Newstar Group Denimheads

Absolute pair up with denim brand.

Newstar Group have been designing and manufacturing denim for major high street stores for over 30 years. Based in Preston, at the heart of the UK’s cotton industry, they have successfully built a business that sources the best products from countries all over the globe.

Newstar previously had never produced any brand collateral or even had to market themselves before, relying soley on the strength and equity of the companies reputation and the only project they had commissioned to date was the new brand identity.

A decision to build their very own purpose built factory in Pakistan prompted a push for an online presence, mainly as a recruitment platform for their ever expanding company. And after a competitive creative pitch, Absolute stepped up to take on the challenge of building a much needed online brand presence.

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Brand Development

It was quite clear from the beginning of the project that before any website concepts were started, the brand personality needed considering first and foremost. We realised that we needed to tap into the passion and energy of the Newstar team and bring it to life through the tone-of-voice. Newstar love everything about denim, the detail of the stitching, the cut of the fabric, the treatments and the washes, which they’ve been living and breathing the product for over 30 years. Our starting point was the strapline ‘Denimheads, since 1985’, which we think articulates their passion for the product perfectly. As part of the digital project, Newstar wanted Absolute to develop the brand further, so we began by looking at a bold typographic style that captured the key messages perfectly and we also introduced a complimentary colour palette to the product.

Wireframes and user journeys

With no previous website to work from, we created a site map and sketched up wireframes to outline the user journeys. Our focus was on producing great content for the website, but keeping it light and easy to digest, so that it best showcased the company ethos, its people and its great environment to potential new recruits and clients.

Photography

We then looked at creating an image bank for the client to use across all marketing collateral. We split the photography over two days, with the first photo shoot at Newstar’s head office in Preston, where we wanted to capture the nicely designed working environment, the people that make up the team and the process that they go through to bring the product to market. The second day was staged at our own photography studios in Horwich. We used this day to get more creative with the product itself, with some very interesting results.

Content management

The Newstar website was built on Absolute's core CMS which provides clients with an easier and more enjoyable experience when managing their content. This core was extended with several bespoke packages tailored to their individual needs and workflows, including integration with third party systems such as their career portal.

Comfortable in all sizes

The new website is slick, modern and future facing with an emphasis on smooth transitions and subtle animations to engage the user. Designed and built in Absolute’s core CMS Absolute Control to give the client an easier experience when managing their content, which included integration to a third party career portal. The website uses a mobile-first approach, keeping it consistent across all devices so that Newstar's audience is provided with the same considered user experience, wherever they are, or whatever device they are viewing it on.

Newstar Group Denimheads

Sector

Services

Deliverables

Brand Development

Wireframes and user journeys

Photography

Content management

Comfortable in all sizes

Newstar Group Denimheads

Sector

Services

Deliverables

Brand Development

Wireframes and user journeys

Photography

Content management

Comfortable in all sizes

More.

More.