The Looking Glass Shrewsbury – Website Design Case Study

The Looking Glass is a brand new, independent beauty salon based in Shrewsbury that has undergone a major £100k transformation to create a truly immersive, high-end experience. Iron Hex Labs was brought in to deliver web design in Shrewsbury that reflected the salon’s unique identity while laying strong technical foundations for growth, SEO, and future functionality.

From the outset, this project was about more than just launching a website. It was about building a digital platform that could grow alongside the business as it expands its services, systems, and online presence over time.

The Challenge

As a newly launched salon, The Looking Glass needed a website that could do several things at once:

• Represent a bold, distinctive brand inspired by steampunk and Alice in Wonderland aesthetics
• Feel premium, immersive, and visually striking without sacrificing performance
• Support local SEO from day one in a competitive space
• Be built in a way that allows future features to be added without rebuilding the site

Because the salon was brand new, there was no existing website to rebuild so everything needed to be created from scratch, with careful attention to structure, scalability, and long-term usability, following the same principles used across our web design services.

The Approach

The focus for this project was to create a custom WordPress website that balanced creativity with performance and technical best practice.

The design was approached with the salon’s immersive concept front and centre, ensuring the website felt like an extension of the physical space rather than a generic salon template. At the same time, the site was structured cleanly behind the scenes, with SEO-friendly page hierarchy, fast load times, and clear user journeys.

From the start, the website was built with future development in mind. Features such as a new booking system, an online course academy, and an eCommerce shop were all considered during the build, allowing these elements to be integrated later without disrupting the core site.

The Solution

Iron Hex Labs delivered a custom-built website with a strong technical foundation and a distinctive visual identity.

Key elements of the build included:

• Custom WordPress website design tailored to the salon’s steampunk and fantasy-inspired branding
• Mobile-first, responsive layout to ensure a consistent experience across all devices
• SEO-friendly site structure designed to support local visibility in Shrewsbury
• News and blog functionality to support ongoing content and SEO growth
• Newsletter sign-ups and automated email integrations
• Clean performance optimisation to keep the site fast despite its visual richness

An early highlight of the site was the launch of news content, including coverage of The Looking Glass Shrewsbury open day, helping establish the salon’s online presence from the very beginning.

The Outcome

The finished website provides The Looking Glass with a strong, professional online presence that reflects the quality and creativity of the salon itself. The site is visually striking, easy to navigate, and built on solid technical foundations that support future growth rather than limiting it.

SEO has been implemented from the ground up, with clean on-site structure and content systems already in place. News posts, blog content, and newsletter sign-ups are fully automated, allowing the business to build an audience and communicate with customers effectively as the salon grows.

While the website is still in its early stages, it has been designed as a long-term platform rather than a short-term launch site. Upcoming features, including a new booking system, an online course academy, and an integrated shop, will be rolled out over the coming months as part of an ongoing partnership.

Ongoing Work

This project is very much an evolving collaboration. As The Looking Glass continues to grow, Iron Hex Labs will be supporting the site with:

• Continued SEO improvements
• Performance optimisation
• New feature development
• Ongoing content and system expansion

It’s been a genuine pleasure working with a business that values quality, creativity, and long-term thinking and this website has been built to support exactly that.

Looking for a Website Built to Grow?

If you’re a business looking for a website that’s built properly from day one with performance, SEO, and future growth in mind, then take a look at our web design services or start a project page to discuss what you’re building.