Meet Toi Sweeney
Toi Sweeney is an award-winning fashion stylist, brand image strategist, speaker, entrepreneur, certified Fascination Advantage™ coach, and the author of Secrets of a Well Dressed Brand. She founded her own design firm, managed the image of almost 30 TV personalities at the leading home shopping network — QVC — and much, much more. Toi’s passion and talent has earned her a variety of honors and accomplishments. Presented with a prestigious Telly Award and featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Main Line Today, and other mediums, she lends her style expertise and innovative approach to video production, web commercials, and print pieces.
Toi gives so much value to her audience, using her background to tell original stories through fashion. You may have already been inspired by one of her Key Note presentations, like her Key Note at Rise LA with Rachel Hollis. Or you may have already listened to one of her many podcast interviews — from Rachel Hollis’s podcast to being interviewed by Donald Miller of StoryBrand, Amber Hurdle, Ryan Rhoten, Christy Wright’s Business Boutique podcast and more. You can access her latest expertise in the magazine, Where Women Work Create, or through her new virtual show Well Dressed Brand TV.
I was honored and excited to work with Toi Sweeney because I knew I was going to naturally learn so much from her. I’m so grateful that she trusted me with her new website project.
The Website Building Process
A website building process is very similar to building a house. My Amish-Mennonite dad was a contractor throughout my life, so I grew up around his hand-drawn blueprints. I watched and even helped him work on houses, observing how the process developed from the structural elements of the foundation and 2x4 studded walls to the finishing touches of drywall ceiling textures and external protection.
Without understanding the needs of a website, you cannot build an effective website. An effective website is much more than a pretty online brochure — it is an outline platform that must seamlessly serve the needs of the users who visit it. That’s why I begin each new website project with a thorough discovery session to learn the needs of the project I’ve been hired to work on.
Once I have a clear understanding of a website project, I use various wireframing practices to map out the homepage flow, as well as it’s subsequent pages. This acts as a blueprint for the website building process. Each page of a website is like a separate room of a house, with each link acting as a doorway. There must be a clear understanding of the function of each page on a website, otherwise, people will feel confused. No one should feel confused or lost when they visit a website.
The website building process is more flexible than building a house. It’s a creative discovery process in itself. I re-worked the features for Toi’s website a couple of times during the process of the website build as I tried a few different ways to best showcase her extensive portfolio of work and create seamless access to her services. The design of the website was inspired by combining the elements of print and couture design. Working with Toi on her project reminded me of all the reasons that I fell in love with user experience design in the first place!
Toi Sweeney is such a joy to work with. She communicated professionally and clearly, making it easy for me to understand what she needed. Building a successful website is always a combined effort between the client and myself. Toi always responded quickly to provide the content that was needed for her project.
Together, we were able to keep the project moving along in a timely manner and finished it by the deadline! That doesn’t always happen, but that’s always the goal. It was such a great feeling to get Toi’s new website launched!
The Result
Updated homepage and subpages on a new website platform with a simplified user experience.
Clean mockups to showcase Toi’s services and her eBook, Secrets of a Well Dressed Brand.
I also created an edited highlight reel from Toi’s Key Note at Rise LA
“If you look up the world outstanding in the dictionary I’m pretty sure Meg’s picture would be there. I recently hired Meg to design my website. I have very high standards and expect a lot from myself and others. Meg is exceptional! Not only did Meg deliver on her promises but she met the completion deadline. Meg is creative and truly understands branding, marketing, and designs. She is the real deal. Meg is well-traveled and pulls from various parts of the world in every aspect of design, marketing, and content creations. Meg is a true talent! She has a way that completely puts you at ease. I love my website. Meg is brilliant!”
