It’s almost that time of the year again where we prepare for one of the largest events of the year in the Overberg region –  The Hermanus Whale Festival.  The Whale festival attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world each year to come and watch the magnificent Souther-Right Whales, who come visit Hermanus each year just off our coast.

Each year the whole community works together to make the Whale Festival bigger, better and more memorable than the last and this year is no different. One of the regions largest events deserves nothing less than a top quality website and this year we as a community have the opportunity to vote on the new website design for whale festival.

There are three options to choose from and voting will take less than 5 minutes! You can also comment on the designs on our facebook page and let us know what you think of them!

Click here to go to the voting page

The Hermanus Whale Festival will be held from the 30th of September until the 4th of October.

Front page of Mulligans Guest Lodge Hermanus

The Mulligans Guest Lodge website is an upgrade from their previous website. One of the main aims of this new website was to show that this establishment is on the Hermanus Golf Course and therefore target golfers on holiday as well as to usual holiday maker. So to convey the point we used large rotating images on the front which clearly give you an indication of it’s positioning, but also orientated the website largely around the theme of golf (since of course the Lodges major attraction is the Golf course right on it’s door step). By doing this we could use a vibrant green, which allows this website to stand out quite nicely.

View of the Hermanus golf course page

Gallery page on Mulligans Guest Lodge

Wine and Company, Hermanus, South Africa

Wine and Company is a specialized wine boutique that supplies some of the finest wines, gifts and accessories and provides worldwide wine delivery. It is manages by the owner and offers free wine tastings on select wines daily.

Studio137 was contracted to design a website and the result was www.wineandcompany.co.za. The website has many great and noticeable features:

• A quick links drop down list that lets you select the wine and jump to that selection
• A great selection of the wines on offer just one click away
• An ordering system to order your wines, with world wide delivery
• The latest special with a link that takes you directly to the wine

Wine and Company, Wine selection page

Wine and Company, Full wine details page

Live the Life Church

Live the Life is a church based in Hermanus, in the Western Cape, who live out their passionate love for God, their unconditional love for one another, and their unrelenting love for their community and the communities of the world. The church is vibrant and diverse, with many of its members busy in their community. So Live the Life church needed a website that would be able to provide information to those who had visited the church or were looking in, provide a platform where the church’s resources could be accessed and downloaded, as well as have hub where members can view news and events and stay up to do with what is happening in their Mercy Ministries, Nations Missions, as well as their Youth Groups.
After Studio 137 was contracted to do the website for Live the Life Church, www.livethelife.org.za came about, which includes a number of noticeable features:

• An administration panel that allows the staff at Live the Life to easily:
  • add and update news and events
  • add and update photo’s
  • add and update rosters and schedules
• A portal where audio and video resources can easily be accessed and downloaded
• A front page that allows a variety of important media and information to be displayed at once ie the latest sermon, calendar, regular happenings, weekly and upcoming events etc.
• A full calendar view for viewing all events within that month

Live the Life Church - Full calendar view

Live the Life Church - Media Downloads page

Usik Construction - Home Page

USIK Construction (Pty)Ltd. founded in 1995 are a company that is at the forefront of construction in the Hermanus area having worked on constructions such as the Marine Apartments. USIK Construction strives to make sure, that all the facets of business are implemented, to ensure that their clients are kept first, and a good quality product is delivered, at a fair price.

Studio137 designed the website www.usikconstruction.com to fit the feel of an online portfolio. The angular and squared style of the images and buttons on the website as well as the squared sides with the writing done over a background layer of concrete helps to enforce a carefully designed and structured feel. The images on the home page are displayed using flash and show off some of the great construction works of the company.

The buttons are designed to look and work like folders/dividers which fit the portfolio feel of the USIK Construction website. The website is easy to use and contains drop down links  to provide more of the information you want to know about the company. The contact information is well placed and stands out easily for anyone who wants to know more.

