From concept to launch

The creative and technical journey of Smashy Design’s new website

After months of planning and design exploration, we’re excited to share the story behind our website revamp! This journey combined cutting-edge web development with a fresh visual style to create a seamless, fast-loading experience.

smashy-old-website

What we had before

smashy-design-mockup-home-page

Converted into this fresh look

Phase 1

Crafting the Blueprint

We began by creating a detailed sitemap and gathering inspiration from top award-winning websites. Our goal was to ensure a clean, elegant design that aligned with our core values and was easy to navigate.

smashy-design-sitemap
Phase 2

Inspiration from the Best

Our next step involved collecting ideas from award-winning websites, aiming to keep our style simple, clean, and elegant. Combining these inspirations, we crafted a design vision that reflected both our brand and current web trends.

However, our initial design was a bit too minimalistic, so we introduced subtle interactions to enhance engagement without compromising on speed.

inspirations
Phase 3

Deciding on Technology: Headless vs. WordPress

We considered building the site headless for optimal performance and flexibility, but with time constraints and ongoing client projects, we chose WordPress. This allowed for faster implementation while ensuring we had control over updates.

cms-types-headless
cms-types-traditional
Phase 4

Iterations and Refinements

Unlike client projects, we were freer to make continuous tweaks, even late in development. This meant countless iterations and adjustments to achieve a balanced look and feel.

Huge shoutout to our developers, who patiently worked through these changes, making our evolving vision a reality.

smashy-design-ui-exploration

Quick QA and Launching with Known Bugs

After a few rounds of quick QA, we faced a decision: wait for a perfect launch or roll it out with minor bugs? Given that our old site urgently needed an upgrade, and we wanted to boost our SEO, we went ahead and launched on November 1st—a Friday, breaking our usual “no Friday launches”

Pushing Creative Boundaries

In our design, we made unconventional choices, including positioning mobile navigation in the top right and a floating desktop navigation bar. Inspired by Apple’s design influence, we introduced a glassy background, giving our site a unique, modern touch.

245% increase in site traffic

The Results So Far

Since launch, we’ve seen a 245% increase in site traffic—a promising start! We’re receiving invaluable feedback from peers and the industry, which we’re continuously incorporating to enhance the experience.

Thanks for being part of our journey, and stay tuned for more insights as we further refine Smashy Design’s new digital home!