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The Client

The Nightingale is one of the most highly acclaimed nightclubs in the country.
It has received numerous awards and is well respected on the club scene.

The Customer Base

The Nightingale has been in existence for nearly 40 years and as such has a user base that spans the generations. Predominantly catering to an LGBT audience, the Nightingale was originally formed as a social club for gay men in the upstairs room of a pub. Now, it is known nationwide as a premier venue for music and entertainment throughout the gay and straight communities and still retains some of its original founding members.

The Challenge

Our first task before even starting the website design was to re-evaluate the Club's brand image. A logo had been in existence since the mid–eighties, originally conceptualised as a result of a competition within the membership. It was very clear that the core values of the brand should not be tampered with and we should be extremely sympathetic to the devotion shown to the Club by its members, however it did need refreshment to bring it into the twenty–first century.

Application of in–house 3D modelling to the original logo concept accomplished this. A set of brand guidelines was developed by Capricorn Studios to allow the logo to be adapted for a number of differing executions without polluting its recognition or its values.

Any website that caters for such a wide potential audience must offer simplicity and usability while maintaining the core values of the brand. The brief therefore, was to create a website with a high degree of functional familiarity; we interpreted this to mean that it should feel much like a computer screen's desktop, uncluttered and with clearly defined areas of functionality. Like a desktop, the design was also to be customisable; members are able to choose between a number of 'skins' and select what the Nightingale brand means to them. Crucially, knowing the values incorporated in each skin allows the client a 'fuzzy' indication of the preferences of their market allowing them to tailor entertainments and events to the tastes of the clientele.