East of Mecca.
Executive summary
Goal
Build the digital identity for Sheila Flaherty's debut novel and give the site one job: sell the book.
My role
Brand identity | Visual design | WordPress development | Webmaster
Team
Direct collaboration with Sheila Flaherty, author.
Timeline
2012 to present. Full redesign in 2026.
Constraint
Build a world around the novel’s Saudi Arabian setting while keeping the site focused on selling the book.
Proof
The site remains her primary digital hub. She has kept me as her sole web designer and webmaster the entire time.
Live system
Overview
In 2012, Sheila Flaherty hired me to build the digital identity for her debut novel, East of Mecca. She needed a site that could carry the weight of a literary debut: intimate, cinematic and tied to the Saudi Arabian setting of the book. I designed her author logo, selected and customized a parallax WordPress theme, edited the photography and shaped the visual system that would represent her work online.
The site launched in 2013 and I've been her webmaster ever since. In 2026, I led a full redesign on the original WordPress foundation, refreshing the brand, typography and imagery.
I wasn’t just designing a book site. I was building the world around a debut author.
Process
Brand and identity
I designed Sheila's author logo from scratch: a single orchid in a celadon pot, set against white space. The orchid was her chosen flower and the colors came from her creative brief: white, black, celadon and a touch of raspberry fuchsia. The quiet author mark gave Sheila an identity distinct from the more cinematic book campaign and room to grow beyond one novel.
Site design and build
I selected a parallax WordPress theme as the foundation and customized it heavily around the visual direction I created. Scroll-driven photo sequences and atmospheric color made the site feel like an extension of the novel, while the typography kept reviews, accolades and purchase paths clear. I curated Sheila’s photography and sourced additional images to evoke the book’s settings: souks, beaches, camels, women in cultural dress and the textures of the Gulf.
Book cover collaboration
I worked with Sheila on the East of Mecca book cover, refining the custom title treatment and dancer photography that became the campaign's visual anchor. Reusing that imagery, palette and typography across the cover and site made the launch feel like one authored world.
Ongoing stewardship
After the 2013 launch, I stayed on as her webmaster. Over the years, that meant helping her publish blog posts, content updates and photo refreshes for new reviews and accolades. I also supported theme migrations as WordPress and Themify evolved, along with updates tied to bookstore appearances, book club appearances, a CineStory screenplay finalist nod and Evanston Public Library presentations.
2026 redesign
After more than a decade, the site needed a refresh. I redesigned the home and East of Mecca pages on the same WordPress foundation, using updated themes from Themify (Elemin and Landing). I created new hero imagery, carried forward the original orchid logo and refreshed the title treatment while preserving the identity readers already knew.
Outcome
The site has remained Sheila Flaherty's primary digital hub from the 2013 book launch through years of reviews, accolades, appearances and a full redesign in 2026. East of Mecca went on to earn almost 2,000 reader reviews across Amazon and Goodreads.
Sheila has stayed with me as her sole web designer for many years, through the original build, dozens of updates and a full redesign in 2026.