Welcome to the New feastandwest.com!

Feast + West has a fresh look! Look at what’s new and learn how my new site can help you find new and old favorite recipes easier.

Hey friends! My new website has been live for a month or so, and I’ve been loving it so much, I realized forgot to write up a post about it to mark this milestone!

For months, I’ve been working with Madison of Grace + Vine Studios to plan and execute this redesign. Her team is super knowledgeable and I trusted them wholeheartedly.

I’ve actually known Madison for years through her blog, A Joyfully Mad Kitchen, and she is a good friend. She even came to my wedding! It was super fun to work together for a change.

As a freelance graphic designer for my day job, I don’t often work with other designers on my Feast + West brand because I typically do it all myself. Madison and I collaborated in a fun way that highlighted our areas of expertise: I designed my new logo and icons, and she did the heavy lifting with the website design itself.

I haven’t redesigned my site since 2016, so I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to have a new look that’s more organized and in line with the cocktail content I create!

Here’s a little about what’s new around here:

The new logo I designed is a more modern approach than the one I’ve used for years. I got rid of the script font in favor of a serif font with lots of flourishes.

The script font was long a key part of my brand. Here’s the redesign I did in 2016:

feast + west 2016 logo

For funsies, here’s my very first logo from 2014. You can see I didn’t change it very much from 2014 to now! I only adjusted the color palette.

2014 feast and west logo

Madison and I worked together on a new color palette that incorporated some of the old brand while making things new and fresh.

Here’s the color palette she pulled together:

mood board depicting new colors of light blue, green, orange and black for feast + west

Focus on cocktails

If you’ve been here a while, you might remember I used to write more about design and travel — in other words, I shared lots more non-drink content once upon a time.

But the drinks are what you love! My analytics show it time and time again, so I decided to narrow in on the thing I know best — cocktails!

Now you’ll be seeing a much bigger focus on cocktails from me, with the occasional bar snack, appetizer or dessert in the mix. (All the other stuff is still there though! Just hit the search button.)

the feast + west homepage on a mobile phone

Easier navigation

The site should now be much easier to navigate when you’re looking for a cocktail recipe.

For starters, I reorganized the categories. (If you’re a food blogger, Madison has a great podcast episode about the category reorganization process that was super helpful for me!)

On the homepage, you’ll spot my latest cocktail creations right at the top, followed by seasonal cocktails, popular posts and cocktail resources that are focused on helping you behind the bar.

There are also more opportunities to sign up for cocktail mail, my weekly newsletter where I send out cocktail ideas for the weekend.

You should also find that the menus at the top are much simpler, which makes it easier to find what you’re looking for. The search bar is always within reach, too.

On mobile, to find the menu, just tap the three lines in the top left. To search, click the magnifying glass in the top right.

And if you hop over to the recipe index, you can now find recipes sorted by spirit, cocktail type and occasion:

it’s all in the details

If you’re wondering about the cute little icons? I made those! I actually made them years ago for another F+W project.

Madison encouraged me to pull them back out and give them a fresh look, then she incorporated them throughout my site. They’re one of my favorite details of the new design!

One of my other favorite parts of the new design is the pale grey background on my blog posts.

On my old design, they blended in to the white background, which I hated. The grey background was Madison’s idea to help my bright white photos pop! See?

a grapefruit moscow mule in a glass and copper mug

(That’s a grapefruit Moscow mule by the way.)

Madison also shared a write-up about the Feast + West website launch which is worth checking out to learn more about her process! Food bloggers: She’s got a waitlist for new website designs which I highly recommend joining ASAP.

So anyway, that’s what’s new around here! Overall, I hope the new design is helpful for you in finding what you are looking for. // susannah

P.S. I know I’ve been loving the new design, but I would love to know what you think. Tell me in the comments or send me an email to susannah (at) feastandwest (dot) com.

P.P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for cocktail mail! I am sending out cocktail ideas every Friday.

decorative icon of a beer stein.

The Golden Ratio Guide:

Mix the perfect cocktail, every time

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