The site serves two functions: to provide a store front to sell their products (both food and non-food items), and to give their customers lots of articles to read.  At first, I organized the site via two menus: Explore Coffee and Buy Coffee.  Since they used my CMS service, they began writing up all the “Explore” articles during development while I set up the store.  They ended up not using the simplified two menu system, opting for a less-organized approach.  To solve the usability issues of having unclear navigation, I added a section to the top of each page with two custom graphics that link to either the main Explore section, or to the Store Front.

The look of the site is based on the corporate identity that I created for the Captain’s Coffee, including the logo, logotype, color scheme and the overall “feel” of the site.

Because of the CMS service, the business’ employess and owners can change anything on the site that they like.  They told me multiple times that they love the way they are able to update the site, including all the store’s products.  They had been using an ecommerce solution called MonsterCommerce, provided by Network Solutions.  It’s a rather cumbersome process to get anything done on a MonsterCommerce site when compared with the system I give my customers.

So far, the feedback from both my client and their customers has been glowing!  Their older customers find the site intuitive and easy to navigate, and their younger customers enjoy the updated look and the security of the integrated credit card payments with SSL encryption.

Have a look and let me know what you think!

They didn’t ask for much, just a photo gallery, a news section that they could easily update, and an audio player for sermons.  They didn’t want a blog or any other social networking add-ons, though they could want to implement them in the future.

The solution was to give them a Content Management System that would let them easily add news items and informational articles via a blog interface, without displaying the content in commentable blog format.  The CMS will allow them to add social networking features in the future without any hassle.

The color scheme on the site is pulled entirely from color theory rules that were applied to the blue color in their logo.  So, the orange buttons, red and tan headers, even the greys on the site are all complimentary to the blue of their logo.  I also created custom graphics for the audio player loading animation, and the different website section icons.  The rotating image banner is filled with pictures that were supplied to me, which I then retouched in Photoshop and added effects to give them a more organic/grunge feel.  The purpose of the photos was to balance the cold/corporate feel of the rest of the site.

The response from everyone at Living Way has been positive, and I continue to do print design work for them regularly.  The identity seemed to really resonate with both the church’s leaders and members. I also created business cards, letterhead and outdoor signage using the identity.