Ground Press Coffee is a local coffee shop in Airdrie, Alberta, where I live. They recently opened and offer a unique mix of high-quality coffee and a creative book exchange program. When I visited their website, I noticed it had a lot of text, and important information was spread across several pages, making it hard to follow.
I decided to help by redesigning their website. My goal was to create a single-page design where users could easily see that Ground Press serves great local coffee and offers new and used books. Customers can even trade in their own books for cash or store credit, which I thought was a really interesting idea that wasn’t clear on their current website.
I also noticed their images looked generic, like they were taken from the internet, which made the café feel less personal. My redesign focuses on making the site more welcoming and better showing the real character of the café.
The main goal of the redesign was to create a website that is clear, simple, and easy to use. The current site has too much text and spreads information across many pages, making it hard for users to understand what the café offers. I wanted to make it easy for visitors to see that Ground Press serves amazing local coffee and has a creative book exchange where customers can trade, buy, or sell books.
I also wanted to give the café a stronger identity. Right now, the website uses different colors, fonts, and styles, which makes it feel messy and disconnected. My goal was to design a website that looks clean, consistent, and helps users feel more connected to the café’s unique atmosphere.
Another focus of the redesign was to highlight that Ground Press is more than just a spot for coffee and books. It’s also a perfect space for people who need a quiet place to study or work, with reliable Wi-Fi and plenty of outlets for charging devices.
One key thing I noticed is that the current website doesn’t show the café’s menu. I wanted to fix that by creating an interactive menu so potential visitors can easily browse their products and prices online.
Lastly, I wanted to replace the generic stock photos on the current site with images that show the real charm and personality of the café, making the website feel more warm and welcoming.
To create a better website for Ground Press Coffee, I spent time researching other coffee shop websites to see how they present their brand identity, imagery, and menus. I looked at how these websites used design to reflect their personality and create a welcoming feel, while also making their products and pricing easy to find.
I also explored websites from some of my favorite bookstores to get ideas on how to showcase books in an engaging way. I wanted to see how they organized their collections, highlighted special features, and made it easy for users to explore their offerings.
In addition, I checked out websites from businesses that offer different kinds of services. This helped me find inspiration for layout ideas, especially for creating a section that clearly explains how Ground Press’s book system works, including trading, buying, and selling books.
This research gave me a lot of insights into how I could design a website that is visually appealing, easy to navigate, and does a great job of showing off everything that makes Ground Press special.
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- Find a place to trade in his old books for new ones.
- Browse a curated selection of books that offer variety and depth.
- Enjoy high-quality coffee while exploring new reads.
- Support a local business that aligns with his love for books.
- Difficulty finding places that accept book trade-ins or have interesting selections.
- Generic environments that lack charm or personality.
- Low-quality coffee that doesn’t enhance the overall experience.
- Find a cozy and quiet place to study.
- Access reliable Wi-Fi for her online research and classes.
- Enjoy delicious drinks and snacks during her study sessions.
- Have access to enough outlets to keep her devices charged.
- Struggling to find cafés with reliable Wi-Fi and enough seating or outlets.
- Distracting environments with too much noise or movement.
- Limited snack or drink options that suit her preferences.
For the design and wireframe phase, I focused on creating a layout that was both visually appealing and highly functional to address the needs of Ground Press Coffee’s users. I started by using a 12-column grid for the desktop view, which allowed me to create a balanced and flexible structure for the content. This grid helped organize key sections like the café’s offerings, book exchange system, and menu into a clear and cohesive layout.
To ensure the best possible solution, I began with hand-drawn wireframes to explore initial ideas, then refined them using Figma for a more polished approach. The final wireframes were designed to ensure seamless navigation, making it easy for users to find key information such as the café’s products, book program, and unique features like its quiet work environment. I also experimented with several layouts for the hero section, which I believe is one of the most important sections of the website, to make sure it effectively captured the café’s identity and immediately engaged visitors.
My goal during this phase was to create a design that felt intuitive, welcoming, and consistent across all screen sizes.
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The final design for Ground Press Coffee’s website focuses on simplicity, clarity, and a cohesive brand identity. By addressing the challenges of the previous website, the new design highlights the café’s specialty coffee, book exchange program, and welcoming environment. Using a clean layout and a consistent color palette, the site creates a professional yet cozy feel that reflects the café’s unique personality.
The interactive menu ensures visitors can easily explore the café’s products and pricing, while sections showcasing the book system are visually engaging and easy to understand. I replaced the generic stock images with more authentic visuals, emphasizing the real charm of the café. The final design is user-friendly, responsive across all devices, and successfully communicates everything that makes Ground Press Coffee special.
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One of the biggest challenges in this project was designing a website that clearly communicated what makes Ground Press Coffee unique. Their old website was cluttered, spread key information across multiple pages, and lacked a strong brand identity. While their book exchange program is an innovative idea, it wasn’t clearly explained, making it hard for visitors to understand how it worked. I also wanted to ensure that the new design highlighted not just the coffee and books, but also the café’s cozy and quiet atmosphere, which makes it a great space for studying and working. Another challenge was the imagery. The current website used generic stock photos that made the café feel impersonal. To solve this, I planned a real photo gallery to capture the shop’s warmth and authenticity.
This project reinforced the importance of clear, user-friendly design in helping businesses communicate their value. I learned how to simplify complex information. Like the book exchange system into an intuitive layout that’s easy to understand. I also gained experience in crafting a strong brand identity, ensuring consistency in colors, fonts, and imagery to create a more welcoming and professional feel. Additionally, I realized how crucial authentic visuals are in making a business feel real and relatable online. This project further strengthened my skills in balancing aesthetic appeal with functionality, making sure the website not only looks great but also serves the café’s needs effectively.