After the strange occurrence of another author named Karen Abbott passing away, Abbott changed her name to Abbott Kahler. In addition to the name change, Abbott was branching out from historical non-fiction into fiction and needed a new website to showcase her expanding library of works. She needed a new online identity to increase her visibility as a live and publishing author, and so I designed and built her a new website, elist, and substack to reconnect with her audience.

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Abbott Kahler's website redesign was inspired by the darkly atmospheric events of her bestselling novels. Covering topics such as Gatsby-era bootleggers, female Civil War spies, plotting brothel owners, and the Great Depression's queen of burlesque, Abbott's works have charted as New York Times bestsellers and cultivated an audience drawn to the historic and macabre. 

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In designing her new site, I wanted to create a cohesive visual identity that pulled from the covers of her previous and upcoming works. Pairing a rich red and soft copper with a crisp serif font, the website combines antiquity and modern sleekness. The background images transport you into the books' narrative and setting, enticing you to learn more. 

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I expanded her homepage from a singular book feature to a clear and engaging showcase of the site's main features - Abbott, her books, and her audience engagement. The individual book pages were designed with custom-built modules to allow a variety of additional content like excerpts, background and cast pop-ups, reviews, and video trailers. The new website increased the flow and readability of Abbott's content and successfully increased her audience engagement to more than double the number of site visitors.