you have any questions, make sure to Contact Us and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Our web services include customized design and development according to client briefs as well as internet consulting, customized wordpress development, search engine optimization, web stats, content management, email database list management, e-shots, online marketing, hosting, domain registration and on going support.

We were extremely excited when the Verb family asked us to be apart of what they were doing and we got cracking on the back-end of their website so that it could be ready for their tight-deadline launch today. The site was developed around WordPress so that the crew can update the site with content and news on a daily basis with ease but we provide them with additional support on a weekly basis for larger changes that they need.

We love working with these guys and what they represent and it’s amazing working with them.

Visit their website on www.weareverb.com

The Highway Collective started when a group of friends decided they weren’t satisfied with the offerings (or lack of them) for VW fans in the scene, and set about creating their own. Intent on showing their passion for Volkswagen without having to buy into the ricey products that were currently available, the guys set out to create apparel that reflected their side of motoring.

They have been around for a few years now and we have always found an appreciation for what they are doing so we jumped when the opportunity was given to us to redesign and develop their website from scratch. We ripped the old site down and begin from the start so that we could include features we felt would be beneficial to their growth. The site was developed around WordPress so that the guys can update it in their own time and at their own pace with ease. The site features sections for them to post news, videos, press and then an online store where their merchandise is available for sale.

This one turned out great and we have a strong feeling that this is going to explode for them.

Visit their website on www.highwaycollective.com

Catherine Chater is an amazing make up artist based in London and she has worked closely with Marcus Maschwitz on photographic assignments so it is a privilege for us to announce the launch of her own portfolio website so that she can showcase some of the work she has been involved in.

The site has been designed and developed to work on the WordPress backend so that Catherine can update the news section as well as portfolio sections herself making sure that her work is constantly up to date.

You can visit her site on www.catherinechater.com.

Earlier this month we were commissioned to design and develop a website / portfolio showcase for Artistic Autobody which we were excited to be involved in because of the quality of their work.

The website brief outlined that the site needed to be simple yet effective in showcasing their brand of work as well as allowing them to easily update the site themselves with news of what is happening with in their company including updates on projects they are working on.

We really like the way that this one came out and look forward to seeing some of the new cars that these guys work on.

You can visit their website on www.artisticautobody.co.za

We’ve been working with KFD Skateboards for a few years now and we photographed a few of the current team riders to promote the new Tattoo series range of boards that are releasing soon.

These are 3 of our favourite graphics.

We recently photographed the boys from Zebra and Giraffe for their current press and upcoming EP artwork. Always a pleasure.