Web design case study
Storysmith
Website design, website build, e-commerce
The Client
Storysmith is an independent bookshop in Bristol. It’s a business I already knew very well since I’m lucky enough to have them pretty-much on my doorstep. Their high street store is loved in the community, known for its passionate staff, calming atmosphere, exciting literary events and that irresistible new book aroma. They also ship books nationwide via their online store, tracking down even the most niche titles for their customers.
The Brief
Being a regular Storysmith patron, I was excited when they got in touch with me to talk about their website redesign. Their old site was self-built using an off-the-shelf WordPress theme, WooCommerce and several dated plug-ins. Although it was largely functional, the design was outdated, user experience was clunky, and the checkout process was long and off-putting. For the team, website maintenance was a time-consuming burden. They had extensive metadata for the titles in their WooCommerce store, but it wasn’t effectively utilised, and their expertly curated book recommendations lacked visibility and integration with the rest of the site.
They needed a modern website to showcase their business and products while enhancing the experience for their customers and streamlining the back-end for their team.
What I Did
I designed a bespoke theme to give their site a fresh, modern look and improved user experience. By replacing multiple plug-ins with custom WordPress blocks, I streamlined back-end management. The checkout process was optimized for better user flow, particularly for subscriptions. I also developed a new collections system for their curated book lists, connecting them them with the online store.
The related products algorithm now utilizes book metadata effectively, and extensive navigation improvements make it easier for customers to find books they’re interested in. For their literary events, I implemented a system that automatically manages event statuses. Additionally, I created a bespoke plug-in to streamline back-end tasks and improve metadata handling. Finally, I enhanced the site’s accessibility with semantic markup and optimized images, improving both speed and accessibility.
The Result
Storysmith now has a sleek, user-friendly website with enhanced functionality and accessibility, effectively showcasing their products, events and book recommendations. The Storysmith team can spend less time wrestling with their content management system and more time doing what they love – sharing their love of books with their customers.
When we finally found the time and resources to overhaul our website, we were very keen that whoever did the work really understood the idiosyncrasies of our business – Andrew certainly did, working with our bespoke metadata feeds, immediately spotting where we needed improvements, and intuitively suggesting transformative tweaks and features which have made our new website everything we wanted it to be. He was also a complete pleasure to deal with, and scaled the scope of the project to our budgetary needs so that we knew from the outset what to expect. Huge recommend!
Dan Ross
Storysmith