With the coming of October follows a swift series of holiday occasions that are meaningful to many Americans and, therefore, significant for business owners. Capitalizing on the trickle of holidays that come at the end of the year is crucial–it is important for your brand and for business.
There are, however, some unspoken logo and
web design rules that should be adhered to. It’s important that your seasonal brand adjustments be tasteful, appropriate, and not over the top. We’ve collected a few examples of great seasonal branding from big name companies, so take note!
K-mart worked in quirky little leaves to their site to compliment existing imagery. This makes for a delicate and cohesive message that clearly accentuates the change in season (and subsequent deals!) but without overdoing it. This subtle representation of autumn’s arrival is delicate and pleasing to the viewer. It doesn’t distort the current images and instead adds to the flair of the homepage as a whole. This would be an example of doing seasonal transition correctly!
Target is also another stellar example of suitable seasonal branding. With the incorporation of seasonal plaid into their logo and header, the user is already intrigued. It’s an excellent highlight of Target’s featured designer, as well as an untraditional attribute to the cooler season. Additionally, the homepage features a direct link to Halloween specials and costumes. This link’s subtlety is great in that it doesn’t detract from the rest of the page. However, it is vibrant, quirky, and relevant–so it still draws the viewers eyes.
Amazon also has a subtle Halloween addition to its homepage. In the top right corner is a Halloween Shop button that doesn’t immediately draw the viewer’s attention, but, because it’s in a highly trafficked spot, will still see a lot of clicks.
There are, however, a variety of ways to add some seasonal spice to your ecommerce site aside from special buttons and logo tweaks. It’s always an effective strategy to simply feature seasonal products on the homepage–often accompanied by special deals.
Zappos does a great job of this by incorporating fall fashion trends into the page. Other great examples of this can be found at
Etsy and
Ebay.
It is vital to adjust your site for the holidays, even if just by featuring seasonal products on the homepage. The key is subtlety and relevance. You want to gently remind your users that ’tis the season and that there are shiny new things for them to get their hands on.
Tags: Ecommerce • Web Design
