A full redesign isn’t something to be taken lightly. It’s something we do often and so we know the risks, and the rewards. It’s a lot of work, and often it means more than just a facelift for your web site. Ours ended up going far beyond that. We’d been doing a lot of thinking about the Blue Flavor brand, the services we offer, what makes us different, and how we can paint ourselves in the best light to get the kind of work we’d most like to get.
To that end, we realized we needed a complete redesign. A big departure from our previous site, both in content and in visual feel. This is the story of how that redesign came about.
Starting with goals.
Why redesign in the first place? Well, when taking a long hard look at the business, we found that our old site wasn’t serving us as nicely as it could have been. We were getting a fair amount of traffic and some good leads through it, but these weren’t always kind of clients we wanted. We felt our site wasn’t representing us in the best light possible.
We were bleeding into our competition, making it a bit hard for us to stand out among a crowd of very talented companies. We’ve always felt that we’re a bit different and that we have some unique things to offer - we needed a site that reflected that thinking.
In the beginning, we started out with some goals:
- To show that we’re unique.
- To simplify our content.
- To show a bit more of our personality.
- To speak to a class of client that was a better “fit” for our style.
With those goals in hand, we began to plan and strategize.
Our Strategy.
In looking hard at our goals, we found that most of these were related to doing something unique, both in terms of content and look and feel. We began to throw out ideas and spent quite a bit of time really looking into how we brought clients in the door.
Through this redesign, we also explored how we did business development and made some changes to our process there. It’s interesting how a web site redesign, done correctly and thoroughly, can get you thinking about your core business processes.
We felt that if we could simplify the content and the process used to contact us about work and at the same time create something, brand-wise, that was a bit of a challenge, we could attract a more engaged potential client base.
We want clients who are willing to do the due diligence it takes to engage a firm like ours. We want people who understand our value. We decided it was worth the risk of potentially alienating some by going really unique.
Initially we wanted something very robust and “web application-like”, with a solid focus on showcasing all the great work we do and highlighting our best clients. After lots of thinking we decided that while this was a compelling idea, it wasn’t simple enough.
Enter the “poster” idea.
This was originally Brian’s idea, and after much talking and refining we all really latched on to it. It was a way to create some mystery, showcase our work in a different light and hopefully show some fun and personality as well. This became the cornerstone of our site and how we decided to present it going forward.
We think it’s gone very well, for many reasons.
Having a backup plan.
Clearly representing our work with posters was a bit of a risk. After all, we’re not poster illustrators. There was the possibility that some potential clients would be turned off. We also went with a rather edgy look; somewhat dark and non-traditional. We did this to stand out. Branding 101. Again, there is a risk, but we felt it worth it to differentiate ourselves.
At the same time, we needed to be sure all of this didn’t go too far. We made sure to create a site that was easy to get around, from any page. Our navigation and layout had to be simple and straight-forward. We also built some “fall back” pages. Our screenshot gallery, for example, to refer clients to if they were looking for a more traditional view.
The proof.
So, how’d we do? Well, at the time of this writing, about five months after we launched, we seem to have succeeded across the board. We’re still getting lots of inquiries, but they seem to be a bit more qualified and those clients we do bring in seem to appreciate our unique point of view.
Of course we feel it showcases our personality and uniqueness, so that’s a win. We’ve also got a good bit of critical praise, especially after we made some minor tweaks to “lighten things up” a bit a few months in.
And we’re having lots of fun with it. So there’s that.
The benefits of being unique.
I think our redesign is a testament to individuality and a good example of how being unique can really benefit a company and a brand. We started this business to offer something different to the traditional agency world. We’ve always been about that, and wouldn’t be in business if we weren’t. Clearly, judging by what our clients have to say about us, they’re jiving with it as well.
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