All in one kete

Client: The Coalition for Books

We often take on projects to help advance the wider creative industry we are part of. In return, we use the opportunity to express our creativity, to learn and to grow.

Developing the Kete website, social presence and launch campaign is one such example that delivers on all fronts.

The Brief

With funding from Creative NZ, Coalition for Books approached us to develop an exciting space to celebrate and promote the books, and book-related activity, of Aotearoa NZ. The book sector was severely impacted by COVID, following a long period of declining places for books to be reviewed and promoted.

The Solution

The Kete website was conceived as a vital hub in helping authors, publishers and booksellers to regain visibility and to celebrate the diversity and quality of local books. More importantly, it’s a place for readers to find to new books, reviews, events, booksellers, awards and more. Independent, and regular, book reviews are the heart of this website’s architecture, and finding something that suits your interests is the core user journey the site promotes.

The home page is a dynamic window showcasing, and providing access to, the wealth of content the site holds. The modern long page scroll approach to this page keeps everything on the site within two-clicks.

With the volume of content expected, a lot of emphasis was placed on the user experience. Taking inspiration from the like of iTunes, Netflix and others, a series of content carousels allow readers to browse and explore a wide selection of options. Book covers and other graphics make this a visual, uncluttered and stimulating journey. Written content is kept to a minimum on higher level pages, offering just enough to tease readers to click to the next level.

The design aesthetic has a creative sophistication. To reflect the diverse and widespread audience of readers, we didn’t want the site to be fringe, inaccessible or elitist. It feels very NZ in its colouring and tone, incorporating both Te Reo Maori and Pacifica flavours in its design. The book covers add an extra layer of colour and energy. The client described it best, as feeling like a “very cool kiwi designer store.”

Kete is built in SquareSpace, a platform we had limited previous exposure to. This was a project that saw us induct more members of the team to this CMS while allowing us to explore the adaptability to creative ideas the latest version of the platform really is.

Along with building the site, we developed assets for Kete’s Facebook and Instagram pages. The next step was to use these mediums to drive readers to the website. The campaign associated our key messages with great Kiwi reads, while also emphasising the relaxing pleasure of reading. The social campaign was reinforced by an eDM to the databases of many organisations associated with Coalition for Books.