MILOBY IDEASYSTEM
There’s nothing on the home page of the website Miloby designed for Nick Friedberg’s clothing company that even hints of something a man might wear. A collection of silvery objects—from clips to pins, figures, rulers and other, not immediately identifiable stuff, all artfully and precisely arranged on a white backdrop—greets the unsuspecting viewer. Click on one of the navigational tools in the lower left-hand corner, and the scene moves slightly, revealing more in the collection of sleek objects. A line of drill bits. A tape measure. Scissors. A hole punch and a wrench.

“NSF Clothing is a premium line of casual clothing that does not use a lot of visual assets,” explains Milana Kosovac, partner at Miloby. “They wanted a masculine site that reflected the brand. We decided to highlight what we considered their anonymous vibe that includes no outward brand marks and limited advertising.” The Miloby team already knew and loved the clothing, which features simple pieces made well, with high-quality fabrics and details. “We knew the site needed to be concept-driven, since it couldn’t be about content,” Kosovac explains. “So we started with a theme about the stuff guys find in their pockets. To make it sexier, we focused on the things that would come out of a designer’s pockets. We created the designer’s version of a workbench. These are the things that the guys in our office have or use, like architectural scale figures, model making tools, straight edges, clips from France. The obsessive look of the worktable was our means of creating a mood for the site.”

You can find the clothes on the site, under the COLLECTION tab. Items are overlaid on white pages of a sketchbook, continuing the working designer theme. And there are other typical fashion shots accessed by the LOOKBOOK tab; these are viewed by clicking on a white DVD. Contact info is scrawled in Sharpie on duct tape. Kosovac says, “The biggest challenge was to capture an emotional effect with these objects. We wanted it to look like a photograph and not ‘webby.’ The coding guy got excited not because it was technically challenging, but because we had to figure out softer things, like how much zoom and blur we’d use.” Apparently, the effort to create this “unweb” aesthetic worked. According to Kosovac, “The response has been phenomenal. Top stylists and buyers from premium retailers have looked [the clothes] up and were convinced the products matched their needs for understated, cool, California-inspired design. The site matched NSF’s under-the-radar vibe; they got lots of interest.” Laurel Saville

MILOBY IDEASYSTEM | CREATIVE DIRECTOR: MILANA KOSOVAC | DESIGNERS: MELISSA BERGERON, RISA SUGAHARA PROGRAMMER: MIKE DENTON | WWW.MILOBY.COM