Thilo Heffen – THE MANUAL
An author website designed and built on a tight deadline for the launch of THE MANUAL, Thilo Heffen's book on resilience for men in midlife. He arrived with a goal but no picture of the site; we shaped the idea together and built exactly that in time for launch.
- Client
- Thilo Heffen
- Industry
- Publishing / personal brand
- What we did
- Design, build, launch
- Deadline
- Fixed - the book launch
A clear goal, a fixed date and no idea what the site should look like.
Thilo writes about resilience, responsibility and life in midlife. His first book, THE MANUAL – Resilienz für Männer in der Lebensmitte, was about to launch and he needed a website that could sell it, share his writing and introduce him as an author – in German, and quickly.
He knew what the site had to achieve. What it should look or feel like was still open, and the launch date was not going to move.
Listened first, then designed around the book and built to publish.
We turned the loose idea into a clear brief before anything was designed, and settled on a calm, editorial direction: warm paper tones, serif headings and the book cover front and centre, with purchase and free-sample calls to action where they count.
The site runs on a lightweight custom WordPress theme with no page-builder overhead. A dedicated page for THE MANUAL covers paperback, hardcover and e-book options with a free sample download; an articles section gives Thilo room to keep writing long after launch. Hosting, SSL and final QA were handled by us so everything was in place on the day.
- Brief development
- Bespoke editorial design
- Custom WordPress theme
- Book landing & purchase flow
- Free sample download
- Articles section
- Performance & WebP images
- Hosting, SSL & launch
Live on time, easy to run, and built to grow with the writing.
The German-language site went live for the launch with no slippage. Thilo updates it himself, publishes new essays as he writes them, and has a home for the book that looks like it belongs to him.
The results
I came to Ember Web with a goal, but without a clear picture of how to get there. I knew I needed an author website - I just didn't know what I wanted it to look or feel like. They helped me figure that out, and then built exactly that. The whole process was genuinely enjoyable: fast, easy to work with, and what stood out most was how well they listened, translating vague ideas into something that really works.
Launching something with a deadline attached?
We turn rough ideas into finished websites – designed, built and live in time for the moment that matters.