Ace Endico

Ace Endico is a high-end food supplier that specializes in Italian imports and fine ingredients for restaurants, country clubs, and other hospitality clients. As a generational, family-owned business, they were reluctant to make changes to their brand but needed an update to better reflect their excellent service.

The first phase of this project was to build some new logo variations that remained true to the original logo, but were more versatile - and updating their brand style guide. With some new logo variants, an updated and more sophisticated color palette, and fresh typography that speaks to the timelessness and elegance of Italy - I designed their new website.

Ace Endico wanted to keep their existing logo, but expand upon their branding options and elevate the Creative Direction of the brand. As a premium Italian imports company with a rich history as a family business, I looked to the cities of Italy for inspiration, as well as the feeling of visiting a dimly lit gourmet Italian restaurant on a Friday night.

The new direction included an expanded color palette, new typography, and a few new versions of the logo.

Website Design

The Creative Direction work led us to their new website - designed to showcase their products, expertise, and high-quality service. I simplified the user journey - making it abundantly clear how to sign up as a customer and how to make it to their shopping platform.

  • Ace’s original website was difficult to navigate - especially for new customers. In order to become a customer of Ace Endico wholesale, one has to set up a line of credit directly with the Ace team.

    With the new sitemap and content strategy, I included multiple indicators throughout the site on how to become a new customer - including multiple CTAs throughout the site that included instructions on how the process works, as well as a bright red CTA in the navigation.

    I worked directly with the copywriter to discuss usability concerns and content priorities that the client and I had established.

  • Like many B2B websites, the Ace Endico website was often used by sales reps while out and about to show resources to clients. This meant that the website’s design needed to include mobile and tablet in its consideration.

    I worked closely with the Project Manager and Developer on this project to ensure that the scope and technical details were inclusive of this requirement.

    NOTE: Part of the responsive design process at Evolve occurs after development, during the QA phase. While I designed the mobile and tablet versions of the site, I had left the company prior to development QA.

  • I worked very closely with the developer on this project to ensure all functionality requirements were met before final sign off on the design.

    For example, one of Ace Endico’s most effective marketing endeavors is digital catalogs and recipe books it provides for their customers. On Ace’s original site, these were hosted on an external site which meant users were leaving the Ace site to access marketing materials - a little counterproductive!

    Keeping things as simple as possible, I worked with the developer to find a way to embed the catalogs from the existing service on posts to achieve the same effect while keeping users on the site. This also makes it easier for the Ace marketing team, since they didn’t have to reupload their existing resources - they only had to expand upon their current process.

    NOTE: While I was heavily involved in the planning stage of development, I left Evolve prior to the website’s final development, QA, and launch.