The launch of the 20CM Records site marked a distinctive moment in the evolution of the Romanian hip-hop group Parazitii, as this represented Parazitii's first move in the process of redefining their image after parting with the agent that they had been working with for the past few years. At that time, Parazitii had reached a point in their career when they had established themselves as a notable brand in the Romanian music industry, enjoying a level of notoriety that ensured their ability to independently promote themselves and even support an emerging record label, 20CM Records.

However, as they had previously depended on their agent regarding their connections with performance contractors, Parazitii realized that they would have to create new ways of communicating with industry executives. Thus, their website needed to guarantee both the group's promotion among its fans and its professional networking. DIFFstudios worked with the artists to create a website that would satisfy both goals and would accurately represent the group's image. This translated into a website that makes a strong statement about the attitude associated with Parazitii's music, a website that sets a mood, featuring a desolate, tenebrous setting accented by two unmistakable elements of urban culture ­ the vinyl record and the 20CM RECORDS stencil. Beyond these visible elements, the design team that worked on this project included a well-hidden function which adds to the site's personality and has become notorious among the site's users.

This effect was achieved as, in order to distillate the site's image, our team managed to immerse itself in the group's mentality and identify the features that would speak to Parazitii's target audience. This task was a successful experiment that lead both to a remarkable website and to a collaboration with the group concerning the images of the artists featured in the press. Furthermore, the success of this website not only consolidated Parazitii and 20CM Records' reputation among hip hop fans, but also brought intense recognition to the name DIFFstudios, generating numerous other website projects from the overarching genre of urban culture.

Fulltrade is a French-based company that deals in customized business accessories. When Fulltrade representatives approached our agency, their concept for the company website was essentially that of a product showcase site that needed to promote a dynamic, professional image using Flash technology. However, Fulltrade had also expressed the desire to offer search options, a preferred product cart and certain product presentation features, which are all specific to on-line purchasing sites. Analyzing their line of business and their company profile, our DIFFstudios designers recognized that what Fulltrade would most benefit from is a Flash-based e-commerce solution, as their desired characteristics were less those of a showcase and moreover those of an online shop.

Since Fulltrade did not want to feature prices and actually conduct a full-fledged e-commerce application, our designers customized elements of DIFF's developed shops and created a dynamic product catalog. We developed a specialized CMS-type function which allowed the site administrator to independently edit image and text-content of the site, giving Fulltrade the means to permanently keep the basic content of their site and products up to date.

Ever since the site was developed, Fulltrade has registered a massive increase in its market share and scale of business, having collaborated with numerous worldwide partners that were drawn to the company by its cutting edge on-line catalog. The company's representatives were incredibly satisfied with the results of their collaboration with DIFFstudios and congratulated our designers for their independent thinking and for having not only lived up to but exceeded their demands and expectations.

As their testimonial confirms, MGA turned to the services of DIFFstudios after a number of failed attempts to work with other agencies on designing a company website. Slowly losing hope, MGA had a chance to see DIFF's previous work and was inspired to switch to our agency. Soon they came to appreciate the extensive attention that our specialists devoted to their project and established an excellent communication with our team. In getting to know the company and its representatives, we developed multiple versions for their website and constantly remained open to the client's feedback, starting over from scratch on more than one occasion. Thus, unlike MGA's past experiences, their partnership with DIFF was marked by patience and determination that made all the difference. Throughout this process, our team refused to settle until we had made sure to meet the company's full satisfaction.

Before our final version, we presented MGA with the prototype of a corporate-type website inspired by their line of work, which the client demanded we turn into a flashier, more futuristic model. Based on this direction, we developed the current website that greatly relies on 3D animation and presents a dynamic vision of the company, capturing the image that MGA was striving for. The website features a unique navigation system and multiple configuration options for the user, among which the option to disable header animation in order to ease interaction for users with a weaker connection. Paying attention to details, we also edited the company logo featured on the website to give it a sleeker appearance and a style suitable for the dynamism that MGA requested for its website.

As we presented MGA with this version of the website, they were thrilled and pleased to have finally found the agency that puts its client's opinions on the same level as those of its experts. This fruitful cooperation has determined the company to continue using our services, as we are currently developing a promotional campaign to enable MGA to take full advantage of its enhanced image. In DIFFstudios, MGA has discovered the partner that employs their materials of choice in building a strong brand.

In 2005, before DIFFstudios' intervention, the number of visitors attracted by the Mtv site, moderately ranked on trafic.ro, was mainly driven by the brand's appeal and not by the website's content and design. As we became aware of this situation, we took it upon ourselves, as both an honor and a challenge, to approach Mtv proposing a change of its site that would increase the number of site visitors and complement the brand's image in Romania.