Usik Construction - Services page

Usik Construction - Work History page

Hansie Oosthuizen Photography

Hansie Oosthuizen is a decorated photographer that lives with his wife in Onrusrivier, Hermanus. Having being introduced to photography at a young age, and continuing with his passion for photography throughout his school and student career, it was no wonder that Hansie became the talented photographer that he is today. Hansie’s love and passion for photography means he has opened up his services to capture beauty and special moments for clients, ranging from wedding photo’s to commerial photo’s and images.
Hansie contracted Studio 137 to develop a website for him that would be able to capture and showcase his portfolio of the work that he had already done for clients, but also showcase his personal work which had stemmed out of his passion for capturing beauty. The result, www.hansiephoto.co.za, has many notceable features:

• A dynamic interface that arranges his portfolio neatly and is easily navigated
• A platform where Hansie’s portfolio is displayed in a structured, yet aesthetic manner
• An Administration Panel which allows Hansie to upload his photographs with minimum hassle
• A platform where clients can view, order and purchase photo’s from the website
• Workshop news and updates

Hansie Oosthuizen Photography - Gallery view

Hansie Oosthuizen Photography - Your Wedding Gallery

Hansie Oosthuizen Photography - Enlarged image view

African Tribes Guest Lodge, home page

African Tribes is a luxurious guest lodge situated in the heart of Johannesburg, created by its owners to be an upmarket African experience, located centrally for main tourist attractions as well as the main business centres of the area. The owner of the lodge contacted Studio 137 to develop a website for them that would showcase and market their accommodation and facilities to potential clients. The outcome was www.africantribes.co.za. The website hosts some of the following noticeable features:

• An entirely unique design that captures the theme of the guest lodge
• Large visually stimulating flash images incorporated as the main design feature
• Each page is designed to incorporate both images and information in a visually stimulating manner
• Directions and Local Information

African Tribes Guest Lodge, accommodation page

Western Cape Birding, South Africa, home page

Western Cape Birding is an organisation that purposes to develop a network of birding routes for the Western Cape, in the areas of the West Coast, the Overberg, the Winelands, the Garden Route and Little Karoo (Eden), the Cape Peninsula, and the Great Karoo.

The critical aim of Western Cape Birding is to contribute towards the consolidation of the conservation status of Important Bird Areas (IBA’s) along each birding route, by increasing its visibility within the public and general tourist domain.

Western Cape Birding, Tour operator page

To help Western Cape Birding achieve its objectives, Studio 137 was contracted to develop the now finished website, www.westerncapebirding.co.za. The result was a website that has the following noticeable features:

• Easy to navigate and access each Birding Route and the information pertaining to it
• Many many resources and articles with information pertaining to each Birding Route
• Aesthetic feel; each Birding Route page has its own theme
• News and events that pertain to each individual Birding Route
• A dynamic hub, where visitors can either view information, resources and news regarding the Western Cape Birding Route as a whole, or choose to branch out to a specific Birding Route

Flamingo Birding route theme, Western Cape Birding

Overberg birding route theme, Western Cape Birding

Karoo birding route theme, Western Cape Birding

Gallery image view, Western Cape Birding

Village Square Shopping Centre Home page

The Village SquareThe Village Square is a shopping and life-style centre located in the epicentre of Hermanus. With a diverse and colourful arrangement of Cafes, Restaurants, Fashion Boutiques, Health and Beauty Stores, Gift and Curio shops and much much more, the management of Village Square needed a website where they would be able to showcase the diversity of the centre, as well as highlight each stores individual flavour.

Village Square Hermanus - shop listings

www.village-square.co.za

The website has many notable features, many which include:

• A vibrant and visually aesthetic design
• Simple yet attractive navigation system
• Individual, customizeable pages for each store
• Administration panel allows owner of each store to open up their own account, which allows them to do the following:
  • customize their stores page
  • add and update information, products and product details, and specials
  • upload and display images and videos of the store and products
  • a system that allows each store owner to market and sell their merchandise through the website
• Latest News and Events at Village Square and in Hermanus
• Interactive map, with the location of each store

Village Square Hermanus shop - African Kingdom

Interactive map - Village Square shopping Hermanus

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Client: DMO
Website: www.whalecoast.info

The Cape Whale Coast website is the official site of the Whale Coast region. The Whale Coast region spans from Hangklip-Kleinmond to Gansbaai including the towns Hermanus and Stanford and their surrounding regions. Studio137 was contracted to do this site and henceforth the site www.whalecoast.info was the result with the following noticeable features:

• Updatable listings created within the database. Both paid and free.
• Listings to be shown per region or per category
• Handling the listings via ajax allowing less clicks to get the information
• More aesthetic feel with 3 THEMES – ocean, dunes, fynbos
• Many many resources and articles with information about the Cape Whale Coast
• News and events

Dunes theme:

Fynbos theme: