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Design Autopsy #9: Jane Doe Latex Website & Blog
By Destroyx | May 31, 2010
I’ve been a little overwhelmed by projects over the past few weeks, but I’m super excited to finally be showing you some of the creative outcomes of my work. This week I’ll be showcasing my website design and rebrand for Jane Doe Latex, a couture latex brand based in London.
Above: Final design outcome for the ‘gallery’ section
Close up of the header graphic and logo
Jane Doe Latex is definitely one of my favourite fashion latex labels that has been established in recent years. Nina Kate has created several custom latex pieces that I have had the pleasure of wearing on the stage. So it was a dream to be able to work with Nina Kate to create a website which communicated her unique brand of elegant, fashion oriented couture latex.
Fortunately Nina Kate provided me with some beautifully evocative photographs to work with by super talented photographer Silent View. My task was to create graphical elements that complimented the photography, so I opted for elegant neo baroque flourishes which I drew in illustrator. The site was designed for wordpress, so it was a challenge to create lyrical and fluid imagery that defied the typical ‘template’ look of many wordpress sites. The logo was based on the poetically calligraphic typeface ‘Burges Script’ by the prodigious Ale Paul.
I’m extremely happy with the outcome of the project and hope you enjoy checking out the website. Be sure to check out the galleries section where there are many beautiful latex fashion photographs featuring Jane Doe Latex.
Above: The final blog layout
Topics: Design, Design Autopsy, Fashion |
May 31st, 2010 at 5:43 pm
uuu, design looks so beautiful *congrats*! And that Nina lady is really talented, Alice In Wonderland themed photoshoots are always a big success :D
May 31st, 2010 at 5:51 pm
The layout is pretty cool. I’m getting kinda jealous about the floral-elements.
But what is even the best thing is, that you started to yous divs & co instead of the oldtimed table stuff. :D
I love CSS& div-containers!!
So congrats for your design!
Greets
May 31st, 2010 at 7:09 pm
I have seen Jane Doe’s work at events and I dig it, but I’m curious about one thing. Why did you go for a gray scale background/border/whatever the edges of Wordpress sites are called? I always associate her work with red, either because of the outfit or some of the backgrounds of shoots done for the outfits. It seemed kind of natural that the dark design of the main site worked more naturally with red. Or just specifically, not gray.
I just always see stark whites, or vibrant colors from her work! The site looks wonderful as it is though, and a site is doing its job when after briefly looking around I am drawn to click on the store and look around. If only I hadn’t just spent so much money to go to the Fetish Factory parties this weekend!
May 31st, 2010 at 8:38 pm
It’s absolutely beautiful!!! I hope you get lots more work - or maybe not heaps of work, but work that is creative and well paid :)
May 31st, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Gorgeous, gorgeous site! :) I love your design work.
June 1st, 2010 at 12:33 am
It looks great! I love the flourishes. I know if I ran a fashion line, I’d definitely get you to design the site. ;)
June 1st, 2010 at 3:41 am
Great work, and the content really pops (this is why it is grey I imagine). The gallery is especially wonderful! Any plans to integrate their online store also?
I only have one critique, which is to make sure you rename/fully customize the base theme you used before handing it over to the client (well..if they paid you), and then make sure all of the plugin calls are masked. This just helps protect your design.
June 1st, 2010 at 7:52 am
WOAH it’s awesome!
June 1st, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Wow, it’s incredible ! Great job, and I agree with you, Silent View is a really talented photograph ^^
June 1st, 2010 at 5:37 pm
lol; guess this explains where you’ve been up to. It looks amazing btw. Wish I knew how to do the font thing. Do you get the font styles from somewhere or do you make them? I’ve just always wondered… I love how latex looks… but sadly have a hard time wearing/keeping them.. so I usually go for pvc if possible.
June 1st, 2010 at 9:07 pm
@v- To me it is the black that makes it pop. I really dig the black border, but the grey next to it just seemed like an odd choice, especially given the designers (both web and fashion) colorful nature. Given it resembles this blog’s border I’m just super curious why it was chosen since there seems to be a reason.
