Beautiful Design and Engaging Experiences
Buttercup Learning offer nature subscriptions boxes, AR prints and e-learning. Aiming to inspire a generation of empowered naturalists and environmentalists. I worked with them to create a fresh new visual identity and website design.
It was crucial for the designs to resonate with both adults and older children, as Buttercup Learning aims to inspire and empower a generation of naturalists and environmentalists. By creating a visual identity and website design that appealed to both demographics, we ensured that the brand would effectively engage its target audience across age groups.
Research
By utilising a comprehensive questionnaire as part of my Brand Intensive process I could quickly understand Buttercup Learnings aspirations and gained invaluable insights into their target audience, allowing me to create a tailored visual identity and website design that perfectly resonated with their brand and designed to draw the attention of their intended audience.
In addition to the questionnaire I then do my own research into competitors and design inspiration. This then forms the creative direction for the project as I create moodboards with sourced imagery, which gets presented in a Research & Creative Direction document for approval before proceeding to the next step. Ensuring myself and my client are on the same page!
Ideation
Sketching out ideas in a trusty sketchbook served as the creative foundation for this project. With a pencil in hand, I let my imagination run wild, capturing concepts, shapes, and compositions that came to mind. For me putting ideas onto paper allows for a free-flowing exploration of possibilities in a way that jumping straight onto a computer just can’t. Here is where I can test quickly what will and won’t work!
As the ideas took shape, I transferred some of the promising sketches to my iPad, leveraging digital tools to refine and experiment further. Bringing some of the designs into Illustrator for digitisation process, I was then able to fine-tune the details, adjusted proportions, and explored combinations.
I always work in black and white first to ensure the design works as a composition in it’s simplest form. Sometimes colour can be a distraction and skew how you think a design is looking.
Concepts
Two of the strongest concepts emerged after many variations and explorations. I then take these and refine as well as add colour at this stage to see how they work in colour. These were the two concepts I presented to Buttercup Learning.
To ensure my clients are able to visualise how their new brand identity will actually look I present the concepts across mock-ups which really brings things to life!
Visual Identity
A customised illustrative type logo, a forest-inspired color palette, and friendly fonts were carefully chosen to capture the essence of their mission. Imperfect shapes, squiggly lines, and arrows added a playful touch.
The bespoke designs were created with strategic choices based on analysis’ of client questionnaire and research phase. I presented 3 potential creative directions, lots of sketches and exploration presenting two strongest concepts – I definitely think the right one was chosen and a few tweaks were requested to create the final logo.
The customised illustrative type logo, with its playful elements struck a balance between capturing the attention of children and maintaining a professional and approachable image for adults.
The forest-inspired color palette evoked a sense of wonder and connection with nature, appealing to the innate curiosity of both age groups.
E-Commerce Website Design & Build in WordPress (WooCommerce)
The website design was carefully crafted to cater to the interests and needs of both adults and older children. By improving the flow and implementing whimsical elements such as wavy, natural shape dividers and charming details like bugs and animals, we created an immersive and engaging experience for all visitors.
The design choices aimed to capture the attention of older children while maintaining a professional and intuitive interface for adults. With seamless navigation, informative content, and user-friendly features, the website is a hub for both education and inspiration, appealing to a diverse audience and fostering a shared love for nature and learning.
When it came to the website I was able to use the research and visual identity that I had established in the first phase of the brand identity. Key objectives were to improve the flow, help to increase conversions.
To enhance the user experience and drive conversions, I revamped the e-commerce website using WordPress (WooCommerce). The flow was improved, and I incorporated wavy, natural shape dividers and delightful details like bugs and animals to infuse fun into the design.
Making smart development choices:
Using image masks in the irregular shapes rather than square edges was more fitting, I built these to be easy to change too so the client doesn’t need to create that image as a png.
Not only did the front-end receive a makeover, but I also made the admin experience a breeze. Custom post types and custom fields were implemented to easily add, edit, and update website content, including FAQs, reviews, press features, and subscription boxes. These custom post types allow for seamless querying and integration into other pages, making it effortless to showcase specific content where it matters most. For example on the subscription box they easily add the content and it populates a template design, no need to jump into a page builder or duplicate anything.
In practical terms some further examples might be adding specific FAQ items on to a relevant page and keeping it in the general FAQ or querying to showcase the ‘current’ subscription box to show a sneak peek on another page.
Responsive design
The importance of responsive design means ensuring that the website seamlessly adapts to various devices and screen sizes. It was paramount for Buttercup Learning to provide a user-friendly experience for visitors, regardless of whether they accessed the site on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
This approach allowed users to effortlessly navigate through the site, interact with the engaging features, and access valuable information on-the-go.
Social Media Templates
Not forgetting the social media templates that can be used as a starting point and reworked over and over. I’m opening slots again to work on custom social media templates this month so send me a DM or comment below if you’d like to know more!
An Outstanding Outcome
By considering the preferences and interests of both adults and older children throughout the design process, we created a cohesive and inclusive brand experience that encourages the entire family to embark on a journey of discovery and environmental stewardship.
Working with Kirsty from Elm Leaf Studios was a fantastic experience. I hired her to do a brand refresh and create a new website. She quickly understood what I wanted to achieve and helped me consolidate lots of different elements into a more cohesive brand look.
Rachel, Buttercup Learning
The delivery of the final brand and logo files was very comprehensive. I have everything to cover both print and online needs. The matching social media templates have saved me loads of time already. I feel much more confident about the brand aesthetic and can see we are already attracting more of our ideal audience on social media. The brief for the website was to tie in our illustrator’s artwork for our prints, boxes and graphics to give the site more visual appeal for children but still meet the needs of our paying customers – the parents, teachers, home educators and grandparents.
The back end of the site is extremely well organised. Kirsty understood that I wanted to ensure the site was designed sustainably with a lower carbon footprint and worked hard to ensure that the new site achieved this. Her communication at all stages of the project was excellent. The end-of-project video I received for my website was a perfect guide to support the handover and give me the tools and knowledge to ensure my site is easy to update and manage.
She is a talented designer and web developer and I can’t recommend her highly enough!
Dreaming of your beautiful brand and a new stunning site?
Ready to create a beautifully branded business together? Let’s collaborate to bring your brand to life with stunning website design and visual identity. From research and ideation to bespoke illustrations and strategic choices, I will transform your online presence. Get in touch for how we can work together.
