Case Study:
Squarespace + Shopify hybrid Design, Brand Strategy, Packaging
Drinking With Chickens
COLORFUL, JOY-INFUSED LIFESTYLE BRAND & COCKTAIL BLOG
PROJECT SCOPE: Brand & Website Strategy, Custom Squarespace + Shopify hybrid Design, Packaging
Drinking With Chickens- the imagined love child of Jimmy Buffet and Joanna Gaines- is the first “chicken edutainment” blog of its kind. The founder, Kate Richards colorful creativity and wit entertains & inspires home mixologists, pet lovers, and urban chicken keepers with unique garden to glass recipes, modern farmhouse-style ideas, and a “kick back & relax in the chicken bar” state-of-mind.
Project Goals
Kate Richards had been running Drinking with Chickens for a long time, and it was doing really well. But her website never really showed off the fun, whimsical and happy feeling that her brand had on social media.
SHE WAS READY FOR A BRAND STRATEGY & WEBSITE THAT:
Accurately reflected the brand and personality of Drinking with Chickens, showcasing its colorful, quirky, and elevated style
Unified her Shopify store and Squarespace site to create a seamless and integrated user experience
Improved navigation and organization, making it easy for visitors to find lifestyle content, recipes, the blog, shop, press features, and the book page
Increased user engagement and satisfaction, reducing complaints and enhancing the shopping experience
Attracted more visitors and conversions, driving traffic to the site and boosting e-commerce sales
Served as the main hub for Drinking with Chickens, reducing reliance on social media and supporting pitches for sponsored content, press opportunities, and book deals
The “Before”
Kate Richards had been running Drinking with Chickens for many years, but her website never captured the fun and happy feeling of her brand on social media.
The DIY site had a mix of different pages and features that felt clunky and left visitors confused. It needed to cover a lot: lifestyle content, a blog, recipes, a shop, press features, and a book page. This made the site disorganized and hard to navigate.
Also, the website was actually two different sites: one on Shopify for the shop and one on Squarespace for everything else. These sites didn’t work well together, so it was clear when visitors were moving from one site to another. Kate wanted everything to feel like one seamless site.
The brand, Drinking with Chickens, is joyful, whimsical, and full of flowers. While this was shown in the photos and content on social media, the website felt plain and boring except for the photos.
“Before working on this project, my website was a mess. It was disjointed, hard to find anything, & the whole thing felt boring. I knew it didn’t show the fun and quirky vibe of Drinking with Chickens.”
-Kate Richards, Client
Brand & Website Strategy
EVERY PROJECT STARTS WITH STATEGY
This detailed brand & website strategy document outlines how to create a website that fully captures the joyful and whimsical essence of Drinking with Chickens.
The focus was on aligning the website with the brand's core values, mission, and goals: to entertain and inspire with fun, creative content and to seamlessly integrate the Shopify store and Squarespace site.
The strategy involved:
Understanding the Brand's Essence: Emphasizing the fun, whimsical, and floral aspects of the brand, ensuring the website reflected the same vibrant energy found on social media.
Creating a Seamless Integration: Developing a unified look and feel for both the Shopify and Squarespace sites, including custom-coded headers and footers to ensure a smooth user experience.
Organizing Content Effectively: Planning and strategizing the site layout to organize a wide range of content, from lifestyle blogs and recipes to the shop and press features, making it easy for visitors to navigate.
Client personas were developed to understand the target audience better and tailor the website’s design and content to meet their needs. This helped ensure the website and messaging were spot-on for the intended audience.
And detailed site maps created a clear roadmap for organizing all the site content in an easy-to-digest journey for site visitors.
Feedback:
“This is an absolute spot-on grasp of my brand’s vibe. I am ded- can’t even give feedback because I love this so much.”
-Kate Richards, Client
Colors & Fonts
This palette was chosen to reflect the fun, whimsical, and vibrant essence of Drinking with Chickens. The mix of bright and soft colors captures the joyful spirit of the brand, making the website feel lively and inviting while ensuring it stands out and feels unique.
The color palette chosen for Drinking with Chickens includes:
#F2EAE6 (Light Cream): This soft, neutral background color provides a clean, inviting canvas that allows the more vibrant colors to pop.
