Ashley Meghan
From Generic Template to Brand-True Website — A Figma-First Squarespace Redesign
Industry
Personal Brand & Service Business
Project Type
Brand-Driven Website Redesign
Platform
Squarespace (existing, retained by client)
Process
Figma Mockup → Squarespace Implementation
Collaboration
Stealth Digital + Branding & Logo Designer
Website
ashleymeghan.ca
The "Before": A Professional Without a Website That Matched Her
Ashley Bilodeau had been running her business under the Ashley Meghan brand for some time. She had a Squarespace website — functional, presentable, but built on a stock template that wasn't doing her justice. It looked like hundreds of other sites. It didn't communicate her voice, her aesthetic, or the specific value she brings to her clients.
She knew it was time for a change. The goal wasn't a full platform migration or an overhaul of how she ran her business online. She liked Squarespace: it was easy for her to update and maintain on her own, and that mattered. What she needed was a site that actually reflected the quality of work she was doing for her clients.
The Core Problem
A template website, no matter how clean, signals to visitors that brand identity wasn't a priority. For a service business where trust, personality, and first impressions drive decisions, that gap between the quality of the work and the quality of the website's presentation is a real cost. Ashley had the brand — she just needed it expressed properly online.
The Process — Branding First, Then Build
Before a single pixel was moved on the website, we made sure the brand foundation was solid. That meant starting with the right collaborators, not just jumping into design.
1. Branding & Logo — The Right Starting Point
My first recommendation to Ashley was to invest in proper branding before touching the website. A redesign built on a shaky brand foundation just creates a prettier version of the same problem.
I referred her to a branding and logo designer I trust. The two of them worked through the full brand development process: logo design, typography, colour palette, visual language, and a set of brand guidelines that would become the source of truth for everything that followed.
Why This Step Matters
A logo file and a colour hex code aren't brand guidelines. Ashley and her designer produced a proper reference document covering usage rules, type hierarchy, spacing, and tone, so that when those guidelines came to me, I had everything needed to make consistent, intentional design decisions across every page of the site.
2. Figma Mockup — Design Before Development
With the brand guidelines in hand, I designed the full website in Figma before writing a single line of code or touching the existing Squarespace site. This is a step most Squarespace designers skip, and it's the step that makes the biggest difference.
Design With Intention, Not Improvisation
Working in Figma first means every layout decision, spacing choice, colour application, and typographic pairing is made deliberately, with the brand guidelines open, in a controlled environment, before any of those decisions get baked into a live site. The design gets resolved properly before implementation begins, rather than improvised inside the CMS.
The Figma mockup covered the full site: homepage, service pages, about, and contact. Every section was designed to apply the new brand identity in a way that was both visually strong and practical to implement within Squarespace's constraints.
3. Squarespace Implementation — Precision Build
With the design resolved in Figma, the implementation phase was focused and efficient. The existing Squarespace site was rebuilt to match the mockup as closely as the platform allows, using a combination of native Squarespace tools, custom CSS, and careful typography and layout configuration.
Platform Decision: Squarespace
Ashley specifically wanted to stay on Squarespace, and that was the right call for her situation. She's comfortable with the CMS, can update content and images herself without calling a developer, and doesn't need a custom backend. The platform constraint was real, but working within it intentionally produces a far better result than fighting it.
Consumer-First Review
Throughout the build, I reviewed the site from Ashley's clients' perspective, not just as a designer checking off a list. Where navigation felt unclear, where copy wasn't pulling its weight, where a section needed a stronger visual anchor — those observations became recommendations. The goal was a site that doesn't just look right, but works right.
Updates and refinements were turned around quickly throughout the process. Ashley noted the responsiveness specifically: feedback went in, changes came back, and the quality didn't slip in the interest of speed.
The Result: A Website That Matches the Quality of the Work Behind It
The finished site is a direct expression of Ashley's brand. The visual identity that the branding designer developed is fully realized online, consistently applied across every page, every section, every detail.
Brand Alignment
The new site is immediately recognizable as Ashley Meghan. Not a template. The logo, typography, colour palette, and visual language from the brand guidelines are applied with consistency and intent, creating a cohesive experience from the first scroll to the last.
Elevated Presentation
The strategic design decisions (layout, spacing, hierarchy, visual accents) give the site a polished, professional presence that finally matches the calibre of work Ashley was already delivering. The gap between the quality of the business and the quality of the website is closed.
Client Autonomy
Because the rebuild stayed on Squarespace, Ashley retains full control over her own website. She can update content, swap images, add new pages, and manage her site on her own schedule, without a developer on standby.
Consumer Perspective
Every section was reviewed through the eyes of Ashley's clients, not just a designer's checklist. The result is a site that doesn't just look right on first glance. It guides visitors clearly, builds trust progressively, and makes it easy to take the next step.
In Ashley's Words
"Working with Wes was an outstanding experience from start to finish. He took the time to really understand my vision, mandate, and branding, and translated that into a website update that feels completely aligned with my business."
— Ashley Bilodeau
Ashley Meghan
Why This Approach Works
1. Brand First, Always
Recommending a branding designer before starting the website wasn't a delay. It was the most important thing I could do for Ashley's outcome. A website is a container. What fills it has to be intentional and specific to the business. Starting with proper brand guidelines meant the design decisions had a foundation, not just aesthetic preferences.
2. Figma Before Squarespace
Designing in Figma before implementation gives clients a complete, realistic preview of the finished website, and gives me the space to get the design right without the constraints of the CMS getting in the way. The build phase becomes translation, not design-on-the-fly.
3. Respecting the Client's Choice of Platform
The right platform isn't always the one with the most features. It's the one the client will actually use. Ashley made a practical, informed decision to stay on Squarespace. Working within that constraint with craft and intention produces a far better outcome than pushing a client onto a platform that doesn't fit how they work.
4. Collaboration Over Handoff
This project worked because of genuine collaboration between Ashley, the branding designer, and me. Each party brought their expertise, the handoffs were clean, and the result is a site none of us could have produced working alone. That's the model.
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