Fish River Roasters ⎯ Growing online sales and subscriptions with a fresher brand and better ecommerce experience.
⎯ Fish River Roasters had built an enviable reputation across regional NSW, supplying the cafés locals trust for great coffee. But its online store told a different story: dated, difficult to use and unreliable.
We refreshed the brand, simplified the buying experience and moved the store to Shopify, creating a stronger direct-to-consumer business without losing sight of the cafés at the heart of the brand.
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UX Design
UI Design
Development
Brand Refresh
CLIENT
Fish River Roasters
Turning regional recognition into online growth
Fish River Roasters was well established in cafés across regional NSW. A dated digital experience did not reflect the quality of the coffee or the business behind it.
The old WordPress and WooCommerce site had become dated, unstable and difficult to use. Products were hard to explore, subscriptions were confusing and the mobile experience created unnecessary friction.
The opportunity was bigger than replacing an old website. Fish River Roasters had a strong wholesale business but a comparatively small online channel. A better ecommerce experience could help it reach customers beyond the café network, grow subscriptions and turn more first-time purchases into lasting relationships.
A platform that keeps supporting growth
The website needed to be easier to manage from day one and flexible enough to keep evolving with the business.
Moving from WordPress and WooCommerce to Shopify gave Fish River Roasters a more stable ecommerce platform and a simpler administration experience.
The team can now release products, refresh homepage creative, update merchandising and build campaign or wholesale pages without relying on developers. Since launch, Fish River Roasters has reported significant growth in online sales and subscriptions, alongside improved organic search performance.
The platform requires very little maintenance, while our ongoing relationship continues to introduce new content, features and functionality as the online business grows.
A distinctive brand, a familiar way to shop
The brand needed to feel distinctive to its regional audience, while the ecommerce experience remained clear and familiar.
We combined bold product imagery, colour and contemporary art direction with familiar ecommerce patterns. Clear categories and simple navigation make the range easy to explore, while featured products and collections give the homepage energy and keep the experience fresh.
Product pages express the character of each coffee through colour, pattern and imagery, while giving customers practical information to choose and brew it well. Brew recipes, grind guidance and provenance for micro lots sit alongside clear purchase and subscription options. The result feels distinctly Fish River Roasters while remaining intuitive, especially on mobile.
Refresh the brand, keep the character
The brand needed greater clarity and consistency, not a new personality.
Fish River Roasters already had a rich collection of colours, patterns and illustrations, but the elements competed for attention. We established a clearer hierarchy, dialling back what was less useful and giving the strongest parts of the identity more room.
A new approach to typography, colour, borders and spacing created a cleaner, more contemporary visual language while retaining a distinctly regional character. Each coffee can express its own personality through colour and pattern, while still belonging unmistakably to the same range.
The resulting guidelines make it easier to create fresh product and campaign content without reinventing the brand each time.
Userkind is a digital design agency in Sydney founded by Lucie Bertiau & Garreth Wills.
Userkind acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which our Sydney team work, the Bidjigal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal people. We recognise their continued connection to the land and waters of this beautiful place, and acknowledge that they never ceded sovereignty. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all First Nations people.
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