Kris Ann Valdez Author Site

1. Overview

I was asked to design and build a website for author Kris Ann Valdez. The site needed to showcase her work, provide a way for publishers and agents to connect with her, and offer a platform for her to showcase her work. The project required a minimal, clean, professional design that would appeal to literary agents and publishers. I was responsible for the end-to-end design and development of the site, from research and design, hifi mocks, to final deployment using Wordpress and Bluehost.

2. Problem

The main problem I was trying to address for this client was: "When I want to share my work with potential publishers and agents, how can I show them that I am a legit author that they should check out?" That being the case, the client needed something simple, quick, and clean that could be built on Wordpress and updated quickly as needed.

3. Design Process

To begin this project, I started with a phone call and listed to her main request: a website to establish her credibility as an author. The other need that she had was to use Wordpress so she could update the content if needed. With these basic requirements in mind, I began researching other author sites, looking for inspiration from clear and simple designs. Once I analyzed several sites, I presented my findings to the client and got on the same page about the core requirements and approach. We agreed that there were three main things that she needed: 1) a way to gather her various works, linking to the original articles; 2) a quick bio that shared a bit of her writing story and accomplishements; and 3) a simple way for publishers and agents to contact her from her site.

Once we were on the same page in terms of requirements, I began sketching out some design ideas, for fonts, colors, and layout. I decided that to make things as simple as possible, I wanted to put everything on the main page if possible. It would allow for quick access to her work and contact info just by scrolling. I also wanted to make sure that the site was mobile-friendly, so I made sure to design with that in mind. Once I had a few ideas, I presented them to the client in Figma and we agreed on a design that would work for her needs.

Once the design was approved, I began building the site in Wordpress. I used a simple theme and customized it to match the design that we had agreed on. I added a few plugins to make the site more user-friendly and added a contact form so that publishers and agents could reach out to her easily. Once the site was built, I deployed it to Bluehost and shared it with the client for review. After a few minor tweaks, the site was live and ready for the world to see.

Brainstorming site colors.

Deciding on typefaces & fonts.

Designing components.

Hifi mock in Figma.

Finished site design.

4. Outcomes & Lessons

The final website was a success. The author was happy with the clean design and felt confident sharing it with publishers and agents. The site has had ~200 views with 132 visitors from 10 countries since launching, which is a great start for a new author. She has also received multiple leads from people visiting the site.

Feedback from the client:

"I tried to save money by switching from the user-friendly Wix to Wordpress and spent frustrating hours trying to create a simple website. Finally, I reached out to Joel, who took my samples & ideas & ran with it to produce a clean, modern site—exactly what I asked for. I couldn’t believe how hard Wordpress was so navigate using the host, and was so fortunate to have Joel!...Thanks to my website, I have a portfolio I can share with confidence to editors and publishers!"