Every month we compile a list of the Power of 9 team’s personal ‘fur balls’ (lowlights) and ‘purrfects’ (highlights). It’s a fun way to get to know each other better and share snippets of our office conversations.

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When AMERICAN shutters approached us to enhance their brand we had to start thinking like interior designers and home décor enthusiasts. We wanted to translate the ease and elegance of AMERICAN shutters and blinds in the branding, website and social media communication.

Brief
AMERICAN shutters wanted a new look for their website, brochures, business cards and email signatures. They planned to exhibit at the HOMEMAKER’s 2009 expo, a perfect event to launch the evolved brand, which given the time line meant to we had to work fast to maximise this opportunity.

Background
AMERICAN shutters have been manufacturers of customised louvre shutters since 1985 and are one of the first companies to bring American style shutters to South Africa. Founders Stephen and Karina Palmer know that being first doesn’t guarantee anything and therefore decided to enhance brand identity to maintain their position as industry leaders.

Concept and creative execution
We gave the site a fresh look and enhanced it with features such as information libraries from news, answers to frequently asked questions, customer references/ recommendations and advice.

The original website looked like this:

We redesigned it to look like this:

We added an online gallery showroom which allows visitors to select shutters and/or blinds according to function, colour and style preference.

“The online showroom was the most challenging part of building this website,” said Daryl Glass, our creative director, “It had to be designed in Flash and required intricate coding and database management functionality.”

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