If you’ve been following along with Speak Social for a little while, then you might remember that earlier this year, I accepted the marketing manager position at Well-Watered Women. Well, surprise, surprise, I also had the privilege of redesigning their brand and website!
This project was near and dear to my heart in a unique way. I have been a reader of Well-Watered Women for seriously what seems like forever, and this business has truly impacted my walk with God. Well-Watered Women helped me learn to read the Bible well, really grasp God’s grace, and so much more. I’ve even used content from the blog posts and devotional books to lead my Young Life girls in Bible studies!
When I was asked to redesign the Well-Watered Women brand and totally remaster the website, it felt like a dream come TRUE to get to design for a business that I love so dearly! I couldn’t be more pleased with the results. This new website is extremely interactive, engaging, and makes it as easy as possible to find exactly what you’re looking for on the website. A lot of hard work, prayer, and so much love went into this new website, and I’m so excited to finally get to share it with you!
For the brand update, we kept the original logo, but changed all of the brand fonts and colors. This was fun as a designer to work with a totally beautiful logo, but change everything surrounding it. For the typography, you’ll find a gorgeous script font paired with a sleek sans-serif. For the colors, we made everything a little more sophisticated with some pretty blues, grays, and pinks. It’s hard to pick, but my favorite part of the website is probably the blog. As a frequent reader at Well-Watered Women, I really understood the ways that the blog could be improved. The old blog was filled with I believe to be some of the best content out there about faith, but was hard to find exactly what you’re looking for. There were no categories to search through, suggested posts to read, top posts, or anything like that. The new blog is decked out to allow the user to easily explore content and find posts on very specific things that they might be looking for. This is a total MUST with content this good!
It was also super fun to implement lots of video (filmed by Gretchen herself!) all over the website. I LOVE video, and I have seen evidence first hand of how great video can help a website convert. I also LOVE the new quiz on the website. You can answer a series of questions and find out how you can live a more “well-watered life”! [Take the quiz here!] We built this quiz with my favorite quiz company, Interact! And you guys know, I’m also crazy for quizzes! 😉
Now, let’s hear from Gretchen, the founder of Well-Watered Women, about her thoughts on our project!
Question: What’s your favorite part of your new website and branding?
Gretchen: "Elizabeth has an amazing gift of hearing a vision and making it come to life! That is exactly what she did with our new website, from the flow and layout to the new colors she chose for us, our new brand visually portrays our mission in every way. She took what we had before and dreamed could be and made it into a timeless brand. Everything flows beautifully and draws you into to keep looking, reading, and browsing! She even took the time to find a beautiful script font that would match the hand-lettering elements in the website. She paid close attention to detail and brought in her expertise to take our ideas and make them even better!"
Question: Did we successfully accomplish your design goals?
Gretchen: "ABSOLUTELY! One of the best parts about working with Elizabeth is how thorough she is in her work. She is constantly one step ahead and is very intentional about each project! She doesn't take shortcuts and does her best work for every single client she has. We loved how easy it was to communicate with her, how organized she was, and how dedicated she was to finishing the task on time. Our entire team cannot recommend Elizabeth enough! Working with Elizabeth has been nothing short of a gift and blessing to our team and company! From her streamlined process to her one-on-one client attention, Elizabeth will be able to take your vision and make your brand come to life! We couldn't recommend working with her more. She went above and beyond our expectations and has helped us improve our vision, branding, and overall mission. One thing I can tell you is this: you will be blessed to work alongside Elizabeth, and your business will thrive because of it!"
Were you pleasantly surprised by any part of the process?
Gretchen: "Goodness, can I say everything? Working with Elizabeth was seamless! Her entire design process made it easy for us to navigate and know what was coming next. We were never left guessing what needed to be done. She helped us through every step of the way and even made it enjoyable to recreate our brand and website! Not only that, but she far surpassed our hopes for the design of the website!"
Question: How do you think this updated look will impact your business?
Gretchen: "This new look is what we have been dreaming of to better reach our women. We believe that the beauty of the website will draw women in to learn more about our vision to equip women to study the Word. The new look will also help our brand be more recognizable to women outside of the website and know that the way Elizabeth designed the site will leave women with a memorable experience after they've browsed through it!"
Question: How do you feel about making the transition from Squarespace to Showit?
Gretchen: "THRILLED! We have been working with Squarespace for several years now and came to a point where the site design was too limited for what we needed. When Elizabeth suggested moving to Showit we trusted that it would be the best move for our company and have loved working with the new platform! Showit has been able to expand our hosting and designing options and offer us what we need! We are excited to use them!"
Question: What is your biggest piece of advice to a new business owner?
Gretchen: "Take the leap and invest in your website! It's worth the time and cost required to make it great. We could not be more excited to show this new site to our community and to use it ourselves. It reflects who we are and what our vision is now, and that has been worth every penny! On a side note, I have to add this encouragement to new business owners: keep your gaze focused on YOUR mission. Not "her" mission. Not "their" mission. Stay focused and keep going, even when it is hard and you feel like quitting! Those are the turning points of your business. Not the end. Embrace the struggles you come across as a gift and an opportunity to grow! They don't take you off your path, they are a part of the journey and the end result will be worth it!"
