OVERVIEW
In March 2022, technology company Dude Solutions went through a head-to-toe rebrand into Brightly. With over twenty years in business, we were tasked with redesigning the website to bring it up to date and into alignment with the new corporate brand identity. The challenge was to re-skin all of the web components in addition to reimagining the navigation and site flow to support new product positioning. Press release for new site launch.
SECTOR
Software as a Service (SaaS) & Infrastructure Technology
MY ROLE
Lead UX Strategist — designed IA, page wireframes, and advised content strategy. Also led team of 2 visual designers through asset creation, content entry, and page production.
PROJECT DURATION
3 months for site redesign, support and optimization is ongoing.
BUILDING FOR A NEW BRAND AND PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE
For this project, we collaborated with a brand agency who had recently completed the new guidelines for Brightly. We were tasked with redesigning the website with the new brand as the company geared up for a much-anticipated launch.
In addition to the visual design, the redesign needed to optimize the user experience, prioritize conversions, and improve the site navigation as prior research had indicated some usability problems in the hierarchy of content.
The first step was low-fidelity wireframes for key pages and the navigation to optimize content flow and promote conversion paths.
REIMAGINING SOLUTIONS, PRODUCTS, AND INDUSTRIES
A common pitfall I have discovered in working with B2B SaaS companies is the idea that a user will understand the difference between solutions, products, services, offerings, etc. They do not. It does not help that many companies use these terms differently and branded labels in the navigation leave a low information scent.
For Brightly, we needed to educate the user on the solution area before they could be taken down to a product suite level. We decided to streamline the service menu into just solutions and industries. The user can then decide if they want answers from the context of their sector or problem area. This removed much of the ambiguity and the mega-menu approach afforded us room to further explain the solution areas before a user clicked into a product.
COMPONENT BASED DESIGN STRATEGY
The new website CMS, built on Drupal, would be controlled by the client for content entry and updating. As a result, part of the consideration for this redesign was utilizing existing components and optimizing them for the new brand and anticipating possible customization site authors may need in the future.
Humanist illustrations are used in tandem with playful headlines.
Components have flexible options for color, layout, and content.
The new brand uses curves and shapes that echo the fluid logo.
Components connect and flow and adapt elegantly to various screen sizes.
