As a designer, editor, and writer, I love working with small businesses. They have so much passion for what they do, but don’t always have the right tools to help build clientele through their websites. Recently, I did a website overhaul for the custom costume design company Stage Presence Design (SPD). While this website was functional, it wasn’t doing enough of the right things to make it inviting for new, potential clients.
There were a variety of changes I wanted to make to get this website to shine. Looking at the website as a whole, I took note of the colors, fonts, copywriting style, and images that were being used.
Beginning with the logo, I immediately noted that the color palette needed to be more focused. Many tones of purples, yellows, and greens were muddying the logo rather than bringing clear attention to the brand. I updated their logo with a more streamlined palette and a higher resolution to make their online “stage presence” brighter.
In addition to the color changes, there was an offset, left-aligned text that wasn’t working, and two tangent lines created by the dancer icon and the lettering that I adjusted to provide further clarity.
Zooming out from the logo assets, I applied my knowledge of color theory to the rest of the Home Page and subsequently altered the remaining pages in the same suit.
I made a cart logo and new social icons in their new and emblematic purple for a sleek integration. Altering the menu buttons for more visibility was equally essential. Before, there were too many colors and there wasn’t a clear visual guideline. Now, the home page is composed of varied purples and yellows that coexist beautifully, unifying the page as a whole.
The footer had many of the same issues I recognized in the logo: competing colors and weights, unpolished copy, and offset elements. Everything needed to be streamlined so that the stunning costumes could take center stage.
I implemented clickable email links to get a higher visitor-to-client ratio and made SPD’s brand statement larger so customers can get a better sense of what SPD represents without needing to search for it.
Moving on from the main page, I began looking at their image pages like the Gallery and Design Library. I was given access to all of SPD’s site files which allowed me to use my photo editing skills to give them a more professional look.
Originally, the Gallery images had no sense of uniformity. They were a mix of studio photos, stage photos, and client photos, making the flow varied but confusing. I set aside all the stage and client photos for when I was ready to finish up their portfolio page where they could be showcased.
After editing roughly 75 photos, I was able to harmonize the Gallery’s look.
The clean background gives a streamlined feel to the page when scrolling through.
SPD’s Custom page was a little bland and didn’t match the rest of the website. The fonts were different and the copy was inconsistent.
Passive language doesn’t elevate the confidence that clients should have in SPD to produce their dream costume. Saying “a great custom design comes to life” misses the opportunity to highlight that SPD’s team has the skilled expertise to make it happen.
I rewrote the copy with a more direct impact. Active language makes the client feel involved in the process, reinforces SPD’s skill, and is more engaging to read. With a uniform copywriting style and easy-to-use links embedded, I have made the Custom page approachable and beautiful.
Under the Custom page’s menu buttons, there are subpages. Clicking on the first one, I was brought to the Design Process page.
This page was a mixed bag of information that was all compiled together without enough visual consideration. Having three options to choose from was a great start to this page, so utilizing that I removed some things and added visual hierarchy to generate a comprehensive process sequence.
Delineation via colors and shapes makes it easy for potential clients to sift through these options to find the right one.
And while there was helpful, relevant information in the policies that had been drafted here, there was too much of it.
After scrolling through the options for how to get a custom design started, potential clients were met with paragraphs of text. In order to retain excitement in clients who aren’t committed yet, it was important that I kept this information available here, while not being overbearing.
By summarizing the most important elements, this page gives a general understanding as a starting point rather than overwhelming clients with information. Once they’re acquainted with the process and have gained interest, they can seek out further details by clicking on the available links to the Policies page, where I relocated this information.
The second subpage of the Custom page is the Design Library, which was set up with almost everything it needed to have in order to make customization simple for clients. However, there were a lot of inconsistencies and unnecessary gaps that made this page a little confusing.
While I liked that you could see that these sketches were hand-drawn, they weren’t offering a clean base for what a custom costume could look like. By re-rendering digital linework, homogenizing copy, and applying brand colors, I transformed this ill-fitting page into a connected part of the consumer experience.
Uniformity was important when recreating these base sketches. Since the design differences are localized to the neckline, seam style, skirt type, or other subtleties, everything else about the sketch needed to be identical between them. Consistency throughout these sketches facilitates more confident choices to be made by clients because they know what to expect — which boosts overall satisfaction with the finished product.
After finalizing the Customs page and its subpages, several other pages needed finishing up. The FAQ page needed strengthening, and the SPD Policies didn’t have a page of their own. Re/creating both of these pages required a short consultation with SPD’s owner in order to get all the correct information. Once I was equipped with notes from our conversation, I drafted new copy and statement paragraphs for both of those pages.
The FAQ page was answering questions in a way that seemed unsure. Of course, many factors play into things like custom costume timelines. Though SPD’s construction time may vary, the final turnaround time for their costume designs was pretty consistent. Rewriting this copy just meant that I was removing any ambiguity and making the answers to these questions as concise as possible. Additionally, I wanted to make these questions and answers equally as clear from a design perspective.
Increasing contrast between individual FAQ entries makes it easier for clients to locate a question they might be interested in. SPD’s new FAQ page is unambiguous and easy to read.
The new policies that I created a page for were previously outlined in the Design Process page. This large but necessary page of text was in the wrong place, creating excess strain on client potential.
I created a separate Policies page that matched the website’s overarching theme, but without the frills so that the text remained unobscured.
Wrong placement of regulatory information may be off-putting for new customers. For someone who may not be a designer, being able to customize an entire costume may already come with a lot of new information, so it was important to make all information about the process organized and accessible. Putting this valuable information in the right place has made it more readable and easier to receive.
Finally, the contact page needed the same treatment as all the other pages.
Matching all the brand identity assets like fonts, colors, and copy style, I revamped this page to fit in with SPD’s new and improved theme.
Stage Presence Design fully lives up to its name with this fresh website update. There are additional before-and-after screenshots below to showcase a few more changes and updates I implemented, taking a functional yet unembellished website and evolving it into an attractive and client-building platform.
If you’d like to check out the entire site to see these changes in action, you can visit at stagepresencedesign.com
