PREVIOUS ARTICLE
Hello! We are so excited to show you Cup of Jo’s redesign, and I really hope you like it. Here’s the before-and-after…
The first step: Last summer, I was finally able to buy cupofjo.com. A guy from Texas had been sitting on it, waiting for me to buy it, and, after years of negotiating, we finally agreed on a price. I was thrilled.
We worked with Spencer and Liza from the design firm Apartment One to give the site a fresh look, and our genius web developer Zoe Rooney made the magic happen.
Our goals were to make the site feel warm and welcoming, but also cleaner and more modern…
HEADER BEFORE:
HEADER AFTER:
If you look closely, you’ll see that the “O” in “A CUP OF JO” changes depending on which category you’re in.
We also wanted to showcase the archives, since some evergreen posts — say, having a boy or a messy side ponytail — were getting buried deep in the site, and we didn’t want them to get lost forever.
Now if you click on the top categories — fashion, design, etc. — you’ll be taken to a grid of all the past posts. Feel free to click around and check it out, if you’re in the mood!
(We’re working hard on fixing old photos and code, so please forgive us if you see some wonky stuff this week.)
Here are a few shots at the design studio, Apartment One. They would serve banana bread at every meeting.
They actually cut out the paper “O” in “A CUP OF JO” to photograph the blog header.
Nala the Frenchie is their unofficial mascot.
She came to every meeting.
So much analysis went into every tiny decision. I have renewed respect for anyone who has ever done a redesign. It’s no joke.
Huge thanks to Apartment One and Zoe Rooney, as well as to Caroline and Lexi (a new Cup of Jo editor, who we’ll introduce you to later this week).
Looking ahead, we’re excited to launch new series about career, fashion and relationships, as well as a third installment of Motherhood Around the World. As always, I love love love your comments and feel so grateful to be able to have conversations with such awesome women. Thank you so much for reading, and let us know what you think. xoxo
(Photos by Christine Han for Cup of Jo)
P.S. We’re launching a weekly newsletter soon, so please feel free to sign up, if you’d like…
