Squarespace Design - Case Studies
Data Futurology
The company website was already built on Squarespace, with smaller satellite Squarespace sites to promote individual webinar series. The original site had a black background throughout and content was not displayed in a logical manner, making it difficult to read and confusing for visitors to find what they wanted. Several links also took visitors off the main site to register for webinars on different sites.
Hot Lizard Designs recommended consolidating all of the sites so that everything was under one roof. Not only does this make it easier for admins to maintain the site moving forward, but improves the visitor experience and increases engagement with cross-promotion opportunities, as all webinars and podcasts are displayed clearly for visitors to register / subscribe in order to access content.
A third party integration was used as a payment gateway for restricted content, and the site infrastructure was built to allow company admins to easily update the site with new podcasts and webinars. The imagery used throughout the site was sourced by Hot Lizard Designs - the company did not want a traditional ‘tech’ look, and the new image conveys ‘digital’ in a contemporary way that fits with the company logo colours.
Paula Constant
Paula had set up a Squarespace site, but wanted to take the design to the next level as well as rebrand around her new logo. After an initial discussion about the look and feel that Paula wanted to created for her site, Hot Lizard Designs sourced colourful banner images that conjured up the Sahara for her non-fiction work, and Moorish Spain for her Visigoths of Spain series. Text headers were changed to purple and font updated to match the new logo.
Book covers were sent through by Paula’s publisher and individual pages were created for each book to allow them to be used as separate landing pages for marketing campaigns. Pages also included links to buy online, ‘download now’ buttons linking to a MailChimp account to allow visitors to read free chapters before purchase, newsletter subscribe feature, and audio files of Paula’s interview with ABC Radio.
In 2021 Paula lunched a new series ‘Nightgarden Saga’ and required a new landing page to promote the book(s). This darker, supernatural, gothic theme is in contrast to the brightly themed medieval European series, so required a different page design that still allowed Paula to add to and update as needed. A new section on the home page was also created to promote the series.
“I found Kati online when I was searching for a squarespace website designer. She got my author’s site up in record time and offered ongoing support, endless patience, and assistance with every aspect of functionality. She did an absolutely superb job, interpreting my design concept exactly and paying attention to every comment or suggestion I made. It has been a seamless and highly effective collaboration, and I can’t recommend her more highly.”
MKLC Training
MKLC Training needed a modern, clean looking, mobile-responsive website that would attract existing and potential students. The original website was limited in terms of functionality, difficult to update quickly, with an inconsistent look across pages as new items had been added over the years by different members of the IT team.
MKLC Training also wanted to streamline some administration tasks when it came to student enrolments. The new website was built on Squarespace with an updated site infrastructure and new content, and incorporated an e-commerce function with a customised checkout form to accept online enrolments and payments.
The tagline ‘Education is a journey, and it STARTS WITH YOU’ was visualised as a series of travel / adventure images, with the pink from the MKLC logo used as the accent colour throughout the website. An independent review software was also added to the site to help establish online trust before students enrol online.
Four years later, in 2019, MKLC Training wanted to update their website. This included refining the display of the online courses, adding new courses, adding new search features for their Action Research projects, and sourcing a new hero image that could be used across the website, social media and any promotional materials. The new image is more abstract but still retains the brand colours.
Tim Tom & Jimbob
Adam had published his online comic series on comic-specific platforms, but wanted to have a Squarespace website for a more visual and professional online presence to promote his work.
With over 200 images spanning back from 2012 to present day, it was important that each image was titled, dated (with original published date) and displayed under the correct series. Once this infrastructure was in place, the site design elements could then take shape.
The font was chosen to match the font in the cartoon strips, banner images were created by combining comic strips into a single image, and the cartoons within each series were displayed on a single page to allow visitors to browse and then click to enlarge to read the selected image. These are dispayed in a wall format to give the appearance of a comic book page. The home page was designed to guide visitors through the site with an introduction to ‘the family’ and links to either the latest series or to view the archives, as well as a brief bio about Adam and a contact form.
“Kati was fantastic to work with, professional, efficient, responsive and highly knowledgeable in Squarespace. Our revamped website is fabulous and we’ll be knocking on Kati’s door again when we’re ready to take it to the next level. Highly recommend.”
Sarria - Credit Opportunities
Sarria contacted Hot Lizard Designs to improve the look of their site, especially their home page. They also wanted to improve their client experience with a dynamic sidebar listing current company profiles linking to specific pages, and update each company page so the latest research information was readily available.
The company had an existing Squarespace site that enabled clients to view additional information behind a password protected integration. The original home page didn’t explain who they were or what they did, and with very little imagery, the site wasn’t visually engaging.
Using client supplied images of London (one of the directors is a keen photographer), a red overlay was used to match the brand colour to give a consistent themed look throughout. Taking copy from other parts of the site as well as some additional information about the company supplied by the client a new home page was created with clear call to actions throughout. Two buttons were added to the main navigation to give visitors a clear direction to either contact Sarria or login with existing details.
A dynamic sidebar was created that would only display on designated pages, allowing clients to easily click through to view more details about individual companies when accessing gated content, with button options allowing clients to either download PDFs or click through to an online directory.
Kaizen Psychology
Ann had started up her company and wanted a new website to help market her business. She had some initial logo designs in different colours, and Hot Lizard Designs opted to use the orange version as it is a warmer colour and also signifies change. Some branding guidelines were also supplied and these were used on the website for a consistent look across Kaizen Psychology’s branding.
A single page design was agreed upon, with the navigation links smooth scrolling to different sections on the page. A fixed header that also scrolls down the page was included. This allows visitors to click on the links to be taken to the relevant sections at any time. Custom icons and full width banner images, along with a custom contact form and Google maps image finished off the design to give a modern, clean look that is easy for online visitors to navigate.
“Kati was so easy to work with. She really understood what I needed for my website. She provided clear guidelines when we spoke about what could go on the site. She delivered it quickly and was very responsive to changes that I wanted. The website looked great and was exactly what I asked for. She then did a tutorial with me so I understood how to make changes to the website later on. All remotely as we are in different states. I would highly recommend her service!”