Rebrand, rethink, reinvigorate

Digital creative direction

Client case study: Mine & Farm Inn

Mine + Farm is a tranquil inn oasis in Geurneville, California. They wanted to refresh their website to reflect their design-forward, cool, and modern BNB vibe. So we got to work >>

Photo credit Caitlin Beyer

Step 1: Intake

In any rebrand or creative overhaul, it’s important to start with the hopes and dreams of the client, and get a holistic picture of the current state of the brand. In an energetic 1-hour call, I asked Mine+Farm’s creative owners a series of creatively inspiring questions, like:

  • How do you want people to feel when interacting with your brand, whether online or on the property?

  • Which brands are you absolutely obsessed with right now? Why?

  • What is the ultimate vision for your business in 3, 5, 10 years?

  • Describe your ideal clientele - is it different or the same to who is visiting most often now?

Step 2: Holistic audit, competitive analysis

Now that I had an idea of the overall narrative we were trying to accomplish, I got deep into the weeds. During a deep holistic audit of the branding and UX/UI of the Inn’s current site, I documented elements like image style, brand colors, content flow, total page count, ease of site navigation, copy tone and voice, SEO rankings and key performing phrases, and more.

Next was competitive landscape: what were other hotels, inns, and BNBs in the area doing? What was Mine+Farm’s competitive, differentiated edge? How might we create a site that is a slam-dunk visual representation of this coolmaker oasis in the redwoods?

The pitch:

Mine+Farm is not your grandma’s BNB. It’s a dappled, sunlit oasis with cool-kid energy, design-forward decor, and a creatively inviting energy. Whether you’re interacting with their website, marketing emails, social media, or actively strolling the grounds - you should feel that!

I pitched Mine+Farm a modern, photo and illustration-forward visual design for their website and resulting brand collateral. We’d do a photoshoot to update and modernize their images of the rooms and grounds, engage an illustrator to add rustic “field guide” visual elements to the site flow, and pull on industry-standard UX/UI principles to drive higher conversion: 3 clicks to booking, or less.

The result: live, and gorgeous!

The team:

As Creative Director and project manager for Mine+Farm’s digital refresh, I was responsible for coordinating with a contract programmer, illustrator, photography team, and the client to get this project built, shot, QA’d and out into the world! I personally developed all copy, wire frames, content strategy, and project timelines.

What the client had to say:

“Highly Recommended! Melody has been a great partner for all the work she’s delivered for our hospitality product—overall website and content strategy, copywriting, and creative guidance and execution. A great problem solver that's easy and fun to work with, delivers on-time, offers competitive pricing, and can run point for multi-faceted projects that require additional support.”

Suzanne Szostak, owner Mine+Farm Inn