Live Urban Love Rural is the new online magazine designed for people who live in London, but are after that little something extra that only rural life can offer.
Rachel came to us with the idea in April 2011 and we were taken by the idea instantly. With so many websites dedicated to events in and around London, we loved the idea that this one would aim to tackle quite a niche market. Rachel is extremely knowledgeable and experienced in all things arts, craft and country. We were impressed with her passion for the project and therefore knew we had to take it on.
The Live Urban Love Rural website consists of 5 different channels: How-to – a section dedicated to growing, making and creating your own rural life in the country, Creative Hub – a guide to creative projects and arts and crafts events in the city, LULR Interview – interviews with inspirational city folk, In-Focus – an in depth look at ‘rurban’ trends in London and, finally, an Events section that lists upcoming rural and community events in London.
As the website’s popularity would initially be measured almost solely on the amount of traffic it receives, we were keen to work with Rachel on the social media aspects of it. Naturally, a Twitter account and Facebook page were set up, as well as a Feedburner account, offering readers plenty of different ways to subscribe and keep up with her regular content.
We decided to build in a featured article section to the top of the homepage so that articles could be given extra prominence if Rachel and her writers wanted to highlight something in particular. There is also a tabbed section on each page that offers the most popular articles to date, the most recent comments and a tag list so it’s easy for readers to drill down to the content they most want to read.
The Events section consists of a calendar that is browsable by month or year and can also be switched to list view if you prefer to view the events that way. Each event contains more details when you click through to it, revealing a dynamic Google map, telephone number, venue, entrance fee and pretty much any other details needed for an event.
With this website we wanted to go for a slightly more quirky and charming feel, without over-cluttering it or making it too twee. It needed to be obvious what it was about, but readability and legibility were pretty much key. To achieve this we decided to go for a light canvas background and added a few stitching elements to different areas of the site just to give the idea of arts and crafts, without going overboard. As LULR is predominantly aimed at women between the ages of 22 – 35, we used 3 different shades of pink accent throughout the site and incorporated a pink butterfly in the footer to enforce the rural element also portrayed in the logo.
We’ve always wanted to design a magazine website and we finally got to do so with LULR and Rachel, who has been really fun and a real pleasure to work with.
We wish Rachel and her writers all the best in continuing to grow their readership.
"Xavier put his heart into my project. More often that not I refer to it as 'our' project, as the whole process, from concept to design to launch was and will remain a partnership. It was important to me that whoever designed my website had to understand the core idea and the meaning behind what I wanted to do. Xavier understood this instantly; he brought my ideas to life and was instrumental in creating the LULR brand. Throughout the design process, Xavier listened to everything I wanted, and showed utmost professionalism when suggesting that some ideas might not work as well as I had thought!
Xavier's knowledge, dedication and enthusiasm when it comes to web design combined with his creativity is a rare commodity. But what has impressed me possibly even more is his support during and ever since the launch of the site. For me, building a social media presence is very important, and Xavier is always there to answer my questions or give me useful Twitter tips. The response I've had to the site so far has been amazing. Everyone comments on the clean, fresh, beautiful design, and all agree that the site is very easy to navigate. And the main thing is, I love it!
I couldn't have done it without him - it's as simple as that. "
