I’m happy to share a recently wrapped-up web design project with Goodbrand Fitness. This was a full website build, starting from scratch, and it was so much to work with Gabby. She’s recently built and launched a fitness community for women and I can personally attest (as a self-proclaimed non-athlete) that her classes are amazing and accessible for all fitness levels. If you happen to live in the South Surrey/White Rock area, I highly recommend checking out her offerings!
I’ll walk through the behind the scenes of creating Gabby’s website, as well as some of the things that I learned throughout this project.
BRANDING AND COLOUR SELECTION
This was a fun one because I had a lot of creative freedom – Gabby sent some inspiration images and then basically handed the reigns over for me to select all of the design elements. The palette we ended up going with has lots of soft neutrals: silver, light pink, and a light gold, with the burgundy accent colour that she’s incorporated into her branding from the start of her business.
Gabby had fantastic photos for me to work with. They were all taken outdoors, so there’s lots of soft green colours incorporated into the site from the grass fields! This gives a great contrast to the pinks and burgundy. Another shoutout – if you’re looking for a photographer in the Fraser Valley, check out Family Archive Photography; Jenn did all of Gabby’s photos.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
The most significant consideration in creating Gabby’s website was making sure that the site visitor can clearly find a way to both learn about her offerings and also sign up for classes. The goal was to create a flow that led to the ‘sign up for workouts’ page and also provide clear information for how to actually complete the sign up. Because Gabby uses a third-party program (my pt hub) to manage all of her bookings and payments, we provided step by step instructions on the ‘booking’ page, before directing the visitor to the my pt hub program.
The other important aspect for this project was storytelling. Goodbrand Fitness is a one-woman show and like many creative solopreneurs, Gabby’s personal story is a crucial part of how her small business came to life. The ‘About’ page is my personal favourite from this project (and so many other projects!) because I got to be creative with telling Gabby’s fitness story by weaving together the text and images. This page also features the collage style backgrounds that I used throughout the website, which help to give dimension and a unique layered effect while still keeping the overall vibe clean and minimal.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS PROJECT
- This is not so much brand-new knowledge, but just this project certainly reiterated that quality photos make such a difference in the design process. It’s absolutely worth the investment to hire a photographer to shoot your content for you! Or, borrow a friend’s DSLR camera and take some yourself.
- I ended up helping with some of the copywriting on this project and learned that this is something I really enjoy and may consider offering more formally in my design packages in the future! Sometimes I feel apprehensive about making suggestions or edits on clients’ written content because it’s so personal, but I’m finding that they’re generally receptive and appreciative.
- I discovered an awesome program called Placeit for creating mockups – you can add your logo and images to just about anything (devices, t-shirts, books, etc). I ended up using Placeit a few times to create mockups of people watching Gabby’s workouts from their home on an iPhone or an iPad.
- Last, I was once again reminded of the importance of supporting other small business owners. Goodbrand Fitness started as a few friends working out together and has grown into a full-blown fitness community in just a few short months. Of course, this is primarily due to Gabby being awesome and offering quality services!! However, she also attributes so much of the quick success to the kindness of others – friends and community members helping her to share about her offerings and giving her shoutouts in Facebook groups or personal recommendations. Keep supporting others!
That’s it! Make sure to go check out Goodbrand Fitness and try one of her classes!
+ view the comments
