To go along with the new brand for our Designer Retreat, Erika (from thehausofsparrow.com) and I partnered to build a custom website.

If you missed the launch of Anima Collectio, you can go read about the brand and how it all started here in this other blog post.

The Beginning of Website Design

Erika and I wanted the website to embody the brand and have fun and welcoming elements included.

When I first sketched the website, I had to step back and start over a few times. While I normally love the design process for other clients, it was HARD for me to wrap my head around building a site for me, but yet, not for me.

I moved to building out the mockup in Showit WAY earlier than I normally do in the design process. Because I needed to be able to play around with shapes and truly see a 2D version. Not just paper and pencil drawings.

That helped me A LOT. Once I found my groove, I shared the design mock ups with Erika and both agreed I was headed in the right direction.

Developing the Website in Showit

Once Erika and I got to a place where we were happy with the mock-ups, I moved to the development of the site in Showit.

This is a fun part for me. As you get to see how things start to move, and fill the screen. One thing that I always notice from the mock-ups to development is that the website has more white space (blank space) than the mock-ups. So it’s nice to adjust and let things breathe when I put them online.

From here, both Erika and I popped in to edit and refine the site. It was so much fun having a partner help design this. We both collaborated and built a site together. Which I think also tied back into the mission and vision of Anima Collectio.

Final Website Design

Since Erika and I had done a lot of pre-work with this brand, the website was smooth to develop. We built the pages fairly quickly, uploaded all the images, connected the domain, and published all with two-weeks!

This usually is a much longer process for my website clients. But because we had spent so much time in this, it made our decision making much easier.

I’d also like to mention that if you look at the mock-ups above and the final version of the site, they are pretty close with only minor changes. Something that also doesn’t happen too often. But something that I felt was such a blessing from the Lord. Being able to design a site that both Erika and I felt fit the brand and the direction of this retreat.

About Anima Collectio

The Anima Collectio retreat is in May 2023 in Moab, Utah. We hope that other female designers will join us for time to ask questions about their business, open up about struggles, and walk away with true genuine relationships with others.

Erika and I both know how lonely it is to run a business in a HIGHLY competitive industry. We want this space to be fruitful and live-giving to those who have struggled. If you want community with others in the design field, then we hope to see you in Moab! Registration is open and get your spot today!