Ninebark Hound works out of a converted feed store in Salida, Colorado, four blocks from the Arkansas River. Two people run it: a former Forest Service sawyer who spent nine seasons cutting trail with a dog on a lead, and a sewer who came over from a canvas shop that made raft frames. They buy tubular nylon climbing webbing by the spool, cut it in house, and bar tack every anchor point on a walking foot machine. The store sells one lead in two lengths.
Who this theme is for
A pet brand built around the outdoors, and more broadly any maker whose product is photographed in weather rather than in a studio. Leads, packs, cots, water bowls, anything that ends up dirty in the pictures. The Adventure preset runs a very large italic serif heading over a full bleed photograph with no button competing against it, which suits a first screen where the photo is the argument and the price is not. It works for a catalog of two to six products and falls apart past about twenty, because the layout gives every product a lot of room and there is no filtering shelf to fall back on.
What was decided in the brief
Terracotta primary on a warm off white, with a deep forest accent held back for the price and the add to cart. Dog photography outdoors is already green: pine, wet grass, river willow. Running a green interface on top of that flattens the picture, so the interface takes the opposite side of the wheel and the forest tone appears only twice a page, which keeps the two greens from arguing. Headings are set in an italic serif at a size that would look absurd on a product with a spec sheet and reads correctly on one with a story. The three brand facts sit under the hero as plain lines because webbing, stitch and hardware are the three things a buyer checks before length.