FEATURED WORK

Home Fire Stove & Grill City

www.homefirestove.com
 BLOQS: web design, digital marketing, search, unique shopping experience

Home Fire Stove opened in 1979 in response to the rapid inflation in energy costs. Since that time they have grown to be the largest volume hearth products retailer in Oregon, and one of the largest in the nation. They carry a complete selection of hearth products, including wood, pellet and gas-fueled, stoves, inserts and fireplaces. In addition, They offer complete installation and service. Quality products, expert service, nice people, fair prices and their commitment to safety and customer satisfaction have made Home Fire Stove successful in earning repeat business.

With so many products and different categories, the first task was to build a navigation system that would make all of the important products and services easy to access. After identifying the most important areas with the client, we created a totally custom navigation tray complete with a custom icon set.

Each of the categories has several products, so we built the site so a user could explore the main areas quickly but each section reveals more as you delve deeper. This keeps the pages cleaner and the information relevant to what the user is asking for, resulting in a great user experience.

But the Crown Jewel of this website is the unique shopping experience which has led to an increase in sales. When we sat down with the client, they told us the main goal was to get people to go to the brick and mortar store. So we worked together to create a simple graphic form that alerts the sales staff about the potential customer's interests before they walk in the door. Home Fire Stove gets details on the user so they can best serve them and the user gets a discount on items, plus a great user experience: a true win-win!


 BLOQS: branding, web design, content development, ticketing system

KingCon is a celebration of all things pop culture, including cosplay, science, technology, gaming, and everything geek. In 2017 their program expanded to include national and local celebrities, 30+ panels, vendors and artists, contests, gaming rooms, and more in the beautiful downtown Renton corridor. In 2019 they grew to a size that they were ready to update their brand, so they returned to us asking for a new, trendy, geeky site that would take them to an all-new level.

The Bloqheads got to work and built a completely new identity for the Con, worked on the renaming process, and settled on KingCon. Our team designed and named a character called Kirby, as an integral part of the new brand.

We then completed the building of their new website. We needed to tap into our inner geek (which wasn’t really that hard) and make something that represented the community that would be attending the event. The client loved the bright, design comps we showed them, so we had fun implementing it throughout the site.

During the first year of COVID, we managed the ticket-taking system for KingCon by providing them access to our XpressPass touch-free ticket processing system. This proved to be a very successful update for them and decreased wait times in line. It also made transactions digital and was as simple as scanning QR codes on entry.
 


Heaven Sent Fried Chicken

www.heavensentfriedchicken.com
 BLOQS: web design, branding, print & digital marketing, product photography

Ezell Stephens had the raw materials for a great brand: A story, an amazing product, and a superstar endorsement. But just as the right ingredients have to be put together for the perfect meal, the right insights and game plan has to come together for a long-term winning brand strategy.
 

The Bloqs team heard Ezell’s story of persistence and drive, then created a strategy to take the Heaven Sent brand to the next level, both in terms of branding and vision-casting for expansion.

We refreshed the brand and created a website that matched the updated message. Even a company with a great product and reputation fails to thrive with inconsistent branding and messaging.
 
Heaven Sent got an unexpected boost when Oprah Winfrey visited Seattle. She asked a staffer at a local television station where she could get good fried chicken. The response was immediate"Ezell makes the best fried chicken in town." After ordering it one night, she wanted it again the second night.

Later, Oprah wanted chicken for her 40th birthday. After her assistant reached out to Ezell, he promised to make it. He packed it into an overnight bag and flew to Chicago where he delivered the chicken to Oprah. News of the event drove sales.
 
But with higher sales come scaling issues. With inquiries coming in from across the country, both from hungry consumers and those interested in the brand, the site had to be ‘A game.’

We took on the challenge and love the results of our partnership with Ezell and Heaven Sent.
 

Continental Theological Seminary

www.ctsem.edu
 BLOQS: web design, content collaboration, dual language launch

Continental Theological Seminary is the largest seminary in Europe. They are an international center for higher education in Europe with students from many nations and an international staff of professors and administrators as well.
 
Continental Theological Seminary needed a website that visitors from all over the world could access and understand.  Working with CTS required us to think globally.
 
We built a full English and French version of the website. Site visitors can view media or listen to presentations from the campus. There is also a donate feature and other billing, fees, and currencies that we had to consider while planning out the site.

Increasingly, we live in an international marketplace. Continental Theological Seminary’s online presence needed to accommodate visitors, applicants, and donors from various countries. Their international approach was a good fit for the Bloqs team. It’s a big world, but every company or brand wants to express itself in a unique way.


World Vision Kits

kits.worldvision.org
 BLOQS: web design, online ordering system, video / animation

World Vision is one of the largest relief organizations in the world. What began with one man’s vision to help a hungry child in the 1950’s is now a worldwide agency that provides life-saving services to more than four million children in nearly 100 countries.
 
World Vision offers hands-on experiences that allow groups to help others through customized kits. These include
hygiene kits, school tools, women’s hope kits, international hygiene kits, and promise packs. Whether someone wants to help a child in a U.S. school or provide a hygiene kit to someone in a developing country, kits are country specific. They are also put together for specific humanitarian crises.
 
We helped World Vision define a new website and online ordering process at kits.worldvision.org. The ordering process for the kits involved creating an online sign-up with a form that allows donors to create an event to put kits together. Then an invoice is created, logistical packages are sent, and kits delivered. What could be a complicated process had to be simple and straightforward for big-hearted volunteers looking to make a difference.
 
Our work with World Vision Kits is designed to make it easier to get involved in responding to others in crisis. It’s a mission Bloqs is comfortable with since our primary mission is to serve our customers so they can focus on doing what they do best.


Latitude Cabinets 

 BLOQS: web design, store implementation, content development

Latitude Cabinets combines the clean sophistication of Euro-design with versatility and style for a space that's your own. With 30 years of quality American craftsmanship and using sustainable materials, Latitude Cabinets blend time-honored techniques with modern innovation. They create full-access interiors, more storage and an organized space while maintaining strength, function and value.

We knew this quality and attention to detail needed to show through in their website, so that’s exactly what we set out to do. We sat down and met with our client to really get to know them and their product. We believe this is one of the most important parts of the process, and helps us understand a clients needs and solve problems through design and technology. Lots of people can build websites, we focus on building an extension of a clients brand, philosophy and culture.

The biggest challenge faced by Latitudes Cabinets was the need for many products in different finishes available in their store. With this knowledge, our team got to work building a solution. With so many possible combinations it wasn’t easy, but this is where our relationship with the client and understanding of the product really helped. Together we were able to create a store with an intuitive user interface that looks great and meets all of their needs.