Joan Pinto Ceramics
Website Migration & E-Commerce Redesign
Migrated and rebuilt Joan Pinto's ceramic art website from Wix to Squarespace. Joan creates handbuilt ceramics, including botanical studies, textured vessels, and sculptural wall pieces. The redesign introduced a gallery-like browsing experience with proper shop organization across five product categories, full SEO optimization, and a backend structure Joan could manage independently.
Visit Live Site
The Challenge
Joan's existing Wix site was outgrowing her practice. Adding new products was cumbersome, the shop lacked proper categorization, and the site's generic template didn't reflect the intentional, handmade quality of her ceramics. She needed a platform she could manage herself without sacrificing design quality.
Research & Discovery
Audited Joan's Wix site and cataloged every page, product, and content block to ensure nothing was lost in migration
Joan described her ideal browsing experience as 'walking through a quiet gallery,' and that became the design north star for spacing, pacing, and visual hierarchy
Talked to several of her collectors who said they often revisited the site to check for new pieces, so the new layout prioritized 'what's new' visibility
Design Strategy
Joan's website serves a specific audience: collectors and gallery visitors who already appreciate handmade ceramics. The design strategy prioritized artistic integrity over commercial pressure: no popups, no urgency tactics, no aggressive CTAs. The calm, gallery-like experience reflects the values of both the artist and her audience.
Design Decisions
Preserved the original site's brand feel during migration rather than starting fresh because continuity mattered more than novelty for her existing collector audience
Chose photography-led design over decorative elements because Joan's natural light imagery was strong enough to carry the aesthetic without embellishment
Simplified navigation to four core sections rather than exposing every category in the menu, reducing cognitive load for first-time visitors
Configured sold-out states to keep items visible rather than hiding them because collectors want to see the full range even when pieces are unavailable
Results & Impact
- Seamless migration with zero content loss, with fonts, layout patterns, and brand voice preserved
- Organized product catalog enabling collectors to browse by category for the first time
- Clean, readable URLs and complete SEO metadata improving search discoverability
- Self-manageable backend allowing Joan to add products and update content without developer help
Tools & Platform
Deliverables
Wix to Squarespace Migration
Website Redesign & Build
Shop Organization & Product Setup
SEO Optimization