We designed and developed the logo and web site for a book price comparison startup, using our custom CMS, Harmony, and integration with several e-commerce API systems.

Logo Design

The logo design needed to clearly indicate that users could search for books, whilst maintaining usability across online and offline media.  Following initial design mockups and consultation, the final logo design made use of a magnifying glass, a strapline and some fun(!) design with the BookLookr text.

The final BookLookr Logo design, with magnifying glass and 'eyes'

Web Site Design

The web site design had to be clean and simple, encouraging the site visitor to search for the books they wished to purchase, and therefore the search bar is prominent across all pages on BookLookr.  For those who needed inspiration on what to look for, a tag cloud on the home page was designed to provide a good starting point.

The BookLookr search bar, displayed across the site for easy access, and the tag cloud, on the home page for visitors needing some inspiration for their book search.

The search process itself, again, had to be usable and simple.  Upon searching for a book, the visitor is presented with a list of search results, from which clear call to action buttons allow them to either read customer reviews, or go ahead and get the best price from each online retailer.

The available books from the user's initial book search, with clear call to actions to get prices and read customer reviews.

In 2 steps, the visitor then has a list of prices, lowest to highest, and further call to action buttons to purchase the books from the specific online retailer.  For visitors who read down the list, they can again see reviews of the book, to help them decide whether to make the purchase.

A specific book's prices, ordered lowest to highest, with purchase buttons and customer reviews.

Web Site Development

We chose Harmony, our in house CMS, for this project, as a lightweight, bloat-free code base was a must for a site that would potentially be handling a high volume of searches.

Each search could potentially query up to 6 online retailers, each with their own API.  By using Harmony, we were able to cache the search results, and display these results for other visitors searching for the same book within a specific timeframe of the original search.  This has resulted in a fast performing site that still provides up-to-date price information.

Harmony's settings allows the site to adaptively change its caching period, depending on visitor numbers.

As with all of our web sites, the design was coded in XHTML and CSS, using progressive enhancements in CSS and Javascript for newer web browsers, whilst ensuring legacy web browsers could still browse and view the web site’s information.

Social Media Strategy

The Social Media Strategy was primarily left to the client, who had previous experience in this area.  We facilitated the use of social media on the web site by:

1. Facebook & Twitter
   Buttons on the main menu to allow site visitors to follow BookLookr on Facebook and Twitter, with Javascript tool tip popups to explain what the visitor can do.
2. Social Bookmarking
   Integration of SocialTwist, in the same look and feel as the web site, to allow site visitors to bookmark BookLookr across a number of services, or invite friends to visit the web site.
3. Newsletter
   Integration of aWeber to allow site visitors to sign up to BookLookr’s newsletter, and receive updates on the lastest BookLookr developments.

The client has also been responsible for promoting the site via press releases, Facebook and Twitter pages and social bookmarking.