Dave Olson and Robert Scales worked together at Raincity Studios in Vancouver in the 2000s. This year, Dave needed a website for DaveO Dispatches, his hand-made, limited-edition literary chapbooks: poetry and photography on archival paper, with postage stamps from Kerala worked into them. Small printed things, made a few at a time.
We built the site with Lovable, one of the AI app builders where the user describes the desired result and the tool writes the code. Close to twenty years after Raincity, the project brought together a former colleague and a category of tool that barely existed a few years ago, a combination we found particularly rewarding.
Why should the object lead the design?
Because for hand-made work, the website should frame the product rather than compete with it. This first decision was the simplest: the chapbooks are the design, and the site is a frame.
When selling something hand-made, the worst thing a website can do is compete with it. Heavy templates, loud colours and a homepage slider all draw attention away from the texture of the paper, the stamps and the handwriting. The work therefore consists mostly of stepping back: large, accurate photos, generous space, and restrained typography.
The same principle applies to many businesses in our region: a potter, a cheesemaker, a woodworker in the Petite-Nation. The product already has its own character, and the website should borrow it rather than invent a new one.
The photos carry most of the weight, so they deserve the most care: natural light, the real object, and occasionally a hand in the frame for scale. Filters that make paper look like plastic should be avoided. With budget for only one element, we recommend investing it in the images. In our experience, a plain site with excellent photos of hand-made work consistently outsells a clever site with mediocre ones.
Why do limited editions need a clear status?
Because collectors need to know immediately whether they can buy an item. This is the practical lesson, and most shop templates handle it poorly.
Standard e-commerce assumes a product is either in stock or out of stock. A limited edition works differently: an issue can be coming soon, open for pre-order, available, or permanently sold out. Collectors of small editions care a great deal about which one applies, and they lose patience quickly when it is unclear.
Each issue should therefore have its own page, and each page should state plainly where that issue stands (sold out, pre-order, coming soon) at the very top, not beneath the description.
Why should sold-out pages remain online?
Removing a product once it is gone is tempting, but we advise against it. The page is still found in search, it still shows what the series is about, and it demonstrates to new visitors that items genuinely sell out. For a series, the back catalogue is part of the story; it is what makes someone want the next issue before it is gone. Keep the old pages, mark them clearly, and direct visitors to what is available next.
What can an AI app builder do for a small site?
Produce a working first version quickly. We have built sites by hand, on Drupal, on WordPress, and now with AI tools. Our assessment of Lovable for a project of this size is that it is very effective at producing a working first version quickly. One describes the pages, the layout and the way items should be listed, and within minutes there is something real to navigate.
What still requires someone who knows the web is everything that follows: deciding what the pages should actually say; verifying that the site works on a phone and loads quickly; ensuring search engines can read it properly; and handling details such as page titles and image descriptions, which an AI builder will omit unless asked.
In other words, the tool saves hours of typing, but it does not make the decisions, and the decisions represent most of the work. We would use it again for a small showcase site like this one. For a larger shop with inventory, taxes and shipping rules, we would weigh the choice carefully, since a mature e-commerce platform has already solved problems that should not be solved again.
These builders are evolving quickly, and this assessment may need to be revised by the fall, in either direction.
How do past working relationships lead to new projects?
Through the people met along the way. This is a pattern we observe frequently, particularly since moving to a small community and starting over in some respects.
Former colleagues do not disappear. They pursue their own projects, and sometimes, years later, they need precisely the expertise one has to offer. Raincity was a small agency. Many of the people who worked there went on to interesting careers, and building something for one of them two decades later is a genuine satisfaction.
This is not a networking technique, since it cannot be planned. What can be done is to treat people well and do good work, and let opportunities arise as they will.
What does a small printed project need from a website?
For creators of small items in small runs, we recommend the following:
- One page per item, with real photos and a sentence or two about how it was made.
- A clear status on every item, visible without scrolling.
- An archive of past items, never deleted.
- A simple way to be notified of the next release, even if only an email address.
A large platform is not necessary to start. What matters is that the object is presented well and that people know when they can obtain it.
The site is at daveodispatch.shop. The chapbooks deserve more attention than the website, which is precisely the intent.