The Engen Hus Bed & Breakfast
Client
Engen Hus Bed & Breakfast
Scope
Full Branding & Identity
plus 3 collateral items
15 page Website
including e-commerce set up
3rd party booking engine integration
Branding Board
Notes
Week 1: Branding
It was so fun to work with Esther on the branding and website for the Engen Hus! We started with a detailed questionnaire and video chat that helped Esther feel heard and understood with her vision and dreams for her bed and breakfast.
Challenges for the branding:
Create a branding and identity that reflected their core values: hospitality, adventure, history
Design the branding and identity to continue to work timelessly as the business expands and grows over the years
After Esther put together a Pinterest board for inspiration and to help communicate design ideas, I assembled her initial branding board with logos, colors, and typography. While I offer unlimited edits within a timeframe, Esther only had 1 round of small tweaks. We hit the nail on the head! We finished off her branding and identity week with a detailed branding board and guidelines PDF as well as a few collateral items: menu, business card, and social media profile image.
Week 2: Website design
Next I looked through Esther’s website content documents, her chosen images, and her website style and goals worksheet. I came up with a tentative game plan, and we went over it on our start day video call. Excitement was in the air!
Challenges for the website:
Connect the website to a booking engine that syncs with all her other reservation channels
Set up e-gift cards
Design multiple ways for site guests to explore the room pages (i.e. dropdown menu, arrows between pages, view all page)
The first week for the website was all design. All my designs start out the old-fashioned way — paper and pencil! I sketched out several ideas for the main pages and key sections like the header and footer. I then transferred my ideas to Squarespace and played around with the fun stuff like CSS. After hearing all of Esther’s needs and dreams for her business, I couldn’t wait to share with her the website. I knew it would it would be the perfect fit and help her reach her biz goals.
We had 2ish rounds of website edits, which helped clarify some directional questions we weren’t sure about (i.e. which reservation software to use, change out images, make buttons bigger, etc.). I super appreciate Esther’s speedy replies. She was clearly invested in providing me the content needed to create a stunning website. By the end of the first week, we had a website design that Esther was proud to share.
Week 3: Website SEO & finishing touches
Week two was all about setting up the backend of the website to make sure it was functional and followed SEO best practices. We transferred the domain, completed a site audit, tweaked some CSS, triple checked it was mobile optimized, and strategically placed keywords throughout the site. There were a few things Esther needed to do on her end to help transfer the domain and set up SEO, but I created short custom videos that walked her through the steps to simplify the process.
For our recorded launch day video call, I walked her through all the backend of the site to show her basic edits and relevant setup. Working with Esther changed my mind on offering website maintenance. A website maintenance subscription is now available to clients who request it.
I am excited to see the future of Engen Hus Bed and Breakfast! And I’m thrilled to be along for the ride as the branding and website designer. ❤️
Website
“Kathy is so wonderful to work with and she does an amazing job. No matter what I asked her to do she was so willing to do it.
She did such a great job of listening and hearing what I liked and wanted. She was always available anytime I had a question and communicated clearly and quickly.
Kathy is creative, hardworking and patient. I can't imagine someone better and easier to work with.”
— Esther
EngenHusUtah.com
