Pie Town Press · Site process

How I built the site

Meg’s my neighbor. I ran into her one day and she asked if I could help her get a site or a shop up. She had a general idea, so I researched her work and put a wireframe and product fields together before she came over. Getting a shop started is the daunting part. My job was to make that first step easy: show her what’s possible, then set up a system she can run herself.

Explore the shop demo See the work graph

Work graph

  1. 01 · Before the visit

    Research and wireframe

    • Art and voice

      Gallery, murals, portrait

      Meg · Art, bio, links

    • Existing site

      Pages and upkeep

      With Meg · What to keep

    • Print shop

      Catalog and checkout

      Meg · Sizes, stock, prices

    • Mail club

      Print, pack, ship

      With Meg · Contents, cost, timing

    • Business terms

      Fees and responsibilities

      Both · Scope and support

    Wireframe and fields ready

  2. 02 · At the visit

    Meg brings her booklet

    Aaron films the flip-through

  3. 03 · After the visit

    Build the demo

    • Shop

      Gallery, product fields, mail club

    • Booklet

      Argon review · Claude peel
      Flow coloring · Codex assembly

    Booklet in the shop demo

  4. ◇ Gate 01 · Meg’s review

    Confirm art, copy and offers

    • Needs changes

      Revise back to Meg

    • If approved

      Final setup Gate 02 · Checkout and shipping checks

Research and wireframe

I looked at Meg’s paintings, murals and gallery references to see what the site needed to show. I gave the artwork, print details, mail club and newsletter each a place in the wireframe.

Original desktop wireframe of Meg’s storefront
The early wireframe. Open it to see the layout that was ready for the visit.
Pie in Bloom, a painting by MegPie Pollard with a portrait and yellow flowers
Artwork research. Pie in Bloom became the lead artwork in the demo. The gallery has space for Meg to choose what she wants to offer.

The setup’s done. Meg fills in the rest.

By the time Meg came over, the site already had a shape: layout, product fields and a place for the mail club. She drops in her art and words and sees each version right away, or we change it on the spot. The choices are hers. The goal is a shop she can run in about an hour a month, not a part-time job.

Artist page
Portrait, About copy and links to her work.
Print gallery
Artwork image, title, print format, size and price.
Mail club
What’s in the packet, when it ships and how readers would sign up.

Everything shown is a placeholder from that first conversation. Sizes, prices and mailing details are still open.

What the shop looks like

First-pass shop demo with the Pie Town Press headline, Meg’s painting Pie in Bloom and the prints and mail-club buttons
The first pass. Open the demo to browse the example prints and see the booklet in the mail club.
Explore the shop demo Watch Meg flip through the booklet