Lineage Designs
Lineage Designs is a company run by a jewelry designer and silversmith, Josef Reiter, who has been creating pieces reflecting his Native American background for nearly 40 years. While I was with Blinc Publishing we worked with Josef worked to create a brand and graphic identity for Lineage to use on print pieces, signage and a website.
Since launching the Lineage site I worked with Josef as a freelancer to add new products, make content available to his social media feeds and maintain the site's content as his business evolved.
In 2020 I redesigned the site to improve the site's performance on mobile devices.
Responsibilities
- Create information design and site architecture.
- Design navigation scheme.
- Create visual design based the Blinc-created graphic identity.
- Manage project deadlines and deliverables.
- Create written content.
- Link products into PayPal purchasing functionality.
- Build site in HTML/CSS.
- Secure web services and deploy site on new infrastructure.
- Redesign site to make it responsive.
Considerations
When Josef engaged Blinc to create his brand and identity, the vast majority of his sales came from appearances he made at pow-wows, art fairs and other in-person events. We created his website to help extend his reach and allow customers to buy his pieces online. We chose to use PayPal as the site's e-commerce platform because Josef is a regular PayPal customer and is very comfortable with the system's functionality. This allowed him to track orders and easily fulfill them on his own.
Over time Lineage developed the wholesale aspect of his business, selling his pieces to museums, galleries and gift shops in addition the in-person sales he made at events. Josef used his site as a catalog his wholesale customers could use to see his latest creations and identify products they wanted to order. Because those customer are not always technically adept, Josef handles those orders offline.
Josef was and early-adopter and remains an avid user of social media. I worked with him to understand how to use his social media presence to showcase his work and helped him figure out a comfortable way for him to use his social media to direct potential customers to his website to make purchases.
