Corporate website redesign

How can we modernize our brands' digital presence?

Even before my first day as Senior User Experience Designer at William Blair, I made it my responsibility to campaign for the redesign the firms' website. After nearly ten years the website was in dire need of a facelift, and in 2021, the project was given the green light.

The primary goals of the project were broken down into three categories:

Inform: Help new prospects and clients quickly and easily find what they need
Attract: Connect with job seekers to help educate them about our culture and differentiators
Reinforce our brand: Establish awareness, strengthen relationships

desktop image of the corporate site before the redesign

User Experience Considerations

Mobile-first

The current site was not responsive and mobile traffic to the site has increased more than 20% YoY in the past three years.

Attention grabbing visuals

We wanted to include visuals with a modern aesthetic that properly reflects our brand.

Focus on accessibility

We were falling short on website accessibility and now was the time to fix it.

Typographic hierarchy

Typography on the current site was flat and was not leading users through the pages.

Clear Calls-to-action

Declutter structure to make navigation within the site much more targeted and accurate.

Simple navigation

Help users to make decisions by creating a simple navigation structure.

images of the final design in mobile view

The (re)design process

I worked in design sprints over an eight week period to develop the visuals and any prototypes for each component. During this time our teams (digital & brand design) met weekly to review and provide feedback on the proposed designs.

Based on the feedback that was received, iterations on the component designs were made and resubmitted for approvals.

Design system

One of the best things to come out of the project – besides an amazing new website – was the creation of the design system. This new design system allows our team to work more efficiently and create cohesive designs across our entire digital landscape.