Web Design Project for a Boutique Hotel | Seagull Bay Motel

The Client

When Mollie Carrier, co-owner of Seagull Bay Motel located in Bayfield, WI, asked me collaborate on her web design project, I was stoked.

I had worked with Mollie on another business she and her husband had started and they are truly dream clients. 

Plus, I knew they were working with thousands of professional brand photographs of their motel, had outsourced their copywriting to Jillian Cadotte — an expert copywriter and Bayfield local — and none other than Jen Olmstead rebranded the hotel when the Carriers bought it in 2016.

This web design project was going to be a blast.

The web design project

The old version of Seagull Bay Motel’s website was created on Wix and featured a scrolling gallery, minimal copy, and a welcome video. It was difficult to update, missed the vision Mollie wanted for the design, and overall felt like a disconnected experience from the thoughtful, bright, modern renovations that the Carriers had completed at Seagull Bay. The goal was to create a clean modern website to act as Seagull Bay’s digital lobby and concierge and showcase the beautiful, new, SEO-optimized copy that Jillian had written for the site. 

Deliverables:

• Custom Web Design on Showit
• Integration with Booking Software
• Opt-in for Seasonal Bayfield Guide download.
• Blog design and migration from Wix

The web design direction: 

“Your memories with a view” is the slogan for SBM. The new brand identity captured the vision of the modern motel renovations, and the colors evoke the calm, relaxed, slow pace of the lakeside town of Bayfield. The design for the website layout had to reflect the same. 

Since people visit Bayfield to spend time with family, explore the Apostle Islands, enjoy the various seasonal festivals, and indulge in delicious local foods, we wanted the website to feel a little like a scrapbook, without being too busy or sacrificing accessibility or hindering the user experience.

 Creating layers and branded frames to highlight the professional photos and showcasing shots of the lodging space with photos of the view and the grounds to give a taste of what it feels like to have a room at Seagull Bay. 

I mean seriously… couldn’t you just feel the sun on your face and imagine yourself curled up with a book on that hanging porch swing? But also it’s doubtful that I’d be getting any reading done because how on earth am I going to be able to tear my eyes away from that VIEW?!

Website Navigation Design: Sticky Menu

For the home page hero section, we used a drone image that one of Seagull Bay Motel’s guests had provided. I positioned the main logo front and center with a pop-out mobile-style menu on desktop. I linked the branded seagull icon to this menu for a cute, branded click action and a break from the boring hamburger menu icon. I went with this menu so that anyone landing on the page would immediately have a navigation option without obstructing the awesome aerial shot of the motel and the hero copy Jillian had written. 

As you scroll however, I made a navigation bar stick to the top on scroll so the user would always have easy access to the site navigation to get them exactly where they need to go. 

The About Page: Capturing a Long History

Seagull Bay Motel has been around for a minute, since the 1940s when it was just a cottage… Its legacy of family ownership and operation has been consistent since it opened.

The Carriers wanted to honor that history with a dedicated section of the website for each family who kept the motel running.

Jillian’s copy collected the history, Mollie provided the photos corresponding to each time period. And I built a vertical timeline using the photos with a hover feature that reveals the text for a bit of visitor engagement and interest.

Explore Bayfield Page

The “Explore Bayfield” Page gives you a preview and inspiration for planning your trip to Bayfield, Wisconsin. Jillian provides lots of ideas and local knowledge for things to do during your stay. At the top of the page, I built a table of contents with anchor links for the reader to jump to their activity of interest without having to scroll through the whole page, though they can do that also.

Again, the idea behind this design with layered photos and frames was to create a “scrapbook” look for you to picture yourself creating memories in Bayfield. This website is loaded with wholesome activity ideas for spending time in Bayfield and even includes a PDF guide (written by Jillian, and designed by me) that you can download as an email opt-in to grow Seagull Bay’s email list.

What the client had to say

Shay took all of my messy thoughts and dreams and created something beautiful; I am so pleased with everything she did for Seagull Bay. That it turned out WAYYY better than expected. I am so thankful for how easy she made everything and how willing she was to work hard to get us to where we wanted to be.
If you’re considering working with Shay, GO FOR IT. You won’t regret it.” – Mollie Carrier

Want to check out the full website? Head to seagullbay.com

Looking for a fresh web design for your business? Reach out and start your web design project today.