forest designs

The story so far

Forest Designs launched in 2015 as a web development agency specialising in blockchain technology. As a new business, their resources are limited. They want to know how and where to invest their resources so they can attract new customers.

Over the past five years, the founders had become aware that the website didn’t reflect the vision they have for the future. It had, therefore, become important to redesign the website, promote their services and attract a steady stream of customers.

Based on my first consultation with the client, I had to quickly come up with a plan and speed up the time from concept to completion.

I was tasked with gathering requirements, understanding business objectives, evaluating their current website, checking out the competitive landscape, coming up with the right content that would resonate with their brand, and then crafting a website that would speak to their target audience.

There was plenty of work to finish with the clock ticking and only 4 weeks to go.

On the Road to Discovery

I scheduled a few stakeholder interviews to get a sense of the business objectives and features that I had to incorporate in my design. 

I was looking for answers to a few pressing questions. I initiated conversations around the following topics:

• What’s the problem your business is trying to solve?

• Why do you think it’s a valid problem?

• How has your vision for the company changed over the past five years?

• What are the new services you’re planning to promote?

• How do you know these services are important to your users?

• Which features do you think are the most important to develop?

Uncovering the Real Problems

Conversations around the company’s services and vision for the future made the design process easier. Based on the insights I had gathered so far, it became clear why an entire website redesign was crucial.

Firstly, the former site was built on an older platform. The website wasn’t responsive nor practical for users. I had to strategically think about how I could create a slick and easy to navigate website that would this time be custom-designed and handed over to their developers.

Secondly, the content was outdated. It did not effectively communicate the direction in which the company is going. After reviewing the whole site, I discovered that there wasn’t enough information about the services offered.

Lastly, we wanted to understand how users interacted with the website to gain valuable data and insights. It would help us create a better user experience down the line. We chose to integrate web analytics, measure and benchmark site performance, and understand user behaviour.

Without first having a professional-looking website with the right content that spoke to their target demographic, the company would find it challenging to attract new customers.

How Can We Help this Startup Find New Customers?

To answer this question, I worked with the stakeholders to understand, identify and clearly define their target market. The business wanted to find ways to identify prospects that would become their best clients.

To begin, we had to find out what customers look for when they’re looking to hire a web development agency like Forest Designs.

Deep Diving into the Competitive Landscape

I set aside time to thoroughly understand what worked for other companies that offered similar services like Forest Designs. It helped me gain more knowledge about the industry and best practices. I also found areas of opportunity that I could leverage in my design.

Evaluating the Former Forest Designs Website

By evaluating the website, I could uncover usability issues, find hidden opportunities, and determine what features could be prioritised or eliminated in the redesign.

My findings:

• There wasn’t any consistency in terms of design or layout as users navigated the website.

• The site lacked a well-defined section/page that promoted its services. Notice how ‘Services’ is missing from the primary navigation.

• The content was outdated. Some of it included technical jargon that confuses users.

• Unnecessary copy that did not provide enough information about the product.

• A large header that did not serve a purpose or direct users to take action.

• There was an opportunity to redesign the website and make optimal use of space while offering a better online experience.

Final Design Decisions

Being the sole designer on the team, I worked closely with the stakeholders to review, analyse and justify every design decision.

I was heavily involved in content creation. I looked for the right words and supporting images to promote their services and improve both engagement and conversion.

With the correct copy in place, Forest Designs could now convey the value of their services to their target users, improve their search engine rankings, and stay a cut above the rest.

Impact

With clear navigation on the new website, users can scan the site and quickly find relevant information about their services.

The startup can now use this site as a marketing tool to partner with more established companies and gain more stability as they grow.

We have closed the gap between what visitors look for in a web development company and the information available on the website. We’ve created new content and ensured visitors find what they want.

We’ve tracked popular UI trends and best practices and crafted a fresh and easy-to-use interface that reflects the business goals.

Next Steps

I will continue to test out the design on multiple users and make changes as necessary.

We can’t guarantee users will love the new design and functionality. It is, however, a good starting point. We will continue to learn, build and measure results. It will give us a better sense of what is working and what is not. We want to ensure users understand the interface and navigate quickly.

Content creators will add informative and SEO optimized content to the website in time.

Lastly, with data analytics in place, we’ll get a good overview of user behaviour. It will pinpoint problem areas on the website, tell us more about users and their interests, and help the company make the best design decisions that will attract new customers and boost conversions.