Aeolidia to the rescue!
The Dream Team
Kate's Problem
Artist Kate Endle has been illustrating professionally for more than 25 years, and she works in a variety of styles, including original collage art that features hand-painted and printed papers, along with decorative papers from Japan and India. Her work has been featured in children’s books, album covers, magnets, and a wide array of home decor and paper products. Throughout her career as a professional artist, she’s worked with a number of big-name clients, including Hallmark, American Greetings, Land of Nod, Papyrus, National Wildlife Federation, Scholastic, and Sesame Street Workshop.
While her professional art career was humming along nicely, her old website left something to be desired. She came to us wanting to generate more income via her online shop and with a need to fix an urgent issue:
“I don’t really understand how my current website works. I recently discovered that people contacting me through my website were not reaching me because the emails were going to the newsletter/Mailchimp part of my site. I’ve had this current website for a year and half, so, needless to say, it was a slightly horrifying discovery. So, that is an urgent issue.
The overall look of my Squarespace site is fine, but there’s probably a better way to be doing things. I have several styles and forms of work so the site needs to display those in a way that’s not overwhelming to the visitor. I’d like my site to say, ‘Welcome! These are the things I do and these are the things I can do for you.’ It should also have a lifestyle feel to it. I’d like to start sending out a quarterly newsletter and write a blog on a regular basis. All things need to be tied together aesthetically.”
Kate also wanted to offer her customers a way to shop online directly with her, in addition to her Etsy shops. We sprang into action to deliver a new brand identity and custom Shopify ecommerce design.
Aeolidia to the rescue!
The Dream Team
Our Solutions
Kate Endle’s collages and illustrations completely inspired our branding and website work for her. Kate’s work is influenced by Japanese and Inuit folk art, vintage illustration, and funky thrift store finds, so designer Ann Parker used Kate’s paper samples and work as inspiration, creating a modern and vibrant color palette that feels very tied to Kate’s art, but won’t overwhelm the images of her artwork on the website.
Ann designed a new brand identity, including custom illustrations, alternate logos, and a quick brand guide. Kate can often be found selling her work at craft fairs and events, including Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market, so Ann also created print collateral like business cards, stickers, and buttons that Kate could pass out to customers in person.
For the custom Shopify website, we also brought in copywriter Natalia Sylvester to craft Kate’s story into compelling home page copy, and developer Shoshanna Love made the magic happen behind the scenes on Kate’s new Shopify store.
What Our Client Had to Say
This brand/website overhaul is a longtime coming. Answering your review questions and delving into your client’s past experiences via the newsletters and blog have brought up a TON of new things for me to consider along with a lot of unexpected emotions (ever considered bringing a therapist onto your team-sheesh!). In my 25 years as an illustrator I have discovered that when I take on the big scary/exciting/overwhelming projects is usually when I reap the most rewards. So, thank you all for helping get over these hurtles. I can’t wait to see what we create together!
Identity
Logo
Kate Endle Illustration and Fine Art logo design by Ann Parker
Branding Solutions
With Kate’s distinct artistic style and colorful paper patterns, we wanted to make sure her work was the star and the design didn’t distract. It was important for everything to look connected and true to Kate’s aesthetic.
Since Kate uses a lot of black accents in her work, Ann wanted to make sure we included this in the palette. The black accent gives the brand design a bit of an edgier feel and helps keep things grounded. The color palette Ann designed works well on Kate’s new Shopify site as buttons, call to actions, and design details.
Ann also incorporated scans of Kate’s paper samples into the logo and alternate logos. The imperfection and variance of tone and pattern from the collage papers breathe so much life into the letterforms that Ann paired them with.
What resulted was a mix of her actual paper textures to create a brand that didn’t depart from her work. The collage inspiration was taken from logo through to the website so visitors are immediately immersed in the world of Kate Endle.
Website
Results
Engagement on the new site is good, with most people viewing at least a few pages and spending a couple of minutes or more on the site. Kate’s existing fan base in her home state of Washington and her followers on Instagram and Pinterest were especially engaged with the new website. The bounce rates are very low and these folks are spending plenty of time on Kate’s site. We are excited about where this new website will take Kate’s brand, as there is a lot of room to grow her traffic from across the country and beyond.
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