Website Facelift
The largest freelance project I’ve taken on to-date is redesigning the Parts N More website. This e-commerce website (owned by MC Distributing) sells thousands of parts for vintage motorcycles. Their current website was created several years ago, and so they felt it was time to freshen up their look and give their website a facelift.
I tackled this project as not only a website facelift, but an entire rebranding. I wanted to give them a new identity that would help them stand out against competitors and modernize the look and functionality of their site. I wanted their new look to be strong and sleek, so I toned down their colour scheme by using a lot of charcoal gray and using teal blue as their main accent colour. I also wanted to add some photography of motorcycles to make the purpose of the website immediately known and to add some visual interest. I also redesigned their logo to reflect their new identity.
When designing websites, one always has to keep in the mind the user experience (UX) and the user interface (UI). The functionality of the website needed some tweaking to help simplify the UX. I kept the layout clean and simple, but changed how customers could find their products. Instead of having to go to 2 different pages before getting your search results, you can now filter through the bike year and model on the home page and be taken directly to your results page.
We also added some new key features to the site such as:
- a site-wide multi-currency feature
- a more obvious separation of custom fit parts and universal fit parts by creating separate sub-categories under each main product category
- a pop-up window showing customers an item has been added to their cart, giving them the option to either continue shopping, view cart or check out
- a full footer menu in addition to the header menu
- an order history page with full order details
- a simplified checkout option with PayPal
- an order confirmation page
- and mobile-friendly designs
I have designed all of the website pages in Adobe Photoshop and we’ll be ready to start development soon! (We’ll be working with the developer d3.)
This project has been the most satisfying experience for so many reasons. I not only love what I do, but I thoroughly enjoyed working with the lovely people at MC Distributing. This was also satisfying to create because at my last job I spent months designing a website for a similar industry that was never launched, so it feels like I might actually get some closure this time around! It’ll be exciting to get this website up and running after weeks of work, especially for the client. Stay tuned for the website launch details!
I’m already on to the next website redesign project for Nick & Dan’s Collision, but I am always taking on new clients. If you’re looking to create or upgrade your online presence, contact me for help!
Thanks for reading,
~ Manda Mac
Manda Mac Designs 