Origo Helps Launch New Brand and Website for ColumbusUnderground.com!

March 18, 2014

ColumbusUnderground.com (CU) was founded over a decade ago by Walker and Anne Evans, and has steadily grown into a widely read and highly regarded independent online news outlet, accessed over 10 million times per year. Since Columbus Underground has gained so much exposure, becoming a trusted voice in the local Columbus community, CU wanted to develop their brand and position itself as a top-tiered news outlet for the City of Columbus, along with updating their website design and functionalities to improve user experience. Origo teamed up with CU to redesign, rebrand, and relaunch their flagship website, given our extensive creative experience and proven branding and web process.

The rebranding initiative was focused on evolving CU’s brand to have a modern sensibility, urban-centric voice, and tech-savvy essence. Our goal was to create a more thoughtful and holistic approach to the rebrand and redesign of Columbus Underground that would position their brand as the primary news outlet for the Columbus community, while also developing a contemporary look to the organization.

The Columbus Underground rebranding process was combined with the redesign and relaunch of their website, synchronizing the new modernized brand with online initiatives:

  • Web Design: A new web design was developed to create a fresh, contemporary site experience while utilizing the newly developed brand elements like color-coded sections to give a vibrant and energetic system to the site.
  • Site Architecture: An innovative navigation system was put into place, color-coding the different sections of their site to give a unique feel to each section, adding to the user experience.
  • Positioning: While the site was built on a traditional WordPress blogging platform, the client new features and layout to move away from the feeling of a “blog” and reflect their evolution as a trusted online publication.
  • Responsive Design: Advanced responsive website design was incorporated to optimize web navigation and viewing across all web pages for various types of devices, such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers.
  • Events Calendar: A new event calendar widget was also developed to enhance viewing options and to allow efficient event customization, as well as the ability for readers to submit their own events in a user-friendly experience.

After extensive collaboration between our creative team and CU, the brand refresh and web redesign was a success! Origo is proud to have worked with Walker and Anne Evans, along with the rest of the Columbus Underground team, to develop and evolve such an innovative website. Visit www.ColumbusUnderground.com to see the new website features and to stay updated on the latest news and trends in Columbus.