Website for WebsiteWonder – a complete web design and development solution targeted at small businesses and organizations. www.websitewonder.in

I may be doing a lot more than just designing in my current professional career, but deep down inside, I am and always will be a designer. I simply love designing interesting new layouts and hand-coding them. It’s been almost a decade since I first started doing this and I’ve come a long way indeed. This was the best time to start up something of my own. Also, the reason that clients here in India don’t have a budget when it comes to having their own websites, sparked the idea of WebsiteWonder.

WebsiteWonder is one of a kind design service which caters to clients who do not have the budget to hire the services of a design studio. There are thousands of small businesses and organizations out there which will need to tap the online audience. Eventually, they will. This is where we come in. We decided to provide this segment a really economical solution for having their online presence. Websites start at a miniscule amount of Rs. 4,999/- which is less than a $100 USD.

Went live on:

10th April, 2010

Yahoo! India Powerpoint template for Cadbury. This was designed during one of the big pitches to confectionery giant Cadbury.

Production date:

26th February, 2010

About Cadbury:

Cadbury is a leading global confectionery company with an outstanding portfolio of chocolate, gum and candy brands. They have direct operations in over 60 countries, selling products in almost every country around the world.

Their core purpose "creating brands people love" captures the spirit of what they are trying to achieve as a business. They collaborate and work as teams to convert products into brands. Simply put, they spread happiness!

Yahoo! Messenger IMVironment for Vodafone. An IMVironment ("IMV") is an interactive background that you can add to your IM conversations. Find out more here!

Right from the day they appeared on television, the Zoozoos have become a brand identity for Vodafone. Gone are the days of the pug. They are everywhere: on television, on hoardings and on the internet. They even ventured into niche areas like Winamp skins and many others which was a great move. So when we proposed the idea of a branded IMV to them, they couldn’t say a NO! And that’s how it started.

I’ve been doing IMVs for a lot of brands now. But this one was special. Together with Hungama and Ogilvy & Mather India, we harnessed the power of AS3 and took things a step ahead. We introduced custom actions in this one. You could poke or tickle your friends and the Zoozoo would behave accordingly. And this was not just for you to see, but your friend on the other end could also see it in real time. The number of downloads were breathtaking. Yes, it was a huge success!

To promote this IMVironment, a co-branded banner was also designed.

Production dates:

17th through 24th December, 2009

About the campaign:

Zoozoos are advertisement characters promoted by Vodafone during the Indian Premier League Season 2 (IPL). Zoozoos are white, ghost-like creatures with ballooned bodies and egg heads who are used to promote various value added services of Vodafone. These ads though look animated are actually real humans in the Zoozoo costumes. The ads were created by Ogilvy & Mather, an agency that handles Vodafone advertisements and the films were shot by Bangalore based Nirvana Films in Cape Town, South Africa.

Full page banner ad on the Yahoo! India homepage property for Power Plus Home Loans by Axis Bank. The creative is a simple web execution of Axis Bank’s print ad which talks about their low rate of interest on home loans.

Production date:

1st December, 2009

About the product:

In November 2009, Axis Bank introduced a special home loan scheme with an interest rate of 8% for a limited period.

Home loan takers could avail of this scheme at an interest rate of 8% cent for the first year. From the second year onwards these loans would carry a floating rate of interest based on the bank’s Mortgage Reference Rate.

Moreover, the customer could close the loan before its maturity with no prepayment penalty being charged by the bank.

Website for Muzic Matters – an artist management agency dedicated to promoting music, dance and entertainment. www.muzicmatters.in

Went live on:

9th November, 2009

Services provided:

Design / Development in WordPress
XHTML / CSS / Javascript / AJAX
Domain / Hosting
Email setup
Newsletters

What they needed:

A lot of artists + music groups out there are unable to promote themselves in spite of being incredibly talented. Muzic Matters, through its effective network and keen understanding of the music scene, offers these artists a platform to promote their musical talents. Likewise, they required a website which would include a huge repository of artists, events, news and interviews. In short, they wanted a CMS based website which would make it real quick to update the heap loads of information coming out of the Indian music scene.

What did I do:

I decided to use WordPress as my CMS engine as I had already witnessed a lot of developers exploiting the power of this blogging engine to come up with extraordinary CMS solutions. Obviously, the base design + colours had to adhere to the parent company viz. Faia Group, so technically, all the focus was on the development side and lesser on the design side. And since this was the first time I tried my hands on WordPress, I was really glad that the amazing people at Muzic Matters gave me complete liberty over the time I took to complete the project.

The Result:

A first for my portfolio and a great one at that. I definitely did put a smile on the client’s face with this one.

Sponsored Stationery in Yahoo! India Mail for Blackberry Curve 8520 from Airtel. A Stationary is basically a theme for your email message which allows advertisers to build brand affinity with users in a fun and viral way.

Production date:

8th September, 2009

About the product:

Airtel and RIM bring the BlackBerry Curve 8520 Smartphone a.ka. Gemini to India. And what’s the most incredible thing about this phone is the price. Blackberry phones are usually known for their expensive price tag. But the Gemini breaks the myth. The phone is aimed at youth and consumers looking for messaging / email, social networking, music and entertainment.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 will be available nationally from Airtel’s authorised outlets through Bharti Teletech Limited across India on 7th August.

Sponsored Stationery in Yahoo! India Mail for Virgin Mobile. A Stationary is basically a theme for your email message which allows advertisers to build brand affinity with users in a fun and viral way.

Apart from the one which went live, I had also designed 4 individual Stationary creatives for each character viz. Pebbo, Stonya, Rocky and Chip. However, these didn’t go live, but were worth mentioning here. Click on the buttons below to preview each.

