Mare di Carta

25 years between books and the sea

In 2022 Mare di Carta celebrated its 25th year in business and decided to revamp its brand for the occasion. The bookstore has been selling its products online for several years and boasts a catalog of well over 15,000 books.

The main issues to be solved with this project were:

• the navigation of the catalog, which was based on a mega menu consisting of about a hundred elements structured up to 5 levels deep;

• in Wordpress, the site pages had several limitations, both technical and graphical, caused by the page builder in use;

• the integration between the library's products and Wordpress was limited: filters and related products didn't work properly.

User experience

Initial efforts were focused on the ecommerce: the sitemap was streamlined and consequently the user's navigation, both within the bookstore and in the purchase process.

To make the purchase process more intuitive and smooth, I revised the checkout procedure, separating it into two steps (shipping and payment) to make it easier for the user to complete. Another feature added for the same purpose is the shopping cart, which has taken the form of a side drawer that is always accessible from every page.

Product search has become the focus of navigation and has been enhanced: with a large catalog, it is essential to be able to find specific products, such as charts and nautical instruments. In addition to searching by keywords, results can be further filtered through some versatile categories: language, publisher, location, and price.

User interface

The interface follows the style traced by the rebranding: it focuses heavily on the use of typography and is accompanied by linear graphic elements. The color palette, characterized by strong contrast and vibrant hues, guides the user in navigating to key interaction points.

Sea waves are the main graphic element of the brand: I wanted to expand this by creating small animations to bring these elements used in different forms and contexts to life.

Web development

A custom Wordpress theme was developed for the site, designed on the specific needs of the project and best optimized for its content. Particular attention was given to the accessibility of the elements that make up the interface.

One of the main challenges at the development level was the integration between the Wordpress theme and ecommerce, which is currently connected to the proprietary management system in use in the library. I developed the page templates for the ecommerce part with a view to facilitating the work for the backend developer, who subsequently integrated the site with the custom management system in use.