Carley Mercedes is the pen name of a contemporary romance writer whose erotic romance is light-hearted and humorous. I created a visual identity and website as well as a social media marketing plan. Today’s writer needs a robust online presence to connect with publishers, reviewers and readers as well as high-quality printed pieces for book fairs and signings.
The brand was conceived with social media at its core, so the logo is based on the author’s sign off, “X.O. Carley Mercedes.”
I developed a full complement of stationery since authors still reach out to book reviewers and bookshops with hard copies.
I also designed a rubber stamp to bring the X.O. mark offline for book signings and correspondence.
The colors and type treatment are inspired by the author’s vintage Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter.
The primary typeface is Courier Prime, an updated version of the classic monospace typewriter face. Courier Prime is a free, open source web font, which gives the brand a consistent look across all online platforms.
We created a responsive, continuous scrolling website with persistent navigation and a clean, simple layout.
The site needed to support frequent updates by a client who had no web design experience, so the back end uses the author’s Tumblr account like a content management system.