After a close study of the Mtv websites worldwide, we contacted Mtv's Head of Digital Media Dpt., Adrian Matei, and presented an outline of our ideas, emphasizing the more important elements that we wanted to implement and which would generate an increase in visitors and enhance the station's image in the eyes of its audience. The Mtv representatives considered our proposal closely and expressed their demands, confirming our initial assumption - the project was going to be a real challenge. We promptly came up with 3 design previews that were well received and then narrowed them down to the client's choice. Once the design part was completed, the real challenges followed. We invested all of our efforts into overcoming these and had completed the project four weeks later.

What resulted from this bet we made with ourselves is a well-structured php-based site that is not only user-friendly but also features excellent navigation facilities, a strong search engine and a CMS (DIFFadmin) which considerably eases the job of a site administrator. The proof that our project is a reputable success has been most eloquently given by the fact that Mtv has chosen DIFFstudios to be the web-design agency in charge of the Mtv site for no less than 5 years. Another important moment of confirmation was then reached when, two months upon finalizing the contract, the site registered 100.000 unique users/month, demonstrating that its popularity has surged due to the site's face-lift and optimization.

Now that we have won this bet, we are still constantly competing with ourselves, as updating and maintaining the site of such a powerful brand is in itself a considerable task. This is greatly due to the fact that the Mtv website requires constant on-line promotion since it represents a TV channel that broadcasts 24 hours/day. As an ongoing project, we are proud to exhibit Mtv in our portfolio and congratulate ourselves for the initiative to take on its challenge.

The project for the Mtv Romanian Music Awards website arose during the first year of our collaboration with the brand. In light of the upcoming award show, Mtv turned to DIFFstudios for the development of an on-line voting application. Our past experience with Mtv proved to be a tremendous advantage, as we had already identified the target audience and brand identity which our execution needed to be reflect. Having covered the groundwork, we focused on the actual demands from Mtv which included the desire to a create a flashy, outstanding site that would perfectly integrate the graphics that Mtv's design department had created for the event.

As the site was intended to perform a straight-forward function and needed to be simple and practical above anything else, our team focused on coming up with an entertaining design solution that wouldn't over complicate or encumber the voting process. Based on the RMA2005 theme ­ the subway system ­ DIFFstudios created a Flash animation which reinvented the Mtv logo as a subway map that the user would track, stopping at every station to vote in a different category. The animation was supported by a php-script that registered each vote in a MySQL database, which allowed the site administrator to view statistics quantifying the current voting status.

This concept excited us since it was our first experience using a Flash application that interacts with a database. Not only did it challenge us to apply a new software solution, also, the RMA site has demonstrated efficiently meshing with the event's image created by Mtv and has lived up to the dimension of the Mtv Awards, registering over 50.000 individual votes. We are excited to have developed a website that has given thousands of users the option to make their opinion count.

As the market leaders in Kawasaki and Aprilia motorcycle distribution in Romania, United Motors International is a company that should feature a dynamic, attractive website to match its prominence in the market and to suit the profile of its customers. However, before the company approached DIFFstudios to take on its website redesign, the site they modeled failed to achieve any of the said purposes, and was instead fully nonfunctional and amateurish. DIFF took on the challenge to turn this website into one that would properly represent the brand's image and would be tailored to the likes of the UM target audience.

The first step taken in elaborating the strategy was analyzing the market trends, the competitive environment and the profile of the United Motors customers. Having identified the aspects that were negatively affecting the brand's perception and having come up with various solutions to remedy these flaws, DIFF presented UM representatives with a vision that went beyond a simple face-lift for the site and perfected core elements of the brand's marketing strategy.

The initial logo, perceived as outdated and dull was replaced with a dynamic, 3D logo that is both sleek and bold. Inspired by the new logo, UM was motivated to also change its slogan, finding inspiration in the original Kawasaki marketing strategy. The updated slogan, "Yes, there may be limits. We just don't care" speaks to the essence of the moto-enthusiasts, synthesizing ambition, confidence, and a spirit of rebellion.

These new brand symbols are highlighted on the redesigned company website, which caters to the same core values of United Motors' exclusive target audience. Designed with the enthusiasm of a passionate biker in mind, the website is well-structured and easy to navigate, with the desired information always one click away, so that users can have the same speed surfing the site as they do on the road. Now, having actively collaborated with DIFFstudios, United Motors has a new image and a fully functional website that does justice to the company's prestige.