Some businesses are so good at what they do that word of mouth carries them for years. The downside is that “word of mouth” doesn’t have a homepage. This was exactly the situation here: a beautiful salon with a loyal clientele, serious talent behind the chairs, and a web presence that was, let’s say, not quite keeping pace.

I found them the old-fashioned way, driving past their storefront on my daily commute often enough that curiosity finally won. One visit in, I was a client. A few appointments later, the conversation turned to what I did for a living, and I liked what I saw enough to make a promise: let me see what I can do.

The budget conversation is always an interesting one with small businesses. The vision can be hard to sell in the abstract, so I roughed out the design on spec. Sometimes you have to show the movie before someone will buy a ticket. Dianna came on board.

The design goal was simple: build a clean container and get out of the way. Their work is vivid and personal, and a good website for a salon should feel like walking in the front door. We integrated online booking, built out carousels pulling in her verified Google reviews, and filled the space with imagery of the salon environment that actually felt alive.

The finishing touch was a full-day portrait shoot of the stylists, which did two things: gave the site a consistent, professional look and established a visual template they could build on as the team grows. A good salon is always evolving. The site should be able to do the same.

Concept, Creative Direction, Portrait Photography, and Programming by Bernie Combs.