WEBSITE STUDY 1 - THE EDGE SALON
www.theedgesalon.com

Nashville's The Edge Salon owner Bill Vandiver started his salon in 2000 and came to Logic House Media with a rough logo sketch and overview of his salon concept. His original idea was to use a pair of stylist shears in the logo with very jagged lettering. He explained the salon concept and plan for interior design with music and personnel giving and edgy eclectic "feel". Understanding the importance of branding and the effect of good graphic design on consumer perception, we suggested a different approach, indirectly implying the letters "e.d.g.e" with a modern look and feel.

Originally the logo simulated a chrome, metallic look. Since that time, we to altered the logo slightly and abandoned the often overused metal simulation in exchange for a more simple scheme with broad appeal. We asked ourselves the questions "Will it look good on a hat, a t-shirt, in multiple forms of print and electronic use?"

Our first website with The Edge Salon was developed totally in Flash since Flash gives precise control over text, image and object placement, and obviously the cool effects. The site was also fully scalable, meaning that no matter what screen size user's monitor used, the site would take up 100% of the screen. Logic House Media photographed the salon and used some of the images to for textures and backgrounds We incorporated a news-ticker, rotating homepage gallery, image gallery, etc. all client editable through a password protected administrative area.

In the spring of 2007 The Edge Salon expanded to open a second location in Brentwood, TN. In preparation for the Salon's opening, a new website was developed along with new business cards, event cards, signs and other materials. Because there are so many hair salons in metropolitan areas, the new website was specifically re-developed to optimize search engine results for the Nashville / Brentwood area and include their new "skin and body" services.

Search result positioning has changed dramatically over the past few years. Some search sites are "directories" and some are true "search engines". Directories are more like a static phone book where the website owner must "register" their site. Search engines like Google on the other hand use complicated automated software that browse the internet and find relevant sites. There's not an official manual on extremely complicated mix of variables influencing search results, but in general there are specific guidelines to follow in website development to give the best possible results without paying for them.

The Edge Salon website includes several "dynamic" features, meaning data and content that either automatically changes or that the website owner changes himself. Two examples of automatic changes can be found on the home page. Every time a user goes to the homepage (either through the URL line or clicking on the "home" link) the large image randomly changes and the "featured link" at the bottom randomly changes. This gives the returning user something fresh to view and gives the featured client or advertiser more equal exposure.

An example of owner controlled change occurs with the "News and Events" listing. The owner is able to login to a password-protected part of the site and add, edit and delete the news and events which appears on the "news" page as well as the home page. All information is edited through a simple online form. This negates the need for the owner to contact us for simple changes they might want to do on a daily basis.

The site includes streaming video of several Tennessee Titans Cheerleaders in Flash FLV format. Flash video format doesn't require a user to have special video plugins installed and it also helps protect the video files from permanent unauthorized download. The image gallery uses a slideshow technique where the user can watch view the images at the slideshow's pace or advance through the images at their own pace.