Dark Arts Surf
A surfboard brand and glassing company evolving the board-building process.
Introduction
In just a few short years, Dark Arts Surf has made a name for itself in the surfboard industry. Led by the conviction that surfboards should preserve and enhance the essence of surfing, Dark Arts Surf was founded in 2019 to reinvent how surfboards are made and perform.
In addition to the in-house JT brand, Dark Arts Surf finishes boards from prominent surfboard shapers like Pyzel and Sharp Eye with its signature black carbon fiber. The refined carbon-fiber bagging technique is a lightweight and durable alternative to fiberglass, yielding some of the market’s fastest, most agile, high-performance boards.
To become an in-demand surf brand accessible globally, Dark Arts Surf knew its San Diego surf shop wouldn’t be enough. The surf brand hired De Novo Digital to build an e-commerce website to attract customers and drive sales.
E-commerce website
Challenge
Dark Arts needed a website that was quick and easy to set up and use. Surfboards are offered in various dimensions and surface colors with many fin system choices, so options had to be organized and easy to navigate. The backend also had to be manageable, as staff would need to update the site frequently with new boards and quantities.
Solution
De Novo Digital chose to build the website on Shopify. Shopify's built-in tools would streamline the editing process and simplify the otherwise time-consuming buildout of product pages. The company's small team could leverage Shopify's many integrated features with limited expertise and reduce the time and resources needed for sales, email marketing, and analytics. A simple color scheme and design would offset the content, image, and product-heavy site. Filters were added so users could narrow their search for a particular board type, and a page for "In-Stock" boards would indicate which boards were available for immediate purchase. For board orders, drop downs would make it easy for customers to choose their desired features, and a custom form was added for boards beyond the listed offerings.
Impact
The Shopify website helped get online retail off the ground and solidified Dark Arts as the next best thing in surfing. Quality craftsmanship and performance speak for themselves, while careful consideration for the user experience makes it easy for surfers to get their hands on the board of their dreams. The website continues to simplify the custom order process and has made maintenance simple for the Dark Arts team. SEO, social, and paid media efforts continue to grow the success of the premier surf brand.
