Design approach/rationale
The client had a strong idea of how their site should be laid out and wanted it to mirror an existing magazine advert. The only other important feature requested was to include the British flag in the design as an immediately recognisable symbol providing an obvious connection to the focus of the company: British cars.
The target audience for the site is broad, ranging from the drivers of modern British FWDs right down to enthusiasts of British cars from the past 50 years, so the design was to be neither too retro nor too modern.
The owner of British Car Components (BCC) is also the owner of a rare ex-works rally team Austin Mini Cooper which has a very interesting racing history from the 1960's. It was decided that an additional web page would be provided to showcase this car's history and restoration.
The design Smashing Time provided to BCC mirrored the magazine style as requested. A long single page was used, divided into columns and boxes of information. The design also made use of the red, green, white and beige livery of BCC's distinctive Melbourne shopfront. The Union Jack flag was cleverly blended into this colour scheme to provide the visual cues that the client had requested.
The opening animation sequence was inspired by an old advert used by BCC in the 1970-80's and highlights the vehicles that BCC support. |
Comments
The response to the website has, at times, overwhelmed the staff at BCC. The website was launched late December 2002 over the Christmas break, which was
thought to be a good time for a quiet site launch, but order enquiries were received within 4 hours of the site going live!
By April 2003 BCC had enquiries and/or sales from UK, Holland, Germany, South America, Spain, South Africa, Japan, Indonesia and from every state in Australia and website hits reached over 2000. Every sale outside of the local Melbourne area has been attributed to the website as BCC don't advertise outside Victoria.
Telephone enquiries since the website was launched have also shown a marked increase, suggesting that people who find the website via the internet are impressed by what they see and read, and then contact BCC to discuss their requirements personally.
The addition of the extra web page containing information about the ex-works Rally car has also been extremely successful as it has drawn enthusiasts from around the world to the BCC website, and an enthusiasts website in the UK has even posted an article on their own website that indirectly provided great free publicity for BCC's site.
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