Bestselling suspense mystery author known for his fast-paced thrillers and mysteries packed with suspense, twists, turns and cliffhangers, Paul Pilkington is a British writer from the north-west of England.
Paul approached me to design and develop a bespoke CMS driven website that would replace his existing ‘off the shelf’ theme solution, which lacked the personality and identity associated with Paul’s writing. The key requirements included delivering a responsive website that could easily be maintained and updated whilst also appeal to the target audiences he writes for, delivered on screens of all sizes.
A bespoke, CMS driven site built for self-serve updates, designed around the identity and atmosphere of the novels and their themes.
A visual identity built entirely around the author's own voice rather than dropped in from a generic author-site template. The starting point was a logomark designed to carry through every page, giving the site one consistent, recognisable identity rather than a look assembled from stock parts.
Homepage, Collections, Book and Contact pages designed and front-end developed as one complete site, not a handful of disconnected templates. It was built to be self-serve from day one, so routine changes, new book listings, updated cover art, fresh content, could all be handled without the need for developer assistance.
Three responsive variations designed and tested across screen sizes, from phone to tablet to desktop, since a large share of readers would be arriving from mobile rather than sitting down at a computer. Getting that experience right mattered just as much as the desktop design, not treated as an afterthought once the main layout was finished.
The self-serve build resulted in each new book release could go live on the site immediately compelte with cover art, new listings, fresh content, without the need for a developer to manage.
The site's identity also aligned to the tone of the books themselves, replacing a generic theme that gave readers no real sense of who was behind the stories.
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