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YYC Beeswax
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Lisa Graham
Queen Bee
(2)
4
Preferred learners
  • Anywhere
  • Academic experience
Categories
Computer science & IT UI design UX design Product or service launch Website development Information technology
Skills
calculators blog posts target market product lining usability testing user-centered design user experience (ux) hypertext markup language (html) javascript (programming language) cascading style sheets (css)
Project scope
What is the main goal for this project?

We are at a point of change in our business where we are looking to branch what we do into two distinct directions - a high end luxury product line and a DIY product line. These two branches have very different target markets. Our current website combines everything together and the branding doesn't suit both audiences.


Our main goal is to create separation between our high end products and DIY products under two different names - YYC Beeswax for the DIY products and The Abelo Collection for our high end products. We already own both domains and, of course, YYC Beeswax is already a fully functioning e-commerce website.


We would like to develop The Abelo Collection and revisit our design for YYC Beeswax giving it a much needed refresh. Depending on how technical you'd like to get, we have a couple of custom plugins we'd like developed that will help our customers and potential customers with their DIY projects (a wick calculator and a beeswax conversion tool).

What tasks will learners need to complete to achieve the project goal?

There are a few different steps to this project some of which must be completed in order and others that can be completed simultaneously:


Develop The Abelo Collection

  • We have some great design ideas already
  • The website is currently only a landing page
  • We are using Wordpress/Woocommerce
  • Full e-commerce capability is required
  • Integration with YYC Beeswax if possible would be nice so all the orders come to the same place (making sure receipts and communications are correctly branded). If that have to be completely separate, that's fine too
  • Possibly create a child theme and use custom css for styling as needed
  • Using user-centered design process to ensure a useful website for our target audience
  • Incorporating best practices for web design and UX design


Refresh YYC Beeswax

  • We are using Wordpress/Woocommerce
  • Usability and user testing to evaluate current website status for UX
  • Redesigning the navigation and structure as needed
  • Revamping pages as needed
  • Incorporate user-centered design process
  • Refresh the overall feel of the website so it is more modern
  • Using a child theme to edit css as needed to reflect custom styling
  • Some html/css/javascript may be used depending on the customization


Create custom Wordpress plugins

  • These plugins will be integrated into product listings and blog posts to provide support articles for crafters
  • One plugin will calculate how much wick the crafter will need for a certain number of beeswax sheets
  • One plugin will be a conversion calculator for beeswax. The calculations are already finished, so just the implementation is left
How will you support learners in completing the project?

We are a very flexible work environment, especially with the tech aspects of our business! Our founder has worked as a software developer and completed two related degrees (BSc in Software Engineering and MSc in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on UX). She also teaches courses in software development/computer science programs including UX, databases, capstone projects, and more. With this experience, she has a wealth of information to share!


We have staging environments available for YYC Beeswax for the redesign and tools available to develop The Abelo Collection. We are open to creating a project schedule that works with your method of working. If you like daily standups, we're there! If you prefer weekly checkins, that's great too! Text - fantastic! Voice - fantastic! Video - fantastic! We're open to communicating in different ways including email, Discord, etc. As a small team, we're very flexible.


We'll start the project with an overview of where we're at and what needs done. From there, we can decide together how to proceed based on your comfort and experience with the tools and technologies and which project to tackle first. Together, we'll make a plan for your block of hours. You will have access to Lisa, who will be your point of contact for the project.

About the company

YYC Beeswax is a Calgary-based company offering a range of ready-made small batch beeswax products and educational opportunities.
We exist to (re)connect people with their creativity and the beauty of nature. Growing up in rural Alberta, our founder was fortunate to live close to nature and observe the beauty of the Alberta prairies. As YYC Beeswax grows and evolves, we are getting closer and closer to balancing the availability of art in the city and the rural beauty of nature. Every product we make and each time we educate, we aim to merge these two.
YYC Beeswax offers a variety of products with one rule – every product must contain something harvested from a beehive or themed accordingly. From candles to our extremely popular lip balm and food wraps to DIY supplies, you can tell we have fun creating. In addition to offering products, we also run workshops in which we make candles and teach our participants a bit about bees.