New Site Launch
At Lionize, we specialize in bringing digital visions to life. Our latest project with Unfolding Edits, a leader in training and editing for the publishing industry, exemplifies this mission. Our goal was to create a website that mirrors their brand ethos—informative, engaging, and user-friendly, with a design that echoes the principles of good editing by eliminating the extraneous. This blog post dives into our approach, join us as we explore how simplicity and functionality converge to enhance the user experience.
Unfolding Edits
Founded by Ana Fletcher, Unfolding Edits aims to demystify editing and empower industry professionals. With a rich background in the publishing industry, Ana offers a unique blend of training and editing services tailored for editors, literary agents, and anyone involved in the book editing process. Their approach is rooted in the belief that understanding and improving the editing process is key to producing compelling and successful literature.
The Vision Behind the Website
The website's design is profoundly influenced by minimalism, aiming to reflect the company's commitment to clarity and precision. The decision to use only two brand colours was made to ensure visual coherence and to keep the focus firmly on content.
Unfolding Edits provided all the copy for the website, which allowed us to concentrate on creating a design that complemented the precision of their messaging, ensuring that the text's clarity and purpose were front and centre. Our design strategy prioritised ease of navigation and readability, ensuring that visitors could effortlessly engage with the rich, informative content.
To introduce an element of dynamism to the minimalist design, we incorporated subtle animations. These were designed not to distract but to enhance the user's journey through the website, drawing attention to key areas in a way that felt natural and intuitive.
Overall, we wanted to create a space where design and content work in harmony to provide a user experience that is both enriching and accessible. By leveraging the power of minimalism we aimed to craft a platform that truly reflects their mission to demystify editing and empower industry professionals.
Key Features
The website boasts several key features. Here’s a closer look at these standout elements:
Subtle GSAP Animations
Throughout the website, visitors are treated to subtle GSAP animations that bring a dynamic feel to the browsing experience. These animations are carefully integrated so as not to overwhelm the content but to complement and draw attention to specific elements, enhancing user engagement without sacrificing the minimalist design ethos.
Custom Mouse Cursors
On the training and FAQs pages, custom mouse cursors appear over dropdown content boxes, providing an intuitive and interactive user experience. This custom feature not only adds a layer of sophistication to the site's design but also aids in navigation, making it easier for users to understand where to click for additional information.
Logo Parade Animation
We used CSS keyframes to animate the logo parade to great effect.
Three Ways to Email
Unfolding Edits offers three convenient ways for users to get in touch via email:
- Direct Mailto: Clicking the email address in the footer automatically opens the user's default mail application, ready to compose a message.
- Copy to Clipboard: A copy symbol next to the email address in the footer allows users to easily copy the address for use in any mail application.
- Contact Form: The website features a unique custom form on the contact page, offering another direct line of communication with the Unfolding Edits team
Super Unique Custom Form
The contact page hosts a uniquely designed form that stands out for its creativity and user-friendly interface. This custom form is not only visually appealing but also designed to make the process of reaching out to Unfolding Edits as straightforward and engaging as possible.
Copyright Notice
An automated copyright notice feature is integrated into the website's footer, ensuring that the copyright year is always up to date. This detail, though small, reflects the attention to legal compliance and the professional standards upheld by Unfolding Edits.
Cookie Banner
The GDPR-compliant cookie banner not only serves as a commitment to user privacy but also enhances the site's user experience by remembering and respecting the privacy preferences of returning visitors. This feature ensures that users are not repeatedly prompted to accept cookies on subsequent visits, creating a smoother, more enjoyable browsing experience.
Impact and Feedback
"I loved working with Karina and Lionize Agency on the Unfolding Edits website. Karina made what could have been a daunting process simple and manageable from the very start. She listened carefully to what my business needed, mapped out the overall process, and made it clear what our respective roles would be in each stage of the work.
As a book editor, I'm used to working with words rather than images, so I was nervous about how I would brief the design components. But Karina helped me clarify my vision using a range of practical and fun approaches. She was also endlessly collaborative -- encouraging me to think more ambitiously, making suggestions for functionality that I wouldn't have thought of, and taking on all of my feedback with good humour and patience. I felt in completely safe hands all the way through, and I couldn't recommend working with Karina and Lionize highly enough.
The website has made an immediate impact on my business. I officially launched as Unfolding Edits at the start of February 2024 and having the website live meant that I could channel any interest generated by my marketing activity into the site. I’ve since had several enquiries for training workshops, which I’m busy following up on now. As well as helping to generate business leads that I wouldn’t have established otherwise, the website has facilitated or sped up conversations with existing leads. The website has given me visibility, helped to clarify my offering, and legitimised that offering with prospective clients."
Final Thoughts
We loved working on this project with Unfolding Edits. Our goal was to keep things simple yet impactful. The focus was on clean design and smooth functionality, aiming to enhance the user experience. Adding subtle animations and the various custom elements were a fun way to make the brand pop.
We were thrilled to hear about how useful the new site has been already for Unfolding Edits and we look forward to future collaborations with the company. If you have any questions about this site design from a development point of view, or would like us to build you a similar site, please reach out via our contact page.