Akasha Website - Case Study
As if on cue, Azade contacted me through my website. I had just decided that I was going to start officially offering Squarespace website design when her mail landed in my inbox. She was a dream client. We immediately got along and she had beautiful original photography for her Yoga, Ayurveda and Osteo+Thai studio.
BEFORE
AFTER
The Problem:
The existing Akasha website was difficult to maintain. It was not on a typical web builder (Wordpress, Squarespace) that Azade or her partner Nora could easily maintain themselves.
The site was not responsive and it didn’t reflect the entirety of Akasha’s offerings; not just Yoga, but also Osteo+Thai Massage and Ayurveda. Lastly, it was difficult to navigate, menus appeared, disappeared and reappeared. It was difficult for the user to understand where he or she was on the site.
Azade opened a Squarespace account, understandably started with the Om template, and immediately grew frustrated. She couldn’t create the vision she had in her mind, and was having trouble using the platform.
Yes, Squarespace is a DIY Web builder platform, but it won’t turn you into a designer. At best it provides guard rails for non-designers to create a site that somewhat makes basic user experience sense and will look minimally professional. It’s a powerful tool, and with the help of designer you can do incredible things with it.
The Fix:
After understanding that one of Azade’s goals for Akasha was to communicate that it was more than ‘just’ a Yoga studio. I switched templates to York, which is billed as a portfolio template. It allows for more visual flexibility on the home screen.
Using a mix of original photography and license free images, I created a series of ‘Door Pages’ each one presenting the different services offered at Akasha.
We streamlined the menu and created visually compelling sub pages using layout, typographic hierarchies and imagery.
BEFORE
AFTER
I converted a series of text-only newsletters posted on the old site into a blog, complete with imagery. The Squarespace events template worked beautifully to showcase the upcoming goings-on at the studio.
BEFORE
AFTER
Squarespace de-facto creates a responsive site. We had to fiddle with the mobile navigation settings a bit to get it the way Azade wanted to, but it was easy. You can see the live website here.
It was a fruitful collaboration and I’m really pleased with the result.I’m not the only one, Here’s what the client, Azade, had to say:
“Working with you has been amazing! I truly appreciate that you took the time and think about how to portray Akasha as more than a yoga studio. I believe this is going to make such a difference going forward. Nora saw the site only once it was done and she absolutely LOVED it. ”