The Conjuring House

case study

Oct 1

Written By Clytie

Burrillville, RI

Some things go bump in the night, and The Conjuring House has so many that they made the blockbuster movie, The Conjuring, about the Perron Family’s experience living there. I was lucky enough to get chosen to rebrand and redesign the website for the real-life house where they give tours and host investigations of the not-so-alive spirits that live there.

Jacqueline purchased the house in May, and you can read about it all over the internet from The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, People, Frommer’s, Boston Magazine, and many more. People are obsessed with the house, and its story launched a movie franchise, The Conjuring Universe. So, this was a big deal for Jacqueline to get the website and branding right. Sidenote, when I watched the movie to prepare for this experience, I kept breaking out into, “She bought this house! I can’t believe she bought this house!” So, yeah, I was nervous going there, ESPECIALLY with my expensive professional camera gear. If you know the scene, you know why. In fact, I had problems with my gear while I was there, things that had never happened to me before too. Weird, weird things…

Three tasks had to be taken care of immediately. First, rebranding the logo from the previous business name, The Farm on Round Top Road, to its new name, The Conjuring House. Second, take a lot of photographs of the different experiences offered and create a silent video for the home page banner to welcome people to the new website. Lastly, Jacqueline was very frustrated with the old booking system she had inherited, and so were the guests trying to book tours or investigations at the house. We landed with FareHarbor because they specialized in the hospitality industry, so the system had everything The Conjuring House needed. The tools available within the system allowed me to integrate the booking capabilities in a way that worked with the site design and user needs.

THE WORK

+ Logo Design
+ Branding
+ Photography and Videography
+ Video Editing
+ Responsive Website Design
+ SEO - Search Engine Optimization
+ Hospitality Booking Software
+ Newsletter Design
+ Wix Setup

Branding Goals

Colors and feel of the website.

Jacqueline was very clear about a few things. Don’t make it cheesy, don’t make it too scary, and don’t make it dark in mood or color. I was good with the first ask; the rest gave me pause. I knew she came from a real estate development background that, for her, meant high design and clean lines. While visiting the house, I started to understand more about the appeal of the house to her and why the tranquilness she wanted the website to have was rooted in more than her background as a developer. There is as much colonial New England history here as there are spirits, and the property is as tranquil as it is active in paranormal events. Even so, I still had to have a conversation with her to bring one foot over into the darker realm because a simple, clean white website wasn’t what people are looking for in this new industry she found herself in. We started the dance called compromise. She was keen on white, gold, silver, and a highlight of red. So, I pulled colors from the house and tapped into blended gradations of these colors to give an ethereal look to different sections of the site. We were onto something.

This is just a sampling of where these colors are found in the house. The gold tones can be found on trim, walls, light fixtures, and the dried flowers hanging from the rafters in the kitchen. The silvers and dark greys come from the worn floor boards and the exterior elements of the barn and house.

Logo Design

The challenge, don’t copyright infringe on the iconic text-based logo of the movie but make it memorable. Oof, no pressure. I got to work in the first place that made sense, looking at fonts from the time period the house was built, the 1700s. Next, I wanted to use a photo I took of the house and create a graphic. In the version Jacqueline chose, I was looking to illicit a ghostly house. What better way to accomplish that than to have half of it disappear? Simple yet effective.

Below are the additional versions of the logo which serve different purposes throughout the year on social media.

Website Goals

Don’t scare people; intrigue them.
Build a new responsive website on the Wix platform to replace the old site and incorporate the new branding.
Find new booking software to replace the old website’s booking system, which was clunky, archaic, and very confusing for the end user.
Facilitate the integration of the FareHarbor booking software onto the website.
Add movement and interest in the Experiences sold with a video montage welcome banner on the home page.
Use photography throughout to engage users, but not scare them out of booking with The Conjuring House.
Create a newsletter template for the announcement of special events.
Cut down on the number of emails received by The Conjuring House by relaying all of the relevant and essential information each different Experience or Special Event requires. If not covered on the individual experience page, ensure it's covered in an FAQ page.
Sell Gift Cards through the booking software.

Home Page - Desktop Version

Home Page - Mobile Version

You can click the corresponding image to view the full page of either the desktop or mobile version of the website on the day we launched.

THE WEBSITE IS CURRENTLY BOTH OWNER-OPERATED AND MANAGED BY SS+D.

Visit Site

Videography + Photography

I spent five days, including one overnight in a yurt-style tent on the property. I'm fine to admit it; I apparently can't even be paid to spend the night inside! During my time there, I filmed clips from several events to give a sneak peek into different experiences on the property. Once back in the studio, I edited and compiled the clips into a video that welcomed potential guests to the website. During and in between events, I photographed the house and people participating in an "Experience." I also took portraits of the owner, the paranormal investigative staff, one of their spirit mediums, and Andrea Perron, one of the little girls portrayed in the movie who lived in the home as a child.

Clytie Sadler, LLC owns the copyright for all of the following videos and photography.