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Client work · Publishing · Author website
Philip Maxwell
A British novelist whose books mix Celtic myth, real history and the paranormal. A home for his novels, the history behind them, and the film and TV rights.
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The brief
A website that feels like opening one of his books.
Philip writes thrillers rooted in real places: the Druids of Anglesey, a Welsh prince who may have reached America, a drowned village on the Costa del Sol.
He needed a site with the atmosphere of the novels, that brings the history behind them to readers and gives producers a clear way in to every series.
What I built
01
An interactive atlas
His first trilogy's footnotes sent readers to a website that no longer exists. The atlas brings that back: a 3D globe that flies, as you scroll, to the real places behind the story, from the standing stones of Anglesey to the American Midwest, with Philip's own sketches and photographs at every stop.
02
A phone you can pick up
The unpublished Deliver Us from Evil opens with Karl's phone, found by a drained reservoir above Marbella. Readers unlock it, read his messages and look through his photos: the first chapter, told as the phone he left behind.
03
A page for every series
The Samhain Legacy, Astral Encounters and Deliver Us from Evil each get their own page, opening on a single line over a full-screen scene: the story, where it happens and who you'll meet, written to draw a reader in.
04
A slate for film and TV
Producers get a page of their own, with each series set out as a screen project: format, genre, comparable shows, locations, production support and status. One button requests the pitch pack.
05
A homepage with the feel of the books
Standing stones under a moonlit sky, his name set like a book cover, and one line that sums up his writing. Each series has its own panel with its setting and hook, so a new reader can pick where to start.
Design direction
Dark, quiet and literary, like the books. Near-black backgrounds, bone-white text and one antique gold accent for anything you can click. The titles are set in a classical serif with the weight of a hardback cover, with a clean sans-serif for easy reading.
Night ink
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Bone
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Antique gold
#c9a95c
Lichen
#8a846f
Designed and built by
Sophia, Glow Digital
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