Rebranding and Redesigning NatureCoaster.com
Diane Bedard, the owner of NatureCoaster.com, originally came to me for help with speeding up her WordPress site’s page load time. I was able to help by moving the site to a new hosting environment, but it eventually led to a discussion about the amount of plugins and additional files being loaded by the theme (and it’s child theme). I explained that a large portion of the plugins could be built directly into the theme itself as custom post types, which could be coded in a way that uses less resources, and be easier to maintain/edit. This would result in being a better experience for both the user and the editor, with the added benefit of being better for SEO due to better performance.
Good Branding is the Foundation to a Good Website Design
Before redesigning the website, we needed to get some solid branding to build our foundation on. Without a brand to build on, there’s not much of a reason to not use any of the off-the-shelf prebuilt themes out there. However, when you have a solid brand and a style guide, this is when your website can really shine and bring a lasting, memorable experience to your visitors. Not only does it help give a solid footing to your website, but it also brings a unified look and feel to all of your marketing efforts whether that’s print or digital, and everything in-between.
Thanks to the amazing work by my good friend, Luke Kenney, we were able to create a refreshed brand and style guide that exceeded expectations. Here’s a look at the new brand style guide:
And finally, the before and after of the website:
Old website design (wayback machine was missing some images…)
Looking for some help with a website design or company branding? Let’s talk!