Check out the NEW Lemon and the Sea brand and website!

Strategic Website Design

I’m so excited that the launch of the new Lemon and the Sea brand and website is finally here!

I’ve known that the Lemon and the Sea has needed an update for a while - it was redesigned last in 2017 - but I kept putting it off. I struggled with the same thing many of my clients do - not feeling like my brand really reflected where my business is now and letting that hold me back from moving forward.

Ask any designer and they’ll tell you that it’s really hard to design for yourself. There’s no one to give you feedback and it’s easy to get caught up in tiny details and put off the big work that will actually get results.

But when the COVID-19 stay-at-home order was issued in Virginia and I had built-in childcare with my husband home, I knew it was time to take the leap.

The Brand:

The first thing I decided about my rebrand process was that I wanted to hire someone else to handle the brand design piece. Even thinking about sitting down to choose a color palette and design a logo was giving me anxiety and I couldn’t find a place to start. SO I became the designer who hired another designer (and I’m so glad I did).

After interviewing a few brand designers, I hired Ally of Ally B Designs. I loved how organized her process is and the Brand Guidelines document she creates for each project.

I’ll share more about the branding process in another post because it was awesome and I learned so much about what its like to trust someone with your business. For now, I’ll share some of the pieces of the new brand.

Mood Board & Color Palette

Navy

Custard

Teal

Seafoam

Lemon

White

Logo & Submark

THE website:

Once the brand redesign was complete, it was time to start the website design. As a Squarespace website designer, I knew that I wanted to take on this part of the project myself, but I also knew that I work best with feedback. I found the Square Design Guild Mastermind just in time! Part design course, part mastermind, it reminded me of being back in studio and getting to design alongside my friends.

When I started the website design, I knew that I wanted to incorporate the bold colors and clean lines of my updated brand. I also wanted to streamline my content and take out anything that wasn’t necessary.

I started the design by laying out the look and feel in a Website Strategy Guide. This allowed me to keep everything in one document and refer to it as I worked.

I then started designing in Adobe XD. This program is an awesome tool for website designers, as it allows you to design a website without worrying about the code. You can see the design come together quickly and don’t get caught up in how things will work, which gives a lot of design freedom and creativity.

The design uses a lot of custom CSS and special design elements. Thanks to Meg, I was able to translate my Adobe XD mockup to Squarespace.

Each element of the design works together to create a seamless experience. And through lots of code and some trial and error, I was able to get everything to work on mobile as well.

I’m thrilled with the way everything turned out and so grateful to Ally and Meg for helping me turn my vision into a reality.

And I’m excited to take all the things I learned and start applying them to client projects (including an updated process)! If you’re interested in learning more about working with my for your website design, check out my services.