Today we’re dreaming of long, lazy days on Lake Malawi, cocktail in hand, preferably on the beach at [highlight] Danforth Yachting’s lodge [/highlight] … or better yet on board their [highlight] yacht Mufasa [/highlight] .
Aaaah, bliss!
Danforth is set in Malawi’s Cape Maclear right on that sparkling “Lake of Stars.” It offers superb lodge accommodation, sailing, watersports [highlight] [/highlight] and the only live-aboard yacht on Lake Malawi.
There’s a reason behind our Malawi dreaming and it’s the dreamy [highlight] new website [/highlight] we at WildWeb have just launched for them.
Our talented, good looking and downright charming website developer [highlight] Shannon [/highlight] put a lot of TLC and innovation into working on the new Danforth site. And it paid off beautifully.
He takes us through the ins and outs, bells and whistles of the process:
THE CHALLENGE
To take their existing site (which they’ve had for years) and overhaul both design and functionality to bring the site into the modern web era.
Shannon’s personal 2 cents:
“It was both exciting and daunting at the beginning. The new design looked nothing like its predecessor. Sometimes it tough to get a client to approve a design that is so drastically different to a site they’ve had for years.”
THE SOLUTION
Basically it meant starting from square one – a completely fresh and contemporary design that not only compliments the lodge but also checks all the boxes in terms of function and usability.
Shannon’s personal 2 cents:
“While WordPress was a viable option, we decided to tackle the site as a custom build. Which afforded us the luxuries of not being constrained by a theme but rather create anything we could think of. That’s always a big plus for a designer ;)”
HOW WE DID IT
Many ideas were thrown around when brainstorming the design. Every detail was discussed, from typography and where the menu should be placed to how every element should work when viewed on a table or smartphone. The result – large, stunning images, beautiful layout and meticulous attention to the user experience made the site an overall success.
Shannon’s personal 2 cents:
“I enjoyed the design process for the Danforth build as it was very well thought out and we had a great deal of creative freedom. I was able to ‘play’ around with different concepts and run them pass Jono, our head developer.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
The client was utterly thrilled by the usability, functionality and aesthetics of the site. We created a site that will serve them well for many years to come. It even has our in-house CMS (nooSite – kudos Jono) built into it which allows the client to update news and visitor comments quickly and easily.
Shannon’s personal 2 cents:
“The design is easily one of my best and favourites. I’m absolutely pleased with the final result; we even featured it as a [highlight] case study on our website! [/highlight] ”
Explore the new [highlight] Danforth Yachting website [/highlight] at your leisure; after all that’s what Malawi dreaming is all about.
