Now there is a place for parents in need of a break to take their children for food and fun! Playtown Café has arrived in South Florida and will soon welcome families into its “mainstreet†themed retail and entertainment experience.
Playtown Café contacted us in the spring after visiting Cow Licks Kids Salon and were impressed with the creative styling we used to develop the children’s salon identity.
Playtown’s needs were simple…create an identity that is unique, fun, and really stands out.
We’re thrilled to bark about what we accomplished!
The Logo
Would a child-inspired design translate in an affluent South Florida community? Should the logo target parents or their children? This was the thinking early on and is shown in the early versions of the logo. However, as Playtown’s tagline says, the final design direction screams, “kids rule.”
The logo’s bright colors, warped storefronts and a youthful typeface embody what Playtown desired.
Identity
The identity pieces included business card, letterhead and a brochure. The brochure was more of a challenge since each activity area deserved it’s own identity. Using the typeface in the logo as the foundation, each entertainment area in Playtown Café was given it’s own logo. This design strategy ended up becoming a key feature for both the brochure and Web site.
Advertising
Prior to its opening, Playtown Café needed to get the word out in the local community. Storefront signage, magazine ads, coupons and promotional postcards were developed to help increase awareness for the new business at The Shoppes at Boca Greens. While each piece is designed somewhat differently, the results prove that logo elements can be used in a variety of ways to accentuate a brand’s identity.
Web site
Playtown Café was looking for a Web site that was unique, fun, and really stood out. As you browse the site, the colors, layout and design elements from the brochure translate very well online. Again, brand consistency was key in the Web design.
The site is powered by WordPress, so that the client can easily maintain the site on their own. In fact, the folks at Playtown claimed to be, “horrible with computers†but were able to pick up the WordPress CMS in very short time.
It’s always great when you can have a client see how easy it is to keep a site fresh and up to date using the latest web technologies available today.
Under the hood, this site is using some very impressive technology to power it, too.
- WordPress – CMS (content management system)
- YUI Grids CSS – layout
- YUI Dom-Event
- Lightbox 2
- Interactive Flash home page own that degrades gracefully
- Google Calendar integration
Working with Playtown was a great experience. They had a great idea of what they needed and were open enough to take creative and tech. input from us.
Please “indulge” and let us know what you think. Visit Playtown Café.
Check out the Portfolio of work in more detail!