
Cancan Cleanse
Mary A. Hayne / September 10, 2023
Project Overview
This project involved revitalizing the digital presence of a juice and cleanse e-commerce company whose website was plagued by design inconsistencies and frequent outages. The client’s objective was to restore the brand’s charm and improve site reliability.
After reaching out to the business owner and identifying key pain points, I initiated a comprehensive overhaul of the website’s design, branding, and infrastructure.
Key Contributions
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Infrastructure & Performance Optimization: Migrated the website to a secure hosting platform with integrated real-time performance monitoring. This migration eliminated recurring site outages and achieved an uptime of 99.9%. I deactivated problematic plugins and replaced them with more reliable, lightweight alternatives, which reduced page load times by over 20%.
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Custom WooCommerce Theme Development: Built a custom WooCommerce theme atop the Storefront framework to align with the refreshed brand identity. Leveraged Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) to create modular and flexible content layouts, enabling the client to manage page structures without technical assistance.
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Branding & UX Overhaul: Restored the brand’s original identity by securing and re-integrating legacy design assets. Using Figma, Sketch, and Photoshop, I redesigned the website’s UI to harmonize with the business’s core values, optimizing the user journey and increasing customer engagement by 30%.
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Data Security & Compliance Enhancements: Implemented security best practices, including secure authentication protocols, SSL encryption, and regular security audits. These enhancements minimized vulnerabilities and improved compliance with data security regulations, reducing reported vulnerabilities by 40%.
Challenges & Solutions
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Restoring Original Branding: With some assets lost due to a previous redesign, it was essential to track down and secure critical design elements. I collaborated with the previous designer to retrieve high-resolution logos and key imagery, ensuring the site’s visual appeal matched the client’s brand vision.
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Optimizing for Performance & Scalability: Identified and resolved key performance bottlenecks by streamlining plugins and optimizing database queries. Employed caching strategies and CDN integration to deliver a consistently fast and scalable experience to users.
Tech Stack
- CMS & E-commerce: WordPress, WooCommerce
- Custom Development: Advanced Custom Fields (ACF), Storefront Theme
- Design Tools: Figma, Sketch, Photoshop
- Security & Hosting: Secure hosting platform with proactive maintenance, SSL implementation, and regular security audits
Outcome
The project successfully revitalized the client’s brand and digital presence, significantly improving site stability and customer engagement. Although the rebranded design was ultimately archived following the sale of the business, the project exemplified the impact of holistic branding and technical solutions on small-to-medium business growth.
Conclusion
This project was a great opportunity to combine branding strategy, UX design, and technical expertise to rejuvenate the digital presence of a beloved business, and improve user experience. While the final design was not adopted due to changes in ownership, the project stands as a testament to the power of brand restoration and robust technical solutions.