Posted February 20, 2014
The Philsquare team is excited to kickoff our 2014 project announcements with a great new website for a local Kansas product getting major store shelving space this month!
In October, we were contacted by Grandma Hoerner’s (you may have seen their store off of I-70 west of Topeka near Alma). They had an exciting new line and wanted a new stand alone website. Their product, Big Slice Apples, are kettle cooked apples that they’ve sold traditionally in 16 oz jars. Their new product, are single-servings of these apples with new, delicious add-ins (apricots, green coffee extract and caramel are examples). We were also working with a deadline: the product would be in more than 200 Targets by the end of January and the Big Slice team needed to start promoting the product right away.
By the time we got involved, Grandma Hoerner’s already had branding and packaging developed. The photography we had to use on the website was outstanding: great shots of the product on forks, shots of the product ingredients and action shots of people actually using the product. (Regina, who was heading up the product launch, wanted to be sure people knew how to consume the apples: right out of the pouch with a fork or spoon).
The web design goals were to have a very clean site that targeted a younger demographic and projected a fashion product website and vibe. The website has a clean white background which will allow the fruit, product branding and other images stand out and shine. The exception is the main image when you first visit the website; part of the design challenge was to demonstrate how to use the product, so using an image from of a woman actually using the product was an important choice. The wood background lends a natural feel which compliments the product and allows us to display the logo as it is presented on the packaging: crisp and white.
The rest of the homepage tells what the product is (kettle cooked apples with other natural ingredients and sauce), the variety available, the ingredients, how to eat it (open, fork enjoy), where to take it (anywhere) and where to buy it.
The product page allows further exploration of the product varieties (16 total) and ingredients. The Big Slice team can choose which ingredients to emphasize in each product description in a very simple manner on the back end side of the content management system. A submenu on the individual product pages allows visitors to easily explore the varieties without having to go back to the original product page constantly. The bright package colors and photography of fruit help capture what each product is all about. It was also important for the Big Slice team to have full nutritional information on the website to allow customers to resear
ch what each product contains. The “view nutritional information” link under the main product images brings up the back of the Big Slice pouch; customers can get all necessary information before heading to Target to purchase their favorite variety.
Speaking of Target, we wanted customers to know which Super Target stores they could find Big Slice. The “Find a Store” page allows customers to enter their city + state and find stores near them to purchase Big Slice. The page utilizes Mapbox, a service the Philsquare team is loving. It allows for some really great customization; including custom “markers”. We chose the Big Slice logo on an apple to mark each store.
The Big Slice website has a lot of images (fruit, pouches, forks, etc) which can be a challenge to keep the website running fast. We spent hours making sure the images were just the right size to look great but load fast to keep the website from slow load times. The website is also built to be responsive; as all Philsquare website are now. In tablet and mobile views, the pages are designed to show content more optimally for those views.
Grandma Hoerner's gave us several Big Slice pouches to try. We met to share with our friends but ended up eating most of them ourselves (my favorite is the cherry vanilla from the Pure line and raspberry hibiscus and green coffee extract from the Fit line!)
About a week after bigsliceapples.com launched, Phil and I ventured to our local Super Target to see Big Slice in the wild. (It can be found in aisle 3 at the Super Target here in Lawrence; next to the peanut butter!)
​Check out bigsliceapples.com and let us know what you think!