Project spotlight: willrdean.com
It’s been a while since I shared one of my web design projects with you – so today I’m really happy to be taking a more in-depth look at one of my first projects of 2025: a website for award-winning author and forest dweller, Will Dean.
The Brief
I’m not sure Will Dean needs much introduction - but for those of you who are not familiar, Will is the author of the hugely popular Tuva Moodyson series, as well as four standalone novels (including epic-cruise-ship-thriller The Last Passenger, which literally blew my mind 😆).
He also lives in the middle of the forest in Sweden and has a very large St Bernard dog!
And… he has the best author photos I have ever had the pleasure of working with.
So it was a real joy to work on Will’s site. He’d never had a website before so we were starting from scratch, and we decided to make his photos the main source of inspiration.
Will is known for being ‘the forest author’ so we wanted to make sure that that side of his brand was the focus on the website. He’s also written a lot of books, and the covers are all quite different, so it made sense to bring cohesion to the site through the images of his writing cabin, as well as the amazing setting within which he writes, rather than pulling out one of these.
Finally, Will also has incredible quotes about his books from some literary heavyweights so we chose to lead with these, rather than the book covers.
I’m aware that this isn’t my usual advice - book covers are such an important marketing asset, especially when you are starting out that it makes sense to make them front and centre - but Will is an established author with a really strong brand so we were able to bend the rules a little!
Will knew he wanted to keep the colour scheme very neutral, so I went with monochrome, which worked well to keep things simple and draw the eye to his photos as well as the quotes.
Fonts-wise, I also kept things unobtrusive. Finally, to bring the website to life, I used a few loading animations as well as a parallax effect on the banner images, to add movement and interest.
I was really pleased with the final website - it’s quite different from my more colourful projects, but I love the simplicity and atmosphere of what we created.
It also epitomises my favourite advice on author website: less is more!
Scroll down to see more of Will’s website, and find out what Will thought about our project together.
Will’s Verdict
“I’m so pleased with the website. It’s stunning! I absolutely love the design. Thank you so much for all your hard work. I will be recommending you to everyone.”
— WILL DEAN, AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF 10 NOVELS
Yes, I really did build this website in just one day!
Want me to build you a website?
My streamlined yet personal approach, perfected over the past 6 years of building websites for ambitious authors just like you, means I can create your dream author website without overwhelming you with tech jargon or confusing decisions, supporting you throughout the whole process and gently guiding you with my expertise.
Find out more, then get in touch. I would love to hear from you!
