Category Archives: Design

Scratching the ten year itch

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We’ve lost count of the number of incarnations of the Snorestore website. We can’t even really remember what it looked like right at the beginning. But thanks to the internet way back machine, we’ve got a rough idea. This is what our home page was like in 2001, the year of Snorestore’s launch (click for a larger image):Screenshot of Snorestore original home page 2001

Yes, it was basic, and yes it was hand-built using a teach-yourself  HTML book. But yes, it did the trick. We started getting orders straight away, even though we could only accept cheques to start with. It wasn’t until December 2001 that we were able to take payments online.

Anyway that’s all by the by, what we really want to talk about, is what Snorestore is like now, ten years on from those cringe-tastic early days.

For reason which are a bit obvious, we didn’t mark Snorestore’s ten year anniversary publicly in September. There was other more important stuff going on.

Instead, we got together with Lee Hackett, one of the best web designers in the business and between us came up with a brand spanking new sharp-as-a-button design which is so fit for purpose it aches with cool and useability:

Screenshot of Snorestore home page November 2011

All the earplugs you know and love are still there, but we reckon we’ve made it easier to find them. There’s less duplication and the pages are clean and bright and – we hope – enticing.

We had what we call a soft launch last weekend. We didn’t go mad telling the world that Snorestore has changed because, well, what if we’d got it horrendously wrong?

We did send out a discount code to our newsletter subscribers though. And so far, the reaction to our new shopfront has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, we haven’t had a single negative comment. We’re thrilled.

Anyway, here’s to the next ten years. And thanks for the last ten. It’s been great. Cheers.

Whisper, don’t shout

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Back in the day, when Snorestore’s directors were journalists not web store owners, we covered a story involving a well-known fast food chain which was opening its doors in Harrogate. The spa town, accustomed as it was to the rather more genteel offerings of Betty’s tea rooms, was in uproar. How could this happen, they cried? Sacrilege, dumbing down etc etc.

In the event, McDonalds did one of their “silent openings”: they deliberately didn’t announce the exact date and time when the Harrogate Golden Arches would serve its first Big Mac Meal. There were no crowds breaking down the doors, no police having to hold them back. The fuss, such as it was, was over.

Fast forward to 2010, and Snorestore’s had its own silent opening. Overnight from Friday to Saturday, we completely changed the look of our website. Granted, we’d hinted at this a little while back, but we didn’t want to make a great thing of it when the change actually took place.

What if people didn’t like it? What if it didn’t work – you can beta test all you like but in the web world, things don’t always go plan when a site goes live – what then?

So there was no great fanfare. What we did do a couple of days later, is send out emails to our thousands of newsletter subscribers, inviting them to go take a look at Snorestore. The bribe of a 15% discount code has obviously nothing to do with the fact that we’ve had our busiest three days ever, and everything to do with our new look. Or so we’d like to think ;-)

PS If you’d like to get your hands on future discount codes, you can either untick the “do not contact me” box at the checkout, or follow us on Twitter.