Studioblog (n): a blog by Studiobanks about design, marketing, internet, business, Charlotte and more.

(Project Update) Private Beta Launch - Get Your Invite!

Studiobanks 0 Comments

Today, we are happy to launch the private beta of CityBlackBook.com - a city-based, best-of lifestyle guide. Our hope is that people will use it to find and share places they've discovered in their city. Unlike other editor’s choice guides, CityBlackBook is an easy-to-use city-based guide without the excess found elsewhere. We plan to empower our user base by letting them decide whether a business is or isn’t included on the guide. While the moderators will monitor and edit basic content (i.e., grammar, image quality, etc.), the crux of the content for the guide will be generated solely by users.

We are launching the site in Charlotte - our home city - with plans to expand to other cities. For now, we are inviting 50 Charlotte area users to take part in our private beta. If you are interested in helping beta test, request an invite at CityBlackBook.com.

CityBlackBook.com: Coming Soon!

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Five years ago, we noticed a website in Charlotte that was creating a lot of buzz with its online nightlife resource guide. However, the website was horribly designed and even harder to use. We decided that there was an opportunity there to create something along the same lines, but with a much improved user experience. Now, five years later, CarolinaNightlife.com has become a household name amongst the city’s party goers.

We are happy to announce today that we are at it again. On May 21st, we will launch the beta version of our latest internal project, CityBlackBook.com, for public use. The idea was born from the distaste for other large city-based resource guides like CitySearch.com, CityGuide.com and YellowPages.com. About a year ago, we decided we would build a lean, easy-to-use, clean-and-simple city-based resource guide that wasn’t so bloated. Basically, we wanted a guide that would be actually useful.

In the coming weeks, we will release sneak peeks about what we have going on and what will make this resource guide unique. So, bookmark the City Black Book Blog to keep up with the forthcoming launch.

We got to sit with the Price's at the Charlotte Center City Vision Awards!

Christy 1 Comments

Charlotte Center City Partners hosted their third annual Vision Awards on April 10th. Basically, this was one big party for over 700 people that honors and celebrates those who've made a significant contribution to the vision and vibrancy of uptown and South End.

First, let me tell you about the best part of the night! Banks and I were delighted to accept an invitation to attend this event, especially since Studiobanks is in South End and I live uptown. And, well, Banks definitely plays a lot uptown—I'm sure all you night-owls have run into him out and about. Anyway, the event was held at the Charlotte Convention Center and started with a cocktail reception outside and then moved into the ballroom.

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Checkers Unveil a New, Tougher Logo

Banks 3 Comments

In the past, the Checkers have always promoted themselves as something fun to go do. Their old logo was playful and so were their ad campaigns. Last year’s campaign by Greenspoon Advertising featured the cheerful "Chubby" mascot parallel parking a Zamboni Machine on the streets of Charlotte while Mayor Pat McCrory stopped traffic.

Last Friday night, the Checkers unveiled a new, tougher looking logo. A sleeker and more ferocious-looking bear, set against a backdrop of Charlotte's skyline has replaced Chubby in the logo. The new mark coupled with the new “Our Team — Our Town” ad campaign seems to imply that the team is headed in a new marketing direction focused on hockey instead of pure entertainment factor of the games.

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(Project Update) Varji & Varji Website Launched

Christy 1 Comments

Yay! Our latest creative creation, the Varji & Varji website, is live. Take a look and let us know what you think. We were really excited about working with such beautiful high resolution images for this project. And we were able to figure out a clever way to utilize them; literally from corner to corner of the site!

(Project Update) Zobo.tv Launched!

Christy 0 Comments

We're excited to announce the launch of the Zobo.tv website. Take a look and let us know what you think. This site is a great example of how to make a lot of content very clean and navigation friendly.

The New AAF Charlotte

Robbie 1 Comments

We recently launched the new AAF Charlotte website to coincide with the beginning of their new season and mark the name change from Charlotte Ad Club to AAF Charlotte. The new site better organizes the group's content as well as adds some new features, including member profiles, company pages and a vendor search. Despite the addition of profiles, this isn't an attempt to create yet another social network. Try to think of it more as an advertising resource for the Charlotte region, as well as a way to keep up with AAF Charlotte happenings. Basically, if you work in an industry that deals directly or indirectly with advertising, you might want to look into joining AAF Charlotte.

No More Soup For You!

Banks 0 Comments

This week's issue of the Charlotte Business Journal reports that local entrepreneurs John and Victorian Kirby will be opening an Original Soupman restaurant in downtown Charlotte. The Original Soupman was created by Al Yeganeh, better know as the inspiration of the "Soup Nazi" from the TV series Seinfeld. With most Original Soupman franchises in the northeast the Kirby's restaurant will be Charlotte's first taste of the 50 soup varieties.

(Project Update) Southern Comfort Logo

Christy 0 Comments

Here's the final logo picked by Southern Comfort Development Group. It was our favorite. We've just wrapped up the collateral design and are on to the website design. The client is working hard to gather up content, including photos of their properties and deciding what information they want to provide for each of their site's pages. This is always one of the hardest parts of the process. You would think it would be easy to just sit down and compose a paragraph or two about your company and its processes, but in fact, it's not so easy. This is why we have many great copywriters at our disposal to help our clients along while they gather content.

(New Project) Varji & Varji Salon and Spa

Christy 0 Comments

This is our third client in the Morrison, located in South Park. First Winestore, then Asana Activewear and now Varji & Varji Salon.

We had our kick-off meeting yesterday and are very excited about the vision Max and Susan Varji have for their website. If you've seen the interior of their store, you'll have some sense of their incredible taste.

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