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14TNR
Nov 14, 2024 - Feb 7, 2025
When Detroit poet and storyteller Daniel Holland approached me, he didn’t just need "a website." He handed over a 20‑page Word document containing every line of copy and a rigid three‑page outline (Home, Shop, Order Form). His brief: “Make the live site look exactly like this document — and make it sell.”
That meant translating a manuscript into a fully shoppable Wix experience without sacrificing his meticulous layout, Times New Roman typography, or the intimacy of his handwritten journals. My mission was to respect the author’s blueprint and layer in rock‑solid e‑commerce, mobile responsiveness, and accessibility.
The Project's Goals
Replica accuracy: Match the visual order and typographic rhythm of Daniel’s supplied PDF, page‑for‑page.
Seamless e‑commerce: Enable instant PDF delivery, free catalog downloads, and “pay‑in‑4” options without confusing readers.
Mobile usability: Resolve a hero‑section stacking bug that broke on small screens while preserving the precise desktop layout Daniel requested.
Creative respect: Balance my design best‑practices with the artist’s non‑negotiable vision and handle late‑stage scope changes with diplomacy.
Why these goals mattered: Daniel wasn’t just selling books; he was inviting readers into the experience of leafing through his handwritten journals. That meant every margin, heading, and line break had to land exactly where it was in his manuscript while functioning as a modern online storefront. Reconciling those two realities drove the entire build: we engineered custom page‑flow so users feel like they’re reading his notebook, layered in automated checkout and file delivery to remove friction, and obsessed over breakpoints so the effect survives the jump from 27‑inch monitors to 5‑inch phones. In essence, the project was equal parts archival fidelity, commerce engine, and UX puzzle, solved in a way that keeps Daniel’s voice front‑and‑center.
Services Included
Content architecture & page‑flow mapping (3 pages from supplied manuscript)
Wix Studio website design & custom theme build
Digital product shop configuration (Stripe + Wix Payments)
Mobile‑first troubleshooting & QA
Developer liaison with Wix core team (3 escalations)
Accessibility & alt‑text implementation
Basic SEO set‑up (titles, descriptions, alt tags)
How It Went
Everything started in Instagram DMs. Daniel pinged me asking for a three‑page site with a shop and sent over three Word docs containing the exact copy he wanted on each page. I had just started taking artist clients and he was my third artist to work with, I was so excited to start. I normally insist on a quick design call to confirm visuals, but we kept volleying ideas by text and that was my misstep.
November 14 2024 – Contract Signed
We locked in scope and I dove straight into build mode, interpreting his copy as a springboard for a more dynamic experience. I crafted a site I loved: horizontal scrolls, subtle animations, interactive journal stacks.
“This Isn’t It.”
Cue Saturday breakfast with my partner. My phone lit up: Daniel was furious. The site looked nothing like his documents and he was ready to cancel. I asked for 48 hours to produce a pixel‑for‑pixel replica. Two coffee‑fuelled days later I delivered a stripped‑down version that honored every margin and line break. His reply: “Perfect, exactly what I pictured.”
February 7 2025 – Project Closed
We launched, permissions were handed over, and Daniel paid the final invoice the same day. Success, until a few months later.
The Mobile Ghost Bug
Daniel noticed on his uniquely‑sized Android that the home‑page photo overlapped the intro text. On my iPhone everything looked fine. I escalated to three different Wix developers and huddled with friends who code. After nearly a month of trial‑and‑error, the breakthrough was beautifully simple: I cut the hero image into its own tiny section, detached it from the text stack, and set device‑specific positions. Problem solved across every test phone we could find.
Lesson Learned
Schedule the discovery call. Always. Getting eyes on a client’s visual expectations upfront would have saved us both stress. And when mobile gremlins appear, isolating elements often beats over‑engineering.