Origin Interactive

The need

Show some love
South Africa is abounding in local talent. There is no shortage of beautiful art and ingenious design. But there are very few sites that allow arty types to promote their work in a South African context, and fewer still that reach an audience beyond the creative industry. What’s missing is a platform that promotes talent and showcases art, yet also allows the Average Joe to join this creative journey. It’s time to appreciate local talent.

Create a community
Creating a passionate and committed online community is no small feat. The success of Cotton Candy is dependent on people submitting work, appreciating designs and buying these fantastic t-shirts. The trick is to establish a collaborative community that will promote and support each other through their love of art and great fashion.

So what are we doing for Cotton Candy?

• Showcasing great South African talent
• Creating a creative community in the South African context
• Selling home-grown fashion

Creating a great community and e-commerce platform

We rounded up our peers, colleagues, friends and anyone else who would oblige and asked them to tell us what they would want from the Cotton Candy experience. We weeded out the rubbish ideas, held onto the good ones and sanity checked everything with our experience in the industry. Defining the what and the how was tricky. This site had to be different, local and add real value to members; so, is this an ecommerce site, a portfolio site or a community of artists? Well, the truth is that it’s all 3, with a much wider audience than just an ecommerce or just a portfolio site would engage on their own.

User experience

E-commerce sites require some special UX attention and insights. After all, you are asking users to part with their hard-earned money. After some rather lively brainstorming sessions and intensive research, we were able to successfully roll the e-commerce, portfolio and community aspects into one engaging experience. Processes include; submitting designs, the voting process, browsing and buying t-shirts and creating a comprehensive user profile complete with a type of mini portfolio.

The right look and feel

First things first - the corporate identity. Internally we went through 60 odd concepts before settling on something that represented the Cotton Candy vision and purpose.
In approaching the design of the website, our primary goal was to appreciate and showcase local talent. All design decisions were based on this premise. We crafted a subdued yet fresh style with a few touches of design “je ne sais quoi”. It’s essential for the website to support and compliment the designs and t-shirts, while still appealing to a wide audience - and it will do just that!

What’s in your cart

The shopping cart fly-out offers users a quick overview of the items added without interrupting the shopping experience. Items can be easily updated before the final purchase is made.