Winery Websites
New Design From Print Materials
A prime example of using existing print materials as the basis of your web design is the website I created for Lee Mankin of Carpenter Hill Vineyards.
Initially we discussed doing a very simple design, but when I saw his BEAUTIFUL wine labels, I begged and pleaded with him to let me use them as the basis for the new design, and thankfully, he agreed! Because the wine label design translated so well to a web design I was able to create it for under $500!
Carpenter Hill's Old Website
Carpenter Hill's Wine Label
Carpenter Hills New Design
The Process
The design process outlined below helps you understand what to expect when building a design from the ground up.
Organize
The first thing we discuss is how your site should be organized -- how many pages you are going to need and if you have a lot of pages, then we figure out how they can be organized into sections. Since my focus is on the wine industry I can help guide you through this process and let you know what sections are the most important and the best way to structure your site to maximize visitor interest.
Design
When embarking on a new design project, my first step (if possible) is to go to your tasting room and/or vineyards and look at your existing branding material so I can get a feel for what you like and what I'm going to have to work with. If you are too far for me to visit, I ask you to either email or mail pictures of your place (if you have them) and your existing print materials.
I then have you send me links to websites you like along with WHY YOU LIKE THEM! (I need to know if its because of the layout, color scheme, navigation, special effects -- whatever it was about the site that caught your fancy.)
If you don't have a favorite site but spent a lot of time and money on your logo, business card and/or wine label, I may be able to base your web design on that.
I then take all this information and come up with 2 to 4 designs samples (or more depending on if you have an existing look or not) which I upload in graphical format for you to look at.
This is usually the most time consuming part of the whole process and I prefer to have up to 2 weeks to come up with the design samples.
Once the design samples are ready to be viewed, you check them out and let me know if you want to go with one of the designs, want to see a combination of them, or want me to come up with something totally new. Then its back to the drawing board and a lot of back and forth between us while we try different things until the design is finalized! ;) Whew!
Coding & Content
Now that the design is finalized, I will start coding it into html while you begin work getting your text and images together for the website (if you have not done so already). This is usually the toughest part for you as you try to update old text and pictures or come up with totally new ones.
Since this is based on your winery and experiences, there is only so much I can do to help with this part and I've heard some clients equate this experience to climbing a mountain -- its really tough getting up to the peak but once there, its all down hill baby!
(If you are feeling totally blocked coming up with new text I do have a wonderful writer I contract with and after filling out a questionnare I've created and give to her, she will be able to write up some content for you. Please let me know if this interests you.)