OUR BLOG

Here you will find our latest works, company news and more. We update it on a regular basis so be sure to come back soon. Please like, share, pin or tweet the post you enjoy.

Lifestyle Kitchens & Baths Website Redesign & Launch

Posted on March 16, 2015 by JUSTEN HONG

Visual Lure recently launched a new website for Lifestyle Kitchens & Baths, a sister company of Wilke Window & Door. Lifestyle Kitchens & Baths is a full service kitchen and bath supplier of cabinets, countertops, vanities, sinks, fixtures, hardware, accessories and more. They have two locations. One in Shiloh, Illinois and the other in St. Charles, Missouri, both conveniently located next to Wilke Window & Door showrooms.

After completing Wilke’s new website, we used the custom designed WordPress theme we developed for them and tailored it for Lifestyle. We changed fonts, the color palette and we uploaded all the new content. By reusing the existing Wilke Window & Door WordPress theme we saved our client a significant amount of time and money, and at the same time it helped create a visual cohesiveness between the two brands.

In addition to the design and development of the new site, Visual Lure also performed all on-site search engine optimization (SEO).

Lifestyle Kitchens & Baths St. Louis WordPress web design

Lifestyle Kitchens & Bath’s new home page design

FREE web design consultation

If you would like to learn more about Visual Lure’s WordPress web design services, please call us today at 618.407-9231 for a FREE web design consultation.

Click here to view more of our latest WordPress and web design projects »

Sneak Peek at Visual Lure’s New WordPress Website Design

Posted on March 8, 2015 by JUSTEN HONG

One of our most difficult clients to please has always been ourselves. We have had the same website since 2004 due to multiple reasons. 1. We have been so busy taking care of our clients that it’s been difficult to find the time to fully take care of our own needs. 2. We as designers, find it hard to design for ourselves because we are so critical of our own work, plus we constantly like to explore new design aesthetics, and 3. Web design trends are constantly evolving and we find ourselves always wanting to utilize the latest and greatest ones.

However, there comes a time when things must be done – and for us – that time was now. What truly motivated us was the announcement from Google that on April 21st of 2015 they will be releasing a new algorithm that will effect search results for websites that are not mobile friendly. As of January 2014 all the websites we design and develop for our clients have been done so utilizing responsive (mobile friendly) website design, but our site has yet to be completely converted.

Responsive web design is the practice of designing and developing websites so that they automatically transform to fit the screens of the devices they are being viewed from, including desktop computers, tablets and smart phones. This technique ensures that users have a great user experience no matter how they are viewing a website. For instance, font sizes may increase on the tablet and mobile versions so that users don’t have to zoom in to easily read text, and layouts may shift so that the content remains logically structured while increasing or decreasing in size.

Our current blog is responsive, but the rest of our website is not. We currently rank on the first page of Google for all our targeted search terms and we don’t want to take the risk of dropping due to this update. With that being said, here is a little sneak peek at some of our unused designs over the years along with our new design that is currently under development. Our new site will be built in WordPress utilizing a fully custom theme. The new theme will feature custom admin sections making it easy for us to update our portfolios. It will also have tons of cool CSS effects and animations. Look for the launch of our new website coming soon!

New Website Screenshots:

new home page design

new about us page

new graphic design/print portfolio page

new website design portfolio details page

Unselected Design Options:

the first runner up home page design

a cool home page design that didn’t make the cut

Is your current website not responsive or mobile friendly?

If your current website is not mobile friendly, and you are looking for a new web design company, give Visual Lure a call today. With a free website design consultation we can explore your options and provide you with a free estimate.

Custom WordPress Development for St. Louis Wedding Planner

Posted on February 27, 2015 by JUSTEN HONG

Visual Lure had the pleasure of working with Kristin Weis (again), and Cheree Berry Paper, to develop Kristin Ashley Events’ new custom WordPress website. Kristin Ashley Events is a premier St. Louis, MO full service wedding and event planning company that provides proposal planning, full wedding coordination, month of coordination along with à la carte options. Without doubt, they are one of the best wedding planning companies in the greater St. Louis area.

The fine designers at Cheree Berry Paper provided the new design and Visual Lure took those comps and turned them into a fully functioning responsive WordPress website. The new website features swaying roll-over frames on the home page and custom admin sections for the portfolio and press pages making it easy for Kristin to maintain. Visual Lure also designed the new contact and blog pages staying true to the aesthetic we were provided. This will be the third website we’ve developed for KAE.

Visit www.kristinashleyevents.com to check out the new website.

new home page design with swaying frames

services pages

portfolio landing page

photo gallery

video gallery

blog page

Learn more about our web design or WordPress design services, or contact us today for a free website consultation.

