Coy Jeffrey Cornett is the author behind the How to be a Lighthouse series—a transformative self-help collection that guides readers through examining their past, present, and future. More than just books, the brand is a movement helping individuals construct their own “internal beacon” to navigate life’s storms.

The Problem – Vision without a vessel

For 13 years, Jeff searched for a technical partner capable of translating his complex creative vision into a functional digital reality. He didn’t just want a book landing page; he needed an interactive platform where users could digitally “build” their own lighthouse and generate custom, printable art. The challenge was to create a system robust enough to handle e-commerce and membership data, yet flexible enough to scale for future book editions like the LGBTQ+-focused Rainbow Edition and the Silver Edition for the 50+ community.

The Approach – Our Process: Discover, Define, Delight, Design, & Deploy

We engineered a scalable digital ecosystem using a comprehensive five-stage methodology that prioritized user feedback and architectural longevity.

• Discover (Strategy): For the initial project supporting the series’ first book (Premier Edition), we grounded the vision in data. We conducted 2 rounds of User Interviews to deeply understand the emotional landscape of the target audience.
• Define (Validation): We mitigated development risk by conducting 2 rounds of usability testing on the wireframes as a clickable prototype. This validated the complex user flows early, ensuring the architecture could support the user’s journey before visual polish.
• Delight (Empathy): We analyzed micro-interactions and refined microcopy to ensure the digital reflection process felt like a “safe space,” guiding users with warmth rather than rigid system prompts.
• Design (UX/UI): We moved from high-fidelity prototypes to a massive 147-screen responsive design system, ensuring a seamless experience across desktop and mobile devices.
• Deploy (Scalability): We launched on a custom WordPress framework integrated with Advanced Custom Fields and e-commerce solutions. Because we architected for scalability, when Jeff returned for the Rainbow and Silver enhancements, we easily implemented “theme toggling” and dynamic content blocks without tearing down the foundation.

“The first person who could see what my creative mind was trying to say. Cleo is beyond amazing! I enjoyed working with him so much and will gladly work with him again. His approach was so warm and refreshing. He truly cares about his work and making you happy!” — Coy Jeff C.

The Outcome – An Illuminating Success

The result was an illuminating success. The platform garnered a Gold Davey Award and two Silver w3 Awards for Best Home Page and Visual Appeal. More importantly, the scalable architecture turned a one-off project into a long-term partnership, powering the launch of subsequent editions and solidifying a relationship built on trust and technical excellence.