Acorn Web Studio - Melbourne web design and web development

JV Marine

Designed to filter and channel the site audience in the same way their best salesperson would, the JV Marine site has a level of functionality usually only found on big brand multinational sites. 

The strategy

Where many sites in essence just ‘hand’ the user a large catalogue for them to flick through, the strategy behind the JV Marine site is to mimic the approach of a good salesperson. The site’s user centric design makes it possible to quickly and seamlessly ascertain what type of boat best suits the prospect’s needs then direct them to the ones that fulfil that criteria. There is no need to wander through a large and confusing database which makes the user do all the work.

A boat is also an emotional purchase so the site visitor always has the option to browse pleasantly through engaging images and descriptions before narrowing their search when they choose.

The technology

JV Marine are the biggest boat sales firm in Victoria. They're website required a high end e-commerse system (Magento) to provide all the Catalogue and Shopping Cart facilities it required as well as our defualt CMS to provide customised Forms and Content vital to the success of the site.

Global Health Travel

Global Health Travel is Australia's most complete medical tourism facilitator. They can help you access top-quality medical treatment overseas from reputable, accredited service providers, often at a fraction of the cost you would pay for the same treatment in Australia.

Since Medical Tourism is a new concept in Australia the websites aim was to introduce the concept and provide quality information to help people make an educated desision. The website also had to demostrate credibility for overseas hospitals to engage them as a service provider.

The website

The website introduces Medical Tourism through a "5 Step Tour" with slideshow functionality, it provides information about the Hospitals and Doctors the business is associated, the Treatments provided and an easily accessible FAQ system. As the business grows it will also provide information about each destination, making reccomendations based on the requested treatment.

The design uses soft colours, keeping the blue for a neutral object and using the soft yellow as an "action" colour to highlight the object of interaction for usablility purposes.

Complex Training

Complex Training Academy is a leading provider of accredited training and recruitment in security, cleaning, hospitality and frontline management.

Comlex Training Academy wanted a complete website re-design which would reflect their business more with clean professionalism and a modern and functional interface that would be easy to navigate. This site features  fuctionality such as employment listings and applications, training registration forms, information pack requests for both corporate as well as individual training and employment.

The client also wanted the new look of clean professionalism to be reflect in the logo which provided us the rare opportunity to put on our branding hats, doing a re-design of the Complex Training logo.

ebusiness coach

The brainchild of the extended Acorn family (Stuart Steel, Susan Cowan of Communication Design & Angus Gordan), ebusiness coach aims to provide practical independent answers for growing business on the web.

Step 1

A temporary website, it's simple requirement was to introduce the new business and gather subscriptions, offering a free e-book for each subscriber. It has an introduction page & a further information page both with subscription forms, as well as a thank you / download ebook page.

Step 2

A fully fledged community based website, using the Joolma CMS. An entirely web based coaching business the webiste will be the center of all opperations, having member subscriptions, user blogs, polls, faq's and more. COMING SOON!

The Life

A showcase for a unique band that generally like to do things their own way.

The Life wanted a website where they could write blog articles, news archives, have calendar-styled gig dates, the ability to add audio and images and just in case they forgot to add a date to the homepage the automated calendar system does it for them. And that's just the start of it.

With usability and functionality rated as important as the textured aesthetics during the conceptual phase of its design, this website is as fun to use as it is to look at.

Boxfull Gift Hampers

Home to an extensive range of Gift Hampers for every occasion, the Boxfull website needed to stand above the clutter of other Hamper sites. It's clean and organised layout has short links to product categories, a shopping cart and an extensive custom built Search. It's design is clean whilst still maintaining the fun vibe and character a Hamper business needs.

Gloves On

Gloves On aim to to help businesses create and sustain healthy workplaces with Corporate Fitness Seminars. They also provide boxing training for Fitness Trainers as well as Womens Boxing exercise classes.

Gloves On needed a site that was visually enticing with buttons on the home page designed to direct traffic to their specific area of interest. It provides the ability to book and pay for Training, Workshops and Seminars as well as having a Blog and Gallery to provide prospective customers a glimpse into the Gloves On world.

Round Two

After the success of their inital launch, Gloves On came back with a better understanding of what the business needed in it's website. So we set about improving the website even more, removing the web based training registration. In it's place: fully functional PDF forms for registration, a new look course description and the ability to choose to register through the PDF form or to fill out the Expression of Interest form.

The Next Step

One of our favourite sites to date. The Next Step is a consultancy and training group which is interested in helping small and medium businesses step out of those early phases of business infancy, into full blown healthy maturity. 

Incorporating a nice simple design and heaps of great functionality, The Next Step website uses integrated shopping carts and registration forms,  and big, bold calls to action to engage with its customers. Another nice little touch is the Javascript animated content areas to free up screen real estate as well as providing that extra bit of dynamics and fun.

