Agency Work / Website designed at Ethos | VONT / CD & IA by Tim Blackstone / Development by Doug Bertlesman / Copy by Heidi McInerney / View the live site
As a leading distributor of specialty building products, Coastal Forest Products came to VONT looking for a website that could do some heavy lifting. Though the site would ultimately be a CTA that would encourage users to contact the Coastal sales team, it needed to serve several audiences in achieving their varying goals. Visually, it needed to wow and inspire its audience of contractors, architects, and homeowners with high-resolution photography. In terms of its content, Coastal's sea of products—each with its specifications, changing sell sheets, and resources—called for a user-friendly interface that was educational yet easy to digest. And finally, the renowned brands that Coastal carries would each require a unique design approach to showcase the products and methods they offer.
The first step was a revised information architecture. To accommodate the different types of users, the robust IA featured two entry points to product pages, allowing users to browse by brand or product type.
Through the site design, I built upon the brand established by the Ethos team, using vibrant colors, sturdy sans-serif typography, and a logo-inspired sun/arc element that echoed throughout the site and custom icon library.
Built using custom WordPress Gutenberg blocks, the site design allowed each brand and product page to be populated with fluctuating content and images. Thanks to this comprehensive landing page experience on each brand page, Coastal Forest Products was able to consolidate two of its sub-brand websites into the new site design.
With some of the informational complexity simplified through design, the website could tell a brand story beyond its vast selection of products. Through compelling copy and visuals, we were able to weave the why—Coastal's high level of service, commitment, product knowledge, and more—throughout the design in a way that builds trust and drives action.
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