Online Shopping + Design

I love shopping.  I could do it pretty much all day.  And online shopping is very handy and fun!  I like that too.

So today, I thought I'd tell you a few of the places I like to shop online, why I like them, and a little bit about the graphic design of the logos.  This will be fun. 

One neat online store I like is West Elm.  They have some wonderfully creative things!  See here:

1. Zig Zag Rug | 2. Spine Wall Shelf | 3. Ice Medallion Pillow Cover | 4. Log Vases | 5. John-Paul Philippe Framed Sketches | 6. Bamboo Dry Erase Boards

I love them!  I think my favorite is the dry erase board - how cool to have one made out of bamboo.

West Elm's graphic design is excellent, too.  Look at their logo!  It's simple and modern with a bit of a warm, rustic feel.  The typography is fabulous.  (Sorry the logo is so small - I couldn't find a bigger version.)

I really like the outline font of the "WE" - it makes the font a little casual while still coming across as innovative and modern.  The font for "West Elm" is nice, too - I like the typewriter-looking font.  The color is good as well - quiet and not flamboyant, which is similar to the style of lots of West Elm items.

Another place I like to browse around is ModCloth.  They have some neat, retro kinds of clothing items and accessories.  Here are a few things I like from there.

1. Worth a Chai Cardigan | 2. Retro Reveler Dress in Blooms | 3. Campfire Tales Boot | 4. The Creative Type Jacket | 5. Antique Arcade Cardigan | 6. Triple Latte Scarf

I love the funky, vintage style of these items.

The logo for ModCloth is nice, too.  The typography and icon definitely fit the style of the company.

Like I said, the typography and icon on this logo are very good.  The mushrooms are cute, and I like the way the stems of the mushrooms have similar line width and style as the typography.  This is a very cohesive logo, and the typography flows well into the icon.  Transitions are important, and this logo nails the transitions.

The thing I'm not so sure about on this logo is the choice of color.  The colors aren't bad - pleasant shades of baby blue - but they just don't seem to fit with the fun, creative, "out there" selections of products that ModCloth sells.  I mean, they do sell some more reserved, quiet looking items, but there are also some pretty funky ones, so I don't feel like the color choice fully represents their repertoire of items.  But that's just my preference.

One more store before I end today's post... Cute Tape.  I like this store, and I must confess that I have a thing for tape.  Especially pretty tape.  Once, when I was little, my sister gave me a bunch of roles of Scotch tape for my birthday, and I was thrilled.  Yes, I'm strange like that.  My love for tape has quite a long history.  But my tape fetish begins to make more sense when you see lovely tape like this, doesn't it?

1. Red Pattern Washi Japanese Tape | 2. Gray and Red Star Traditional Pattern Washi Tape | 3. Japanese Washi Deco Tape Blue Green Brown Grid | 4. Pretty Lime Green Stripe Washi Tape | 5. Turquoise and Baby Blue Stripe Pattern Washi Tape | 6. Silver Gold Solid Japanese Washi Tape

Or maybe my tape fetish still seems strange to you (that's okay).  But you've got to admit that this tape is quite lovely.  Cute Tape has so many beautiful items.

The graphic design of their site is interesting, as well.  Here is their logo.

I'm honestly not sure exactly what purpose this logo serves.  It seems more like a site header to me than a logo.  If you check out the Cute Tape site, I think you'll see what I mean.

As a logo, meaning a brand identity that will serve as the company's visual image throughout multiple means of media, I don't think this logo works very well.  Why?  It's much too detailed, has too many fonts, and looks a little too photograph-y and not logo-y enough.  I've seen it in use on a blog ad without the tag background, and it looked much more like a logo, but personally, I would cut the words underneath and just stick with "Cute Tape" for logo purposes.  That would be a strong logo design according to my definition.

But as a site header, as something that identifies the company online and heralds what kind of website this will be, it's fabulous.  I love it!  It perfectly captures the style of Cute Tape, and it coordinates well with the rest of the website.  So it's all in the application.

I hope you enjoyed these thoughts, and feel free to check out West Elm, ModCloth, or Cute Tape.  What do you think of each of these stores?  Do you have favorite items from the post or thoughts about the logos?