#DD370E (Bold Red): This energetic and eye-catching red adds a punch of excitement and draws attention to important elements.
#ED9557 (Warm Orange): This warm and friendly orange complements the red, adding a playful and inviting feel to the design.
#F3B9F1 (Soft Pink): This whimsical pink adds a touch of femininity and fun, reflecting the brand’s joyful and lighthearted nature.
#FF9AB2 (Bright Pink): This vibrant pink enhances the playful and quirky vibe of the brand, making it feel lively and engaging.
#4E3216 (Rich Brown): This earthy brown anchors the palette, adding a touch of sophistication and balance to the overall design.
TYPOGRAPHY
The fonts chosen for Drinking with Chickens are Work Sans and Moret.
For subheads, all caps Work Sans is used because it is simple and modern, which makes the bolder parts of the design look balanced.
Moret font is used for headings because it has a lot of personality. It mixes all caps and lower-case italics, making the text look fun and interesting.
Work Sans is also used for the body copy to keep everything easy to read.
This mix of fonts makes the website look both classic and fresh, matching the fun and quirky style of Drinking with Chickens.
Photography
Kate is a talented photographer, and her beautiful images have always captured the essence of Drinking with Chickens.
These photos were the main way she shared her brand's story on Instagram. In the site redesign, we made sure to use and elevate these gorgeous photos, making them a key part of the website's visual appeal.
I have been a long-time collaborator with Kate, photographing select events, some recipes for the blog, and even helping to style and photograph images for her book.
This collaboration allowed us to create a cohesive and visually stunning website that truly reflects the joyful and whimsical spirit of Drinking with Chickens.
Copywriting
The copy for the Drinking with Chickens website was developed through a collaborative process with Kate and me. Kate is a great writer and has developed a whitty, tongue-in-cheek personality and style for Drinking with Chickens.
While she wrote the content, she sometimes found it hard to know what to write and where to put it on the site. To help her, I gave her detailed prompts and advice on what was needed, including how long it should be and where it should go.
We worked closely together to make sure the words fit well with the design. This teamwork resulted in clear, fun, and well-organized content that perfectly shows the joyful and whimsical spirit of Drinking with Chickens.
Visual Direction
The visual inspiration for the Drinking with Chickens site redesign drew from several key stylistic choices and categories:
Bold, Quirky Illustrations: Inspired by designs that use playful and vibrant illustrations, the site features bold florals, interactive animations, and quirky-sweet touches like illustrated page loading graphics. These elements add a sense of fun and surprise, reflecting the whimsical nature of the brand.
Layered, Sophisticated Collages: The use of layered collage elements invites curiosity and exploration. By combining traditional typography with ample white space, the aesthetic remains elevated and refined. Layered imagery of florals, chickens, cocktails, and people with bright pops of graphic colored elements creates a bold and fun visual experience.
Editorial Layout Style: Distinct sections created with color blocking and photography accented with graphic illustrations and script font lend a fresh, editorial feel. This style ensures that the site is engaging and dynamic, capturing the visitor’s attention.
Modern Typography: A modern take on traditional typography, with large headings paired with smaller typography, creates an elevated, print magazine feel. This approach helps keep visitors engaged with interesting and updated font styles.
The visual inspiration for the Drinking with Chickens site redesign drew from several key stylistic choices and categories:
High Fashion Aesthetics: Saturated, sophisticated, and colorful photography paired with playful typography brings a high fashion vibe to the site. Elements like a logotype with mixed-up colors and bold photography layered with sophisticated type add a stylish and polished touch.
Colorful, Interactive Elements: Bright pops of color, interactive animations, and colored background sections modernize the traditionally feminine color palette. These elements make the site feel lively and inviting, perfectly capturing the joyful and whimsical spirit of Drinking with Chickens.
These stylistic choices helped shape a visually stunning & cohesive site that truly reflects the essence of Drinking with Chickens, making it a joyful and engaging experience for visitors.
