Oasis Outdoor Living & Landscapes
UX Strategy
Responsive Website Design
Art Direction
Content Strategy & Copy
Development & SEO
What’s a Rich Text element?
The rich text element allows you to create and format headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, images, and video all in one place instead of having to add and format them individually. Just double-click and easily create content.
Static and dynamic content editing
A rich text element can be used with static or dynamic content. For static content, just drop it into any page and begin editing. For dynamic content, add a rich text field to any collection and then connect a rich text element to that field in the settings panel. Voila!
How to customize formatting for each rich text
Headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, figures, images, and figure captions can all be styled after a class is added to the rich text element using the "When inside of" nested selector system.
2022
Strengthening a landscape portfolio by shining a spotlight on the team
The Assignment
Oasis Outdoor Living & Landscapes is a full-service landscape provider in the Indianapolis region. The team is small but proficient. Following a leadership change, the Oasis team was forced to reflect on their identity and the company's future. Together, they emerged with a healthy new vision: increased variety in projects and customers who organically build an extensive referral network over time. The team's old website felt dated and clunky. They hired me to build something entirely new that better reflects the company's true nature.
The Solution
The previous website left visitors guessing as to what Oasis actually offers. Through the discovery process, we identified the team's core service offerings, which became central to the new site's navigation structure. Next, we reviewed competitor analysis and customer needs to pinpoint strengths that can give Oasis a regional edge.
The Oasis team is known for their creativity, collaborative spirit, convenient start-to-finish services, and professionalism. Working with the team is a pleasure. However, there were no images available to communicate this. Oasis' previous website only included finished project photographs.
I knew the key to sharing the team's personality would be in filling this void with better imagery and storytelling. Sharing the natural Oasis atmosphere would give potential clients an idea of what to expect and help them feel comfortable (possibly even excited!) about reaching out. We were designing the site around authentic vibes, so stock photography wouldn't do. We hired my friend Daniel, a documentary filmmaker, to visit the office and capture the team's process. His photos turned out beautiful and brought the whole website to life.
The Oasis team can be counted on to be approachable and clear. Now that the user experience of their website is the same, it will no doubt guide new clients to their office for years to come.
The Process
Sitemap & Content Strategy
My goal for this site structure was to emphasize Oasis' concept-to-completion approach alongside clearly organized project categories. This helps users locate specific details if needed while always reminding them that Oasis can do it all. After the client approved this sitemap, I built a content outline breaking down what information we needed for each section of each page. This allowed their team to fill in content details for me while I began designing.
Wireframes
I designed wireframes for each page while collaborating with the client on content strategy. Sharing the wireframes and content outline in tandem allowed us to locate any sections that might be neat in theory but unrealistic to build out. Wireframes also helped us narrow down how many visuals would be needed. At this point, our website skeleton was formed and we could begin brainstorming for the photoshoot early.
Photography Direction
I live several states away from Oasis and our hired photographer Daniel, so I made sure to communicate my art direction with him clearly through notes. While designing, I temporarily filled the website with stock photos that matched my vision. I created PDFs of each web page, outlining the photographs that he'd be replacing. To the side, I included required shotlist details and loose subject matter ideas. He nailed the assignment, delivering a whopping set of images that directly matched my "moodboard" but better.
The Oasis team can be counted on to be approachable and clear. Now that the user experience of their website is the same, it will no doubt guide new clients to their office for years to come.
Photography
Daniel Arthur Jacobson
