The problem:
Their current website did not reflect their business now or their future business plans. The company had a new website design but they were unhappy with it. Another factor, the redesign project had been ongoing for over six months without a new website design launch.
The old site (left) and the new site (right): (click to enlarge)
The resolution:
I was hired as a commercial web designer. My first full project was to redesign and/or update the new design they had partially ready. I updated what I found but had concerns it would not meet their business needs. As well there were readability issues and lots of ‘coming soon’ pages. I resolved to quickly mockup what I felt was a good mashup of how the brand and new design could be revamped quickly and meet their new business needs. I wanted to get feedback on the new design but felt I needed to see what the feedback was on the design I had finished for them in which they had already invested quite a lot of time and money into.
In the review meeting I began to hear from the committee (approximately 12 people) a great deal of dissatisfaction with the design. All of the things that I heard coincided with what my new mockup would provide.
The meeting was beginning to be a bit of a disappointment for them and I was determined to see them succeed with their new website. I then took a small risk and asked to present the new mockup.
With some additional discussion of the merits of the new mockup it was approved and the meeting ended with a committee happily anticipating a fresh new website.
The Current Website
Two weeks later the new website was revealed and is now on their live server (http://swdirect.com):
Since that time I resolved to move them into a CMS solution (on a newer more flexible server and hosting plan) and bring their blog onto the same server thus giving them a better position from which to grow their business online.
The Future Website
The new future website: (http://209.200.244.128/)
Yes, the website looks the same.
The goal was to rebuild with the same design but graduate from the flat html pages they were using to a new CMS driven site that had additional search engine optimization possibilities. My goal was to do this in a seamless manner for their visitors. At the same time I wanted to take their blog from one hosted on a third-parties server to a self-hosted blog on their own server. And to better apply their new branding bringing it inline with the already live website.
The Blog
The old blog: (http://southwestdirect.wordpress.com/)
The new future blog: (http://209.200.244.128/blog/)
Once they have worked out some additional web hosting issues with some of their other websites I am hoping the future sites will be launched and provide them with much more control over their online presence.
Branding For Web Based Software
Along the way I was also assigned the project of branding a new web based software program they were building: (https://swdirectngl.com)
Tags: branding, CSS, style, web development