Film, kept light
Video sells texture in a way stills can't, but only if the page loads. Each clip is re-encoded for the web with a matching poster frame, so it plays fast and fails gracefully.
Case study · Naturally dyed yarn
Cabin Boy Knits
Naturally dyed yarn, hand dyed with foraged plants on breed-specific Canadian wool. A product this tactile needed a site that moves, so the whole thing is built around short films.
Scroll inside the frame to explore the page
The brief
Colour that comes from plants.
Indigo, goldenrod, cochineal, madder. The process is the story, and photographs flatten it. The site had to feel like standing in the dye kitchen.
Cabin Boy Knits dyes fingering, DK, worsted and bulky yarn with foraged and grown plants on Canadian breed-specific wool, and ships free over $100 anywhere in Canada and the USA. Two audiences: knitters buying a skein or two, and yarn shops that want to stock the line. Both needed to understand, quickly, why this yarn costs what it costs.
Seven short films carry the site: the dye pots, the plants, the sheep. They're compressed hard and backed by poster frames so the pages still load on a rural connection. The words explain yarn weights and dye behaviour to a first-time buyer without talking down to a lifelong one, and the wholesale page gives shops a route that doesn't require a phone call.
What I built
- Film-led sectionsSeven short clips as section backgrounds, each with a poster frame so nothing waits on a download.
- Yarn page by weightFingering, DK, worsted and bulky explained, with the breed behind each base.
- Dyes pageWhat each plant gives, how the colour is fixed, and why no two skeins match exactly.
- Sheep and Story pagesThe Canadian breeds behind the wool, and the maker behind the brand.
- Wholesale page with enquiry formShops can introduce themselves and ask for the line sheet without picking up the phone.
- Free shipping, front and centreFree shipping over $100 in Canada and the USA stated where every visitor sees it.
Highlights
What makes it work.
Written for first-time knitters
What DK means, why natural colour varies, how to care for it. The questions that stop a first purchase, answered on the page.
Wholesale without a phone call
Yarn shops are busy. A dedicated page and a short form let them start the conversation on their own schedule.
On a phone
Yarn is bought from the couch.
Knitters shop on phones and tablets in the evening. The films play inline and the page never makes them wait.
- Films play inline, mutedNo pop-ups, no autoplay sound, no stalled downloads.
- Weights in a swipeable rowFingering to bulky, one thumb.
- Contact in one tapEmail and wholesale enquiries from the menu.
Makers and small brands