Optimised for skimming

Not all of this is eye candy.  This hide and display interaction allows visiting readers to quickly skim a page to gain an overview of its structure and content, and then to drill in on request to read more.  The highlighted content captures their attention, helping them to absorb information in a helpful and painless way.

Ikon Images Photography

Ikon Images is well equipped, trained, passionate and professional Photography Studio, centrally located minutes from Melbourne's CBD in Hawthorn. Who specialise in Wedding Photography, Portraits (babies, children & family), Model Portfolios, Glamour Portraits and Executive Portraits.

Ikon Images orginally had a Flash website for their Gallery which we updated to a HTML and CSS website with a Javascript based Gallery. It also has a beautifull image slide on the home page to demonstrate the key markets, linking through to their specific galleries which Ikon can update and create new sections as their market grows.

Advanced Design Innovations

An innovative website for an innovative business. The clever design of this website combines navigation, call to action, beautifull banner images and gallery slide transitions in a way you wouldn't think was possible. The result is a central focus area which demonstrates everything Advanced Design Innovations are about.

Using our custom built Gallery each page can display several large scale images and diagrams in a stylish manner to assist the visual side of the Architects and Engineers that are ADI's client base.

Second Site Professional Secretarial Services

Second Site provide premium offsite business support in the form of remote Reception, Administration, and Personal Assistants. The website is still in the construction phase but is set to possess features like a Javascript animated menu, blogs and what we are calling 'Dialogues,' which are essentially a graphical representation of the process of Second Site's telephone services.

Connecting Point

Connecting Point are mac resellers for the education market, specialising in the education and digital video marketplaces. Their website needed and extensive Product Catalogue system, including a category index, item index and an individual page for each product. With the CMS this was easy to achieve so the Client can add new products like they would any other page in the website and it will be formatted automatically.

McCarthy Psychology

Providing all forms of Services and Information about Dementia Care for both the Aged Care and Corporate Industries, the McCarthy Psychology website is designed to accentuate usability for its customers. Divided into two main (colour co-ordinated) areas of service, the customer only needs to follow the links which apply to their area of interest, smoothly guiding them through to the Services they require.

The website also contains email newsletter campaigns specific to your chosen area of interest, Form's that guide the user from the service their interested in to either gathering more information or the ability to instantly purchase the training service.

Seven Stones Health and Adventure Retreat

Stand for Love

Stand for Love is founded on one simple premise: the more we love, the more we thrive. It is this one self evident principle that drives the organisation and its mission to build a loving, thriving world. Stand for Love is part of the Love Your Business initiative with which Acorn are member's.

Only a small website, Stand for Love have what we call our Brochure site. Without any CMS it is a static single page site that contains all the information needed in a clear and precise manner. It gets it's added dynamics from our Image Zoom tool to display photo's as well as having an embedded YouTube Video documenting the Stand for Love principle.

Liberati Colour

Making a beautiful website is easy with such beautiful imagery. Liberati Colour is an Interior Design and Colour Consultancy business, associated with Dulux Paints.

The website serves as a demonstration for existing design work using our own custom Gallery. Only a small site the design needed to be structural yet simplistic with only a small amount of content, the Gallery and a contact area. Yet everything is as easy to update as uploading a new photo or writing a new description.

Authorised Representatives' Association

The ARA is a membership based not-for-profit organisation. It exists to represent the views of Authorised Representatives in their contractual arrangements with AXA Financial Planning and Charter Financial Planning, and also with companies within the AXA Asia Pacific group.

Such strong Membership/Community requirements means the Joomla! CMS would be required, with features like Member login, unique content for Members v Public, strong use of dated article based content, latest events, a site wide search and excellent forms.

Walk the Talk

As Australia’s leading life strategy consultants, Walk the Talk specialise in coaching their clients to interrupt the thoughts that are negatively impacting their life. Providing their clients with the tools to master their thoughts and help them to think and speak their way to success.

Such an important business needed a clear and precise web-design using the same zen principle's of Walk the Talk's strategy.

Midland Insurance

Another Acorn Web Studio original design, the Midland Insurance site represents the ultimate in useability and navigation teamed with clean simple design to ensure that the message is always received.

Of Wine & Yabbies

Of Wine & Yabbies provide a vast range of Australian gourmet food to the UK. The design needed to allow for specific branding of each supplied brand, such as Maggie Beer and Murray River Pink Salt. As well as carrying Of Wine & Yabbies own brand. This is done through slight colour themes and a bundled central location for the clients brand and website navigation. Providing a shell for each of their re-seller brands.

The main functionality is of two catalogue variations, one for the clients own shop and one for the reseller brand's products.