To promote this stationary, a co-branded banner was also designed.

Production dates:

4th June through 3rd July, 2009

About the campaign:

Virgin Mobile unveiled a new campaign, to promote its latest tariff offering of free local calls, V2V. The telecom company has reiterated its tongue-in-cheek humour, although this time, it is with four animated characters.

Pebbo, the protagonist, who is portrayed as cool, witty and inventive; Stonya, suave, sexy and the only girl in the boy gang; Rocky who is large, clumsy and thick in the head; and finally Chip, the group’s geek. These are a young bunch of college going friends who deliberately create stories and then share them with their friends over a phone call.

Rollover co-branded banner ad for Five Star Audibles. Audibles are small animations within Yahoo! Messenger that accompany canned instant messages to spice up the IM conversation. This banner was developed specifically to promote these Audibles.

Both creatives feature my colleagues and good friends Mazhar and Uditvanu. We did a really quick photo shoot for the same and made use of them in these banners. The executions came out pretty well and the client was thrilled to see them.

Production date:

15th to 22nd May, 2009

About Cadbury:

Cadbury is a leading global confectionery company with an outstanding portfolio of chocolate, gum and candy brands. They have direct operations in over 60 countries, selling products in almost every country around the world.

Their core purpose "creating brands people love" captures the spirit of what they are trying to achieve as a business. They collaborate and work as teams to convert products into brands. Simply put, they spread happiness!

Panel design for the winner announcement section on the front page of UnCannies ’09.

The website was live and pretty much in action (like it is every single year). The winners were selected by the esteemed jury. And I was asked to design a panel which would have all the winner names listed. Care had to be taken, for the panel required to blend in with the current design. And that’s exactly what I did.

There was one more alternate design for the same panel, but it just didn’t get through. Anyway, you can check it out by clicking the ‘Preview’ button below.

Production date:

7th May, 2009

About UnCannies:

UnCannies is Yahoo!’s effort to bring creative minds of the industry together and share their best advertising work. An online portal designed to identify the most creative work in the field of advertising. Creative agencies as well as individuals from print, television, radio, outdoor and the online medium can post their best work to be judged by a panel of experts from the advertising industry. Top 3 winners to take home Apple iPhones; interesting Yahoo! merchandise for the next top 100 participants.

Yahoo! Messenger IMVironment for Five Star Fruit & Nut. An IMVironment ("IMV") is an interactive background that you can add to your IM conversations. Find out more here!

The campaign revolved around the theme "Jo Khaye, Kho Jaaye". It combined the great taste indulgence of Five Star Fruit & Nut and enhanced credence to the brand proposition of getting lost in the taste of Five Star.

The distinctive element of the "Kho Jaao" campaign, was the new online community building website that stimulated real time consumer interaction in an engaging and interactive manner. One could get a taste of this by visiting www.lostin5star.com

On similar grounds, the IMVironment consisted of a game in which the goal keeper is apparently shown lost in the taste of Five Star and it is your goal to protect the football from hitting him. The more times you prevent the same, the more points you earn. Apart from that, you could also watch their official TVC in the IMVironment itself.

There were 3 more such alternatives designed for this IMVironment. You can preview them by clicking the buttons below.

Production date:

23rd March, 2009

About Five Star:

Five Star is a leading knight in the Cadbury portfolio and the second largest after Dairy Milk with a market share of 14%. Chocolate lovers for a quarter of a century have indulged their taste buds with a Five Star.

Launched in 1969 as a bar of chocolate that was hard outside with soft caramel nougat inside, Five Star has re-invented itself over the years to keep satisfying the consumers taste for a high quality & different chocolate eating experience. One of the key properties that Five Star was associated with was its classic gold colour. And through the passage of time, this was one property that both, the brand and the consumer stuck to as a valuable association.

In fact, Five Star was a way of professing undying love for the significant other in the ’70s.

Website for C-Shels Paints Pvt. Ltd. – manufacturers of a wide variety of products ranging from exterior decorative paints to waterproofing compounds. www.c-shels.com

Went live on:

21st March, 2009

Services provided:

Design / Development
XHTML / CSS / Javascript
Domain / Hosting
Email setup

What they needed:

C-Shels has been in business since 1978, but they were known by a different name back then. Come 2009 and they had a major re-branding, one of the aspects being a brand new name. However, while they had a good reach in the markets all over India, they wanted to establish themselves online.

What did I do:

The site had to look good (of course) and usability was on top of their list. The goal was to make product information easily available from the moment a customer entered the site. This meant that attention had to be paid on every single page in terms of usability, ease of navigation; and also ensuring quick download of each product literature. The interface went through a major change as per client’s suggestion since they wanted their site to look warm and bright rather the initial layout (which was dark and sleek); however, maintaining the web 2.0 feel.

The result:

A fresh and a very simple interface without too many complications make this website a breath of fresh air.

Full page banner ads on the Yahoo! India homepage property for Nimbooz by 7Up. These creatives basically show the essence of lemon juice and how it helps in beating the summer heat.

Production dates:

4th through 13th March, 2009

About the product:

On 9th March, PepsiCo India launched its packaged nimbu paani ‘Nimbooz by 7Up‘.

According to the company press release, the product, with real lemon juice, no fizz and no artificial flavours, will be available in three packaging formats of 200 ml returnable glass bottles, 350 ml PET and 200 ml tetra packs, priced at Rs. 10, Rs. 15 and Rs. 10, respectively.

Its communication tagline is ‘Ekdum Asli Indian‘, and the integrated communication programme includes TV commercial, press, radio, and so on.