SpaceCraft

Led more than 225 custom-designed websites on our platform as creative director.  

The Challenge

SpaceCraft was started with the simple idea to help customers build beautifully effective websites using a simple and intuitive design and content management system. As part of their differentiating value proposition, SpaceCraft believed that offering custom website design services would attract their target customer and provide an affordable way to get them an online presence and manage their site affordably in the future. 

I was hired as the first Creative Director to build and led the custom services department and act as a liaison between the product, sales, and design teams.             

The Process

Over the course of my tenure I hired and led a fully functioning design department including five full-time designers, a dedicated front-end developer, a project manager, an account manager, and multiple paid interns. Their success was predicated on the process and workflow I crafted in collaboration with our sales department who required a crash course on the time, requirements, and accurate costs of launching a well-designed website. 

We worked with clients including: Four Hands Home, Mellow Johnny's, Austin B-cycle, Rallyhood, The Odd Duck, RSk Jewelry, Network Funding, Tot Squad, and the majority of Austin's favorite restaurants and bars.      

Additionally, in order to continue to attract self-service customers to the platform, the design team created 21 website templates in less than a year.  

I worked directly with the product team for more than a year on the newest release of the SpaceCraft software platform. Designing websites in the tool and managing clients' (end users) needs daily put me in a unique position to expertly consult with the product team on overhauling the new features and enhancements as well as improving the UX design of the platform. The results have astronomically improved the usability of the platform and have allowed for impressive and fully responsive websites to be designed and built in a short period of time, with no code knowledge required.

Delivery & Results

As Creative Director, I was able to deliver on the major goals that were impressed on me when I took on the role. I formalized a sales to design workflow that allowed my team to successfully manage and balance 120 active web design projects and successfully launch more than 225 websites. We were able to create enormous efficiencies in our design process by creating 21 web templates that acted as starting points for a large number of custom design projects. And through this work, I was able to create, prioritize, and manage a product backlog that ultimately lead to the creation and launch of the new SpaceCraft platform.  

Product co-design by Phil Coffman.