We were commissioned by Brian ‘Q’ Quinn of Comedy Central’s Impractical Jokers and Walter Flanagan and Bryan Johnson of AMC’s Comic Book Men to design and develop a website for their award-winning podcast. The podcast, produced by indie film legend Kevin Smith on his Smodcast network, has been running for seven years, accumulated thousands upon thousands of dedicated listeners, and yet had no web presence of its own. Key features that the clients requested for the site included ecommerce functionality, in order to sell never before released digital films and bonus podcasts, a membership system where fans can signup, receive a membership card and number and subscribe to the mailing list, and a fully designed, illustrated and functional fictional town map. This was a mammoth challenge, and one we loved tackling.

We designed and illustrated a completely fictional town map for the landing page of the website, full of in-jokes and Easter Eggs for fans of the podcast. The map is zoomable, responsive, and interactive; certain elements (buildings, shops) link to other pages on the website. There is a clear and simple navigation bar for direct navigation, allowing us to leave the map unlabelled, in order for visitors to explore and discover new links and hidden features. There’s a gallery page incorporated into the site to allow fans of TESD to submit their themed images to the site using special hashtags. This has been great for both fan and customer interaction.

One of two main goals for the site was to offer digital movies for sale, that customers can download to their personal PCs straight after purchase, something that the client hadn’t been able to offer before. With just three films for offer on launch, our client recuperated their website investment by 200% in the first 48 hours of the site being live. We integrated Google Analytics as standard to the site, and include monthly reports on both the site basics – visits, acquisition and content performance – and analysis on sales statistics.
The other site goal was to capture email addresses of fans, by way of a Membership Club. Fans can enter their name, email and username, and will receive a designed email containing a membership card and unique number, now that they are part of the club. It’s a great way to increase interaction between the Podcast and their fans, and has further encouraged their social media interaction, with fans posting their membership numbers and homemade membership cards.

The Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave website presented several new challenges to us. We had not previously worked on a website for a client with such a dedicated and passionate fanbase, who were so eager to give feedback and interaction; we also had never designed and illustrated a fictional map, nor developed them to be interactive and navigational before. It’s been a great opportunity to learn new development techniques and to have our work seen on such a wide scale; we’re thrilled with the positive and appreciative feedback we’ve received.