The Islander Cafe is everyone’s favorite charming, coastal cafe that acts as a community gathering space for the town of New Castle, New Hampshire. The Islander has recently been acquired by our lovely neighbors Deb and Michael, the owners of Lil’s Cafe in Kittery, Maine. We were beyond pleased to be able to photograph their whole menu back in December and create a new website from scratch that fits their aesthetic and meets all their unique needs.

For the photoshoot, marvelous employees Emily and Tim had a wonderful time making every single item on the menu and plating the dishes perfectly for their close-ups. They were also great sports about being photographed themselves, all while whipping up tasty food and drinks and helping customers. Owners Deb and Michael also came out for the shoot and were happy to pose for some pictures and be in a few candids. The locals were also game to be in some of the photos, allowing us to get some delightful images of people enjoying the cafe’s cozy atmosphere as it was intended to be experienced. The Islander is truly a place where everyone can feel welcomed, relaxed, and at home — even when a lady is standing on a chair with a camera pointed at your breakfast sandwich.

The new website we created for the Islander was completely custom-designed and developed from scratch. By starting with a clean slate, we were able to make the website exactly as desired and tailor it to The Islander Cafe 100%. This meant focusing on the New England vibes and really leaning into that seacoast feel while maintaining a high level of functionality and keeping it super user-friendly.

We emphasized the coastal atmosphere by choosing colors, fonts, and design elements that emulate the coastline. The website design helps place the user into the seaside setting before they even arrive at the cafe. We also focused on site navigation and made sure it was easy to click through all the pages depending on what the user was looking for. We made it particularly easy for users to find the menu by adding a clearly labeled, colorful button in the top right corner on every page so it couldn’t be missed.

We had a blast working on these projects for The Islander and are so pleased that we get to work more with these owners on projects for their other cafe, Lil’s, as well. Anyone with access as easy as we have to the famous crullers offered at both locations would be nuts not to take advantage regularly. We can’t think of anyone we’d rather have as our downstairs neighbors!