PRINTING FOR LESS
UI & Visual Designer
the
PROJECT
Printing for Less (PFL) is an e-commerce commercial printer built for entrepreneurs to established companies to implement high-impact print marketing strategies without the premium price. From its beginnings in 1999 as the nation’s first online print shop, PFL’s goal has always been to inspire and serve its creative marketing communities. Armed with an array of clever concepts and products, the PFL team approached me to elevate their current design system. They needed to consolidate under a single identity and distinguish themselves in a saturated competitive landscape with a brand that highlights their modern user experience.
Brand Development
Interaction Design
Visual Design
Communications
my
ROLE
I partnered with two project managers, 1021UX's and PFL's, to streamline content creation and translate concepts into features that addressed the client's specific needs. I directly contributed to the visual and interaction design as well as managing an external developer to correctly implement the content.
Adobe XD CC
Adobe Photoshop CC
Adobe Illustrator CC
Figma
Responsibilities: Creative direction for a comprehensive brand experience, live web and mobile identity, user interface design, and visual design.
PFL needed a fresh identity to communicate their dedication to their clients by bridging availability, quality, and an innovative search platform in a saturated industry.
my
APPROACH
As it continues to innovate its platform with better quality, functionality, and features, the aim is a PFL brand that communicates the leadership and distinction it brings to the industry. I needed to help create an identity for PFL that presents all content assets under a single, solidified design system, that personifies its authentic qualities. With such a diverse service catalog, their team needed written rules to ensure a harmonious color palette with legible and, above all, consistent design elements.
DESIGN SYSTEM
brand
STRATEGY
The world of online print-on-demand is crowded with competitors, and I needed to distinguish PFL strategically and visually. Cyans, magentas, and yellows dominate the landscape, along with somewhat incomplete visual systems of uninspired typography and whitespace. PFL was poised to connect with customers through a thoughtful brand system and stand out in their industry. PFL identifies their three brand attributes as providing quality, a good value and a really great experience for their customers.
“High-touch customer service and really good relationship selling are how we differentiate ourselves,”
Wyeth Windham, vice president of technical services.
visual
LANGUAGE
The PFL voice is encouraging, confident, and authentic. It’s a mix of passion and expertise, vision, and pragmatism inspired by their stakeholders and driven by their future. PFL's previous branding was orange, an ownable color for them. Few of their competitors were using orange and the vibrant hue communicates the excitement around their community and assets.
I tweaked the orange to provide more contrast against white and introduced a secondary palette to lighten the mood and highlight PFL’s philosophy.
PFL is the nation's first
e-commerce commercial printer.
PFL provides a one-stop shop for all your printing and mailing needs.
From the first phone call to the well-protected packaging, PFL is serious about delivering the best customer experience possible. PFL provides unmatched value, made possible by its high volume and state of the art manufacturing operations, all done with the service that you would expect from a small local print shop.
Roboto,
Regular All Caps
Roboto,
Bold
Roboto,
Light
Roboto,
Regular
Roboto,
Semi-bold
The PFL brand type family is Roboto. Roboto pairs well with PFL's brand attributes of quality, modern, and effortless. It offers enough weights to create a dynamic type stack and create an easy visual hierarchy where needed.
brand
INPUTS
Search Field - Base, rest
Roboto,
Regular All Caps
Roboto,
Regular All Caps
Roboto,
Regular
Roboto,
Bold All Caps
Search Field - Base, selected
Search Field - Drop-down, rest
Search Field - Drop-down, selected
product
UI
In addition to the design system, I was tasked with designing the Swag IQ UI for desktop, tablet, and mobile. The Swag IQ experience was designed to give customers the ability to customize their marketing campaigns with experiences specific to their individual client. This includes everything from selecting a unique experience, editing the imagery and graphics, to creating a personalized message.
Check out the live site here: www.pfl.com