Logo Design & Branding Package for St. Louis Grand Champion Grill Masters

Posted on February 18, 2015 by JUSTEN HONG

A personal friend of ours is a member of a St. Louis Grand Champion barbecue crew, and a couple months ago we had the pleasure of tasting some of his scrumptious dishes. It was some of the best ribs, pork steaks, brats and chicken we’ve ever had. Last year his team won the title of Grand Champions at The 10th Annual Wildwood Barbecue Bash. The year before that they won for best chicken.

While we were feasting on his fine cuisine, we started to discuss the name of his team, Mr. Pink BBQ. The name was inspired by Steve Buscemi’s character in Reservoir Dogs. I instantly saw a new logo in my head. Mr. Pink, dressed in his all black suit and skinny tie – riding a pig like a bull rider – holding on to some type of grilling utensil.

Below is that vision taken from conception to completion, including an alternative logo format, trailer graphics, sample patterns, color palette, typefaces and identity package.

If you are interested in our logo design or branding services give us a call today at 618.407.9231 or email us at info@visuallure.com.

Eight Visual Lure Logos Selected for Logo Lounge 9 Publication

Posted on February 16, 2015 by JUSTEN HONG

Visual Lure is once again honored to have work selected for publication in the LogoLounge series. LogoLounge is without a doubt THE best and most prestigious logo design publication in the World. This year’s panel of international judges consisted of Kendrick Kidd of Shepherd Agency, Matt McCracken of Doublenaut, Sebastian Padilla of Anagrama, Ian Paget of LogoGeek, Tracy Sabin of Sabingrafik, Christopher Simmons of MINE, Matt Stevens of Design Office of Matt Stevens, and Alina Wheeler of Designing Brand Identity. Over 23,000 logos were submitted with only the cream of the crop selected.

“The final collection is not only an excellent point-in-time examination, it is full to the brim with inspiration, higher thinking, and craftsmanship.” – Bill Gardner, LogoLounge Founder.

The new book will be released by HOW/F+W Media, Inc in early 2016.

This will be the 6th LogoLounge Book we’ve been published in with a total of 19 logos to date.

Here are our logos that were selected:

Ironically, most of the logos chosen for publication were not the logos our clients selected, except for the Abiding Grace and da Vinci Tree logos.

If you are looking for one of the best logo designers in St. Louis, MO, or anywhere else in the World, give Visual Lure a call today. We would love to design a logo for you that is memorable, timeless and eye-catching. You never know, the logo we design for you could be published in the next LogoLounge book.

Sneak Peek at New Website for St. Louis Metro Construction Company

Posted on February 5, 2015 by JUSTEN HONG

Visual Lure, in collaboration with Cohesion, is currently working on Holland Construction Services’ new website. Cohesion is a St. Louis, MO based strategic consulting firm and a full-service marketing agency, and Holland Construction Services is a top St. Louis metro east commercial contractor. Holland specializes in providing full-service construction services to commercial, educational, government, industrial, multi-family, recreational and religious organizations and businesses.

The new website is being built in WordPress utilizing a fully custom theme with a plethora of custom features. These include a leadership page where member’s photos are black and white, when selected, they turn to color and move to the foreground. A custom admin section is also being created so that the Holland team can easily add, edit and remove featured projects. The new site will be responsive so that users have a pleasant viewing experience no matter what type of device they are using to view the website.

Cohesion was responsible for the messaging, copywriting and the design of most of the main pages. We then took what they delivered, modified the design so that it could be converted to a responsive layout and we designed the rest of the site staying true to the provided aesthetic.

View the sample pages below, along with our initial proposed home page design (at the very bottom), and check back soon for the official launch.

Home page design

Leadership page

Featured projects landing page

Project’s sub category landing page

Sample feature projects page

Responsive page layout samples

Our initial proposed home page design

Click here to view more of our latest website design.

50th Wedding Anniversary Save the Dates & Invitations

Posted on January 21, 2015 by JUSTEN HONG

My in-laws just celebrated their golden 50th wedding anniversary – and as a good son-in-law, who is also a graphic designer, I was in charge of designing the save-the-dates and the invitations.

Below you can see the save-the-dates. Underneath that is a card we placed in the save-the-dates for friends and family to write a special note or memory that they shared with the couple. We later placed them all in a book and gave it to them as a gift. Beneath the note card is the return envelope that features two frames, one of the couple when they were married and the other to place the stamp.

At the very bottom is the invitation. Everything was printed by Schwartzkopf Printing.

50th Wedding Anniversary Invitations