CakesbyCecilia is a small cake business located in Dorval, Quebec. From the location of her very own home, Cecilia, the baker and cake decorator behind the brand, has been baking all sorts of savory cakes and sugary treats for over a decade. Her main focus is to give her clients the chance to create special memories of any occasion in their lives. She is a strong believer in dessert bringing people together and helping them create memories they will never forget.
Although she has built a strong and wide clientele, she has always wanted a website to display her work and attract new customers, but has never gotten around to contacting a designer to begin the process. Cecilia does have a few social media accounts that she uses to promote her business, however she believes that a website will allow for her business to seem more professional, stand out from competitors, attract many more clients, and be a place to show her baking and decorating talent.
- Have a place for her clients to contact her directly.
- Showcase a variety of her desserts.
- Attract new clients to her business.
- Create a user-friendly website.
- Have the site be a good representation of the CakesbyCecilia brand.
As Cecilia was looking to achieve many goals with this new website, there were some challenges that were encountered during the process of creating her brand's website. The main challenge was making sure that the website had all the necessary elements that any small business’ website should have. Along with this, there were also some difficulties regarding the style of the site that had to be worked through such as translating CakesbyCecilia’s values and personality over to the website, making her site recognizable to her clients, as well as creating a very user-friendly experience while navigating her site.
The challenges that were transpired while creating her site were smoothed over by the end of the process as solutions were found to resolve certain issues. First, researching other sites of small bakeries or cake businesses and seeing what they all had in common really helped to figure out what components were important for a business’ site. From the research gathered, an "about me" page, menu page, and contact page were clearly important pieces for this type of website. When it came to showcasing CakesbyCecilia’s personality through her website, moodboards and wireframes came in handy as they were useful in finding inspiration, identifying the elements that should be incorporated into the site, and also receiving feedback from the client on what is liked and disliked. Lastly, finding a clean and simple navigation system, which are the tabs leading to different pages were ultimately the perfect solution for allowing easy access to her clients to find anything they are searching for.
Throughout the creation of her site, Cecilia was very much involved in its progression, giving feedback and notes on certain aspects of the site that she felt could be improved. She had mostly asked about displaying her desserts in a unique and interesting way and making sure that the website was easy to navigate as her clientele ranges all the way from teenagers to seniors. It was important that she was apart of the creation process as this site is a reflection of her and her business, and in addition, she is the one who knows her business the best, so her input was very helpful in creating a site that she was proud to have represent her business.
When shown the final website, Cecilia was very pleased with the results and overall outcome. She really wanted her work to be displayed for her customers to see as well as have a page allocated to communication between her and her clients. Now, her clients have access to a menu page, which has categories of her sweet treats and presents images of a wide variety of her desserts. Not only that, her site includes a contact page, directly listing her contact information while also providing the option to send a message directly to her. As an added bonus, her website contains a page to create and design your very own cake using an online form which will be directly submitted straight to her. Overall, Cecilia was very content with the entire site and believes that with her website, CakesbyCecilia will be able to stand out from other small businesses and expand her reach to new customers.
