Why we decided to focus on Squarespace web design for food brands.

Our Blogging Beginning

When we moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2021, we were focused on one thing: exploring the beautiful nature of the Pacific Northwest Wonderland. We soon discovered that Portland is also a haven for freakishly delicious and surprisingly diverse food.

For a city that trails in racial diversity, Portland sure knows how to make up for it in its diverse cuisine. This is not a dig at the Rose City, it’s only our observation. But we’re not here to talk politics.

Portland has everything from Lebanese food carts, coveted Korean pop-ups, nationally ranked pizza eateries, neighborhood favorite Thai restaurants, upscale Haitian and West African establishments, and farm-to-table German favorites. The nightlife is also decent too. Remember we moved here after things changed considerably in the city.

Our Squarespace Beginning

Before moving to Portland, we traveled and food blogged across over twenty states around the country. We were learning about ourselves, about the country we call home, and trying to gain some tech skills at the same time. After exploring and building test websites on other platforms like WordPress, Wix, GoDaddy, Showit, Weebly, and Shopify, we decided on and stuck with Squarespace.  

Squarespace has all the industry-standard features we were looking for, and more importantly, it was user-friendly.

Just after getting married and leaving California. Austin, Texas 2015.

Monetizing our blog, with consequences.

By 2019, we monetized our food blog and YouTube channel through Google AdSense. That same year, we became freelance web designers. The seed for Morse Creatives was essentially planted. We got more projects, and our food blogging and vlogging took a back seat.

So it was now 2021, months after getting a sense of the nature and food scene, we decided to plant our roots here and call the Pacific Northwest home. We even transitioned from freelance web designers to a registered business. Morse Creatives was official. But food content creation was still in the back seat.

Our turning point.

Until December 2024, when we took a day-camping trip to Lower Lewis River Falls in Cougar, Washington. Hiking around the waterfall, campfire cooking, making cinnamon and apple tea, and breathing in the forest air did something to us. Cooking while listening to the waterfall sounds and sitting in clean forest air made everything snap for us. We talked for hours and hours that weekend. We reflected on our journey as a couple and as business partners.

We’ve been cooking as a couple since our very first date. Separately, we grew up as curious farm kids, climbing trees and getting into trouble. Why we deserted food and food content production is irrelevant; our desire to return to working with food and food producers was undeniable.

Back to our core: food. 

Our day-camping trip brought us back to our core. The curious farm kids’ tendencies we tried to suppress came alive near the waterfall. It became clear how central food production was to our identities as individuals. As a couple, it became clear how cooking centered and grounded us. And as business owners, food became the mission.

The city and region we call home helped us rediscover our first love, and we’re forever grateful to the Pacific Northwest for giving us the space to truly be ourselves.

So we drove home with a new hunger. The kind that keeps you up all night, trying to perfect a project. The goal was to align our mission of elevating food producers’ business with our then-current brand presence. They weren’t aligned. We went back to the drawing board.

We did a full-suite brand, marketing, and design service for ourselves. We went back to our kitchen and a more aligned, colorful, focused, and purposeful Morse Creatives was born.

Cooking from Portland, working nationwide.

So, where do we go from here? The path looks clear for us, and our future looks bright. We’re focused on designing Squarespace websites and producing blog content for food brands and businesses, starting with food producers in the Portland, Oregon area.

Does this mean we won’t design websites and content for brands outside of Portland? Obviously not. But it does mean that with this rebrand, we’re starting with local marketing and then expanding our reach after that.

Back to our expertise: Squarespace.

Our focus on the food industry gives us a mission-based clarity. And our focus on Squarespace websites gives us a niche expertise. The combination of the two gives our clients a thoughtful, bespoke, and intentional design service experience.

We restarted our food blog – The Fufu Café – and went a step further by showcasing the blog-building process to current and future clients looking to build their Squarespace blogs on their food websites.

Food blogging with our clients.

Join Asa – founder of Morse Creatives – every Friday for a live Squarespace blog tutorial. She will publish a new recipe on our food blog – The Fufu Café – showing you the entire process, from writing to photo curation, SEO, and analytics. Tune in on Fridays and blog along with Asa.

If you don’t want to go the DIY route, get in touch with us, and we can talk about crafting SEO-ready blog posts for your Squarespace website.

Your perks as our client.

Apart from the weekly Squarespace blog tutorial, you get perks for being a Morse Creatives client because we’re Squarespace Circle Members. Here are a few perks our clients get:

• 20% discount on all annual subscriptions, whether Acuity Scheduling, a Membership Site, an E-commerce Store, domain hosting, or a website. You get 20% off.

• Six months to try out a website template and see if you like it, we can always design you a custom one from scratch. But you have this grace period if you want or need it.

• Early access to industry-standard betas and features. Squarespace is constantly updating its software to stay ahead of the curve.

• Peace of mind knowing we’ve been designing on Squarespace since 2018. That’s how we qualified to become Squarespace Circle Partners.

Let’s build your Squarespace website.

Separately, we’ve worked on our family farms and helped with family food establishments. Together, we’ve been cooking and blogging for nearly the entire duration of our relationship as a couple and business partners.

We decided to focus on Squarespace website design for food brands because it's instinctive and comes naturally for us, just like cooking, gardening, or caring for farm animals. Sometimes we have to get outdoors and let the fresh air give us the clarity and courage to do what we’re meant to do.

So let’s get back in the kitchen and create some tasty meals and websites together.  Complete a client form to get started.