The Website
OVERVIEW OF THE FINISHED SITE
The completed Drinking with Chickens website seamlessly combines vibrant design with functional elegance to fully capture the brand’s joyful and whimsical spirit. Here's an overview of the key elements:
Custom Mega Menu Navigation: A thoughtfully designed mega menu ensures that visitors can easily navigate through the extensive content, from lifestyle blogs and recipes to the shop and press features. This navigation design keeps the site organized and user-friendly.
Seamless Integration of Shopify and Squarespace: By integrating the Shopify store with the Squarespace site, we created a smooth and unified shopping experience. Custom-coded headers and footers ensure that visitors never feel like they’re leaving one site for another.
Interactive and Engaging Design Elements: The site features sticky sections, hover image and text effects, and bold collage elements that add dynamic visuals and keep users engaged. These interactive features enhance the user experience, making the site lively and fun.
Dedicated Book Page: A special page is devoted to Kate's book, "Drinking with Chickens: Free-Range Cocktails for the Happiest of Hours." This page highlights the book with sample pages and guides visitors on where to purchase it, effectively promoting this key product.
Favorites Feature: The new "favorites" section showcases Kate's favorite things, organized into categories. This roundup not only provides value to visitors but also generates extra affiliate income through clickable links.
Revamped Press Page: The press page has been completely redesigned to feature past media coverage and make it easier for new PR opportunities to discover and connect with Drinking with Chickens.
Organized Recipe Library: The vast recipe library has been reorganized to make recipes easy to find and accessible. This system puts the recipes front and center, enhancing user satisfaction and engagement.
Feedback
“This is MAGICAL!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a goddamned website wizard. You rolled everything we talked about into a website that is truly representative of me and my quirky business.” - Kate Richards, Client
Packaging
After the new Drinking with Chickens website launched, Kate loved it so much she wanted the same fun look for her shipping packages.
I helped design everything: shipping boxes, mailers, tape, custom stickers, and tissue paper.
THE PACKAGING IS BRIGHT AND FUN, JUST LIKE THE WEBSITE
We used colorful poly mailers, detailed shipping boxes, floral packing tape, and tissue paper with flowers and chicken graphics, even little chicken tracks!
This way, every order looks exciting when it arrives.
The packaging shows off the Drinking with Chickens style: fun, colorful, bold, and a bit quirky.
Customers not only love their new items but also enjoy opening the packages. The new packaging stands out and keeps the brand's cheerful and playful feel.
The Results
SOME PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS
CLIENT’S FAVORITE PART OF THE PROCESS
Kate's favorite part of the process was seeing the website come to life. She loved how every element was thoughtfully integrated to reflect the joyful and whimsical spirit of Drinking with Chickens.
THRILLED WITH THE WEBSITE
Kate expressed how thrilled she is with the new website, saying it perfectly represents her brand's personality. She feels proud of the vibrant and engaging site that now fully captures the essence of Drinking with Chickens.
ACHIEVING PROJECT GOALS
The project goals were achieved by creating a seamless integration between Shopify and Squarespace, designing a custom mega menu for easy navigation, and incorporating interactive and bold design elements. The result is a cohesive, user-friendly website that showcases the brand’s content beautifully.
HIGHER-LEVEL OUTCOMES
The new website has become the main hub for Drinking with Chickens, reducing the brand’s reliance on social media. It effectively supports Kate in pitching for sponsored content, press opportunities, and book deals. The organized and visually appealing site has also enhanced user engagement and satisfaction.
CHANGES IN THE CLIENT’S BUSINESS
Since the website launch, Kate has noticed an increase in positive feedback from her audience. The seamless shopping experience and well-organized content have led to fewer customer complaints and more compliments on the site’s design and functionality.
MEASURABLE RESULTS
While specific metrics are still being tracked, Kate has seen an increase in traffic and user engagement. The new "favorites" feature has started generating extra affiliate income, contributing to the site's financial success.
CLIENT UPDATE
Kate wanted to share that the redesign has set the look and feel for the entire brand moving forward. Inspired by the website, she has extended the new branding to her packaging, creating a cohesive and delightful experience for her customers from online interaction to unboxing their orders.
Testimonial
“This was the best investment I have made on my business. Sarah is an absolute creative genius and I cannot recommend her and her services enough.”
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