All Good Books
Website Audit, User Interface, Web Development, HTML, CSS Responsive Design, Email Design
Project Overview
As an intern, I independently redesigned the website for All Good Books, a local bookstore whose online presence wasn’t living up to its potential. Their site had been freshly launched but wasn’t getting much traffic and felt visually flat. They couldn’t capture the cozy vibe of the shop in their designs. That’s where I stepped in. I used custom HTML and CSS, as well as the website builder BookManager, to create a user interface that reflected the location.
After an initial conversation about their goals and inspirations, I conducted a full audit to identify pain points and gaps in content and structure.
I worked closely with the client to create a formal project brief and clear goals. From there, I analyzed competitor websites they admired and asked thoughtful questions to understand exactly what they liked about them. Using that insight, I sketched low-fidelity mockups to propose new layouts and structural changes. I then custom-coded each page using HTML and CSS, breaking out of the limitations of their website builder to create something more engaging and flexible. This was an iterative process involving frequent check-ins, adjustments, and feedback loops.
I also took SEO into consideration, optimizing metadata and layout choices to improve search visibility. The results were immediate. As pages were published one by one, the website began gaining traction. All Good Books soon became the top result on Google for their relevant key search terms. Their staff reported significantly increased web traffic and received more compliments on the site from both customers and peers.
The process
email designs
In addition to redesigning their website, I also developed a series of email templates for All Good Books to improve their digital communications. The original emails were simply text and photos copied from their social media posts, without clear structure or visual hierarchy. My challenge was to turn that into something visually appealing, well-organized, and effective at boosting engagement.
I taught myself the ins and outs of email-friendly HTML and CSS, while also exploring best practices and examples from other organizations for inspiration. Collaborating with supervisors, I worked to identify what content mattered most and what readers needed to see first. I designed custom email templates within Mailchimp, primarily using their block editor but incorporating custom HTML to expand its capabilities.
One of the bigger challenges was working with the client to keep messaging concise. They often wrote lengthy intros that buried key information, so I had to diplomatically edit content to prioritize what was most valuable to readers. The results spoke for themselves: our mailing list grew from 2,000 to 6,000 subscribers, open rates jumped from an average of 40% to a consistent 60%, and interaction rates grew from 5% to 15%. These campaigns not only looked better—they performed better too.
