Maidens and Ravens
A bridal boutique with a difference! I was really excited to get this project, as soon as I spoke to Elizabeth I was completely sold on the direction she wanted to take her business, and I was fully invested. A bridal boutique that was about being comfortable in your own skin, and not comforming to the streotypical bridal imagery. Elizabeth had a strong connection to the mystic, the gothic and the dark - themes I want to bring about in my design.
Maidens and Ravens
A bridal boutique with a difference! I was really excited to get this project, as soon as I spoke to Elizabeth I was completely sold on the direction she wanted to take her business, and I was fully invested. A bridal boutique that was about being comfortable in your own skin, and not comforming to the streotypical bridal imagery. Elizabeth had a strong connection to the mystic, the gothic and the dark - themes I want to bring about in my design.
Analysis
There were lots of aspects to Elizabeths business for me to get my head around. All her dresses were one of a kind, and there was a social value element to her business, in that a lot of her dresses are recycled/reused, but she didn't want to become a charity shop dumping ground, so that content had to be managed carefully.
Design
The design phase went through several iterations, with plenty of back of forward between myself and Elizabeth. This amount of collaboration between client and designer is healthy and expected. Elizabeth has very solid ideas around the imagery she wanted her site to convey, with the challenge for me being to incorporate those without losing the message of the dresses being centre stage.
In the end I opted for the main imagery being on the background of the main menu - it's not something you see on a lot of websites, given a unique feel to the site, and a bit of wow factor when the menu opens with it's transition animation revealing the background image.
Development
I leveraged WooCommerce to be able to display a catalogue of dresses. Because the dresses are all one offs, and because fitting is so important, Elizabeth didn't want to sell dresses online at this point - so the call to action is for the user to book an appointment. This is achieved by manipulating WooCommerce code, and hiding the cart and checkout functionality. There is a fixed button on screen permanantly for booking an appointment, making it easy for the user to do this at any time, and the user can also enquire about specific dresses through the individual product page.
Conclusion
We have seen some really positive initial results from the site, including being able to garner 30 google reviews in the first three months. We are currently reviewing the SEO work to ensure Elizabeth gains traction in a competitive local market.
“Steven has gone over and above to deliver the most amazing website for me and I am absolutely thrilled with it. His patience through my numerous changes and his vision in getting it just right has been fantastic. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a new website and have already done so to colleagues and friends. Thank you Steven for everything!”
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“Steven has gone over and above to deliver the most amazing website for me and I am absolutely thrilled with it. His patience through my numerous changes and his vision in getting it just right has been fantastic. I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a new website and have already done so to colleagues and friends. Thank you Steven for everything!”
