Paris as a Parisienne: Lifestyle Blog Website Design

The project

Julie, the founder of "A Parisienne Life," approached me to design a custom Squarespace website that encapsulates the essence of Parisian life. Already enjoying a significant Instagram following, she wanted a one-page website, a blog, and an online store to share her experiences with French culture and sell digital products. Her vision included a blog for sharing her experiences and tips, and a store offering a travel guide filled with insider knowledge. As a native French, this project was particularly inspiring for me, allowing me to reflect my own culture in the website's design and functionality. We included custom design elements inspired by the French lifestyle, crafting a unique space for Julie to share her love for all things Parisian.

The Squarespace website design process

During our strategy call, we discussed her brand, goals, inspirations, and I provided recommendations on writing copy and reviewing SEO best practices. We focused on enhancing the overall user experience by preparing a clear, intuitive navigation system and straightforward calls-to-action, ensuring visitors could easily find all the information they were searching for.

Julie had a logo and a typography system ready for her website. Our collaboration began with developing a color palette to complement her brand. Over the course of one week, I designed and developed a custom Squarespace website for Julie, starting with the creation of the homepage wireframe. The design features a custom header navigation with anchor links for easy access to different areas of the website and graphic elements that encapsulate French culture. We also prioritized developing a strategic blog by planning categories in advance, which would help her organize her blog from the start. I designed three blog post templates for her future use. I also designed and setup her Squarespace online store to start selling digital Paris guides.

At the end of the design build, I provided Julie with a video recording and a PDF of the custom-coded elements, enabling her to update her website independently with ease.

The outcome of our web design collaboration is a French-style travel blog website that clearly reflects Julie's personality and accurately represents the atmosphere of Paris and French culture. The new website effectively captures the essence of Parisian life, providing a seamless and engaging experience for her readers and customers.