CASE STUDY:
MATRYOSHKA’S BAKERY

Logo for Matryoshka's Bakery featuring a Russian matryoshka doll inside a round badge with purple and blue accents and a purple ribbon banner reading 'Matryoshka's Bakery'.

Project Description

Rebrand and functional overhaul of an upscale bakery site. We rebranded and rebuilt this site from the bottom up, upgrading it to Squarespace 7.1 in the process. We maintained the “whimsical” style and feel of the site, while making it much more functional, and expanding on her visual style.

Stack of pink and yellow macarons with chocolate filling on a white cake stand, pink and red ranunculus flowers in pink vases with gold accents in the background.

About the company:

Matryoshka's Bakery is a home-based bakery owned and operated by Maryam Counter in Saint George, VT. She Specializes in French macarons, specialty cakes and cupcakes, Maryam always sources fresh ingredients and as many local and seasonal products as possible. Maryam offers subscription services online, as well as catering for events and wholesale to local restaurants.

A multi-layered cake topped with macarons, flowers, and berries, displayed on an ornate cake stand, with macarons in pastel colors on either side, decorated with flowers and greenery in front.

The problem:

Maryam had a very cute site with lots of custom graphic elements. Visually, it was very on-brand and she was very happy with it. But, it was completely unusable. The fancy script fonts made it nearly impossible to read, the buttons were little cartoons that looked very cute, but site visitors couldn’t tell what they were clicking on. The ordering process was complicated and frustrating.

The solution:

Our goal was to maintain and enhance the “whimsical” visual style of Maryam’s previous site, while injecting a large dose of user experience and flow. We started by identifying the purpose of the website: to help customers buy macarons from Maryam, clarifying the products she had to offer and simplifying the buying process from start to finish. We put a clear call to action right at the top, “Shop”, and built a shop section into her homepage so that site visitors could see her products and buy them right from the first page.

Flowchart illustrating different customer pathways for online shopping or event planning, including options for new customers, shop owners, and wedding planners, with corresponding actions and inquiry forms.

USER FLOW: 3 TARGET AUDIENCES

LOGO

Logo for Matryoshka's Bakery with a purple ribbon banner and an illustration of a girl in traditional Russian dress holding a cookie.

BROWSER ICON

CUSTOM GRAPHICS

A colorful illustration of a matryoshka doll with a pink headscarf, a smiling face, and a heart on the body.
A cartoon illustration of a birthday cake with light pink icing, a greenish-teal top layer, and a pink flame candle on top.
Pink macaron with cream filling
A cartoon illustration of a slice of layered cake with pink frosting and purple outline.
Typography sample sheet with different fonts and texts, including cursive, sans-serif, and placeholder text.

TYPOGRAPHY

COLOR PALETTE

Four colored circles in a row, each with a hex color code underneath. Pink, mint green, purple, dark gray.

MOODBOARD

Brand mood board showing brand colors and various images of colorful macarons, cookies with floral and decorative icing, a woman holding a box of macarons, and a woman in a yellow shirt and apron smiling.