@Lucifin- Latex is really easy to care for when you know the rules. Lube it up, keep it away from heat and light. It takes up so little room compared to regular clothes too! And just make sure you lube yourself up before wearing it and that becomes pretty easy too!
June 3rd, 2010 at 1:12 am
it looks great. I don’t know if this is intentional but in the main site on the header with the girl on the red couch you can see where you tried to blend the photo into the grey of the frame. Especially over the j of jane. I can see it when I tilt my monitor.
June 3rd, 2010 at 12:06 pm
@Queen Titania - wait, I should lube up latex when I’m storing it away?
June 3rd, 2010 at 3:04 pm
@lucifin You don’t have to lube it again before storing it. I meant to use lube on your body before putting it on (some people use baby powder but it makes a mess) and then lube to shine it up. When you take it off, wash it. I just wash it in the shower with me to get all the sweat off. The latex will stay semi shiny and lubed after washing it. I store mine in small plastic containers in a cool, dark corner of my bedroom. It seems like a pain at first, but latex after care is honestly easier than most “nice” clothes which require dry cleaning and take up a ton of shelf space.
June 5th, 2010 at 12:17 am
@Queen Titania - lol; I tried baby powder… but it left white spotty marks on the latex and I was a little scared to deal with lube… but I suppose I can give it another go. I use water base lube, right?
June 5th, 2010 at 6:49 am
I was on Jane Doe the other night (trying hard not to buy any of her beautiful clothes) and noticed you had designed the new layout.
Beautiful work!! Is there no end to your talent? x
June 5th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
@lucifin I prefer silicon based lubes like Eros Bodyglide. Some other lubes feel absolutely nasty when you take the latex off. http://www.healthyandactive.com/ec400.html is what I use and what my latex designer and other latex friends use.
June 6th, 2010 at 1:48 pm
@Queen Titania - Thanks for the suggestion. I feel like we’re kinda having a side conversation on Amelia’s blog… so I think this would be a good stopping point. lol; Thanks for helping me understand latex clothing better. I’ll give it another go soon. :)
June 7th, 2010 at 2:48 am
GREAT JOB!!!
really love it!!!
June 8th, 2010 at 10:06 am
Natan- She’s very talented isn’t she! I’m lucky to work with her.
Chris / .elektroinjektion- yeah I totally had to do some revamping of my web design skills.. I’m still learning my way around CSS.. I’m pretty crappy at it!
Queen Titania- I went for a grey background, because it was relatively neutral and made you focus on the imagery. I tried a red background and it was just too overpowering, even a dark red. So I went for the grey instead.
rara- Thanks for letting me know. I couldn’t see it on my monitor, but on my friends computer I can see the line you mean. I will try to fix it soon!
trashtastika- thanks Leanne! I like helping other creative people out, so it’s nice to do work like this and I hope to do more of it.
Abigail- thanks sweetness!
Disposable Darling- Thanks! I spent a long time drawing the flourishes so I’m super happy how they turned out.
v- Thanks so much for that tip. I never actually thought about doing that before and I’ll definitely look into it. I love how thoughtful you are!
Bianca- Thanks sweet pea!
D1SA5T3R- The Silent view photography really made the whole project very beautiful and classy looking.
Lucifin- the link to the font that I used is in the blog post, it’s by ale paul.
Queen Titania- I picked grey because it’s neutral, and elegant… and we wanted it to look classy and not garish. A bright background didn’t work with the overall design.
Lucifin- Use silicon, not water based…
Taintless_deva- awww.. thanks so much for the lovely comment!
MI- Thanks sweetness!
June 8th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Thank you for the reply, I was specifically wondering about dark red working better, I’m glad I was wrong!
June 8th, 2010 at 10:55 pm
lol; sorry I got confused when you said you “based” the style on the font from the link. So I thought maybe you made up something your own based on the style. Nevermind lol
July 25th, 2010 at 8:16 am
Gorgeous - i saw the before and after… and i am really impressed.