New website

Url: development sold all its lots, and website was retired

Portfolio: Website – King’s Lake Developments

Challenge

• client had a lakefront land development that he wanted to market, and needed a web site as part of that plan.

Strategy

• this is the type of product where visuals are hugely important
• since the company was new, there were going to be a number of new “setup” tasks, such as developing a logo, getting registered with Google maps, registering a domain name, etc.
• because a large outdoor entrance sign was being constructed for the development, the website needed to be ready before the sign was completed.

Implementation

• domain name: Although the company’s name was King’s Lake Developments, using the whole name for a domain would make the domain excessively long. But kingslake.ca was already taken by someone else. Suggestions were eventually whittled down to lovekingslake.ca – easy to remember, with a touch of emotional tug to it.
• theme: because greenery, earth and water are dominant characteristics of the land development, I found a garden theme that looked very adaptable – it had the right feel, colour scheme, and image elements to start with.
• lot map: I created a vector-based drawing in Corel Draw of the site’s lot blueprint. added colours and text, and output it as an image. (It was also later used on the outdoor sign as well). Looking at other land development sites, I was struck by how poor the quality of some of the lot plans were, and how clunky many were to pan/zoom (like a google map).
  I found a commercial wordpress plugin that was designed to make exceptional lot plan elements, It took a bit of a learning curve to learn how to configure, and time to set up all the popup photos, but I think the end result was worth it. You can see it here.
• logo: the client liked the look of an oval logo he had seen on another site, containing a lake photo inside, and the development name curved within the logo on the top and bottom. I got a similar sample in place, but found that the lettering ended up being smaller than I liked when the logo was shrunk enough to fit in the website. (making it too big overpowers a webpage, especially on phones).
  After some experimentation, I found I could get the best of both worlds by putting the lettering OUTSIDE the oval. It scales nicely.
• included my 10-part item list

Recommendations

• builder options: because the client also owns a well-known construction company, I recommended he include a page about his ability to handle home/cottage construction for any buyers – with example photos.
• photos: this is the type of site where pictures excel. I suggested we include at least one photo of every lot area, to give users a glimpse into the variety of choices.
• qr code: on the outdoor sign, include a qr code that smartphones can scan to take them to the website.

Result

I really like the look/feel/colour scheme of this site. I paid special attention to the home page, including the top slideshow. The front page flow doesn’t feel “boxy”, and has a good mix of text and useful image elements. It works well on mobile devices, and has a good mix of info, pictures, etc., without being overwhelming.

The site was ready in time for the outdoor sign. Absolutely loved working on this site. Hope it shows.