Context
How I rebranded FROID35, and redesigned their website in order to improve usability and accessibility.
Discovery
Empathize
Their website was outdated: I established a UX audit report which consisted to spot issues and list potential opportunities for improvements/solutions. Combined to a user journey map, I highlighted common issues of usability, branding strategy, as well as readability and accessibility. After reached my client to expose him the report, I prioritized several actions.
Exploration & research
The brand was missing a clear narrative to tell their story and what they had to offer. And in order to reach a level of consistency, the company needed a brand guidelines. None of the existing documentations reflected their current vision. So I started from scratch and went through different phases of research, development and workshop sessions: inspirations, benchmark, opportunity tree, user mapping, components setup, card sorting with people from the company…
Development
Visual language & lo-fi mockups
The company works with organisations in various sectors: from technicians to expert companies in refrigeration components. So among the pre-requisites for the new identity, it had to suit those various types of people: looking professional and trustworthy.
For the tone of voice, I leaned for something clear and simple. For the colors, I suggested a blue palette to emphasize the “knowledge” value and the concept of "cold". For the imagery, I asked for authenticity with real pictures from the company work.
Aside from the rebrand and accessibility improvements, it felt great to simplify the structure and navigation with my work on the lo-fi mockups. People visit websites for specific reasons. Our job as designers is to make it easy to do what they came for. In Froid35’s case, people either want to learn something or become a client.
Delivery
Step-by-step, I reduced the number of useless pages, leaving fewer chances for people to get lost. Progressively, the sitemap started to be composed as follows: home, about the company, main activity pages, recruitment, and contact.
In the old website, pages was filled by all sort of CTA (colors, shapes) and with different purpose. The previous work done on the branding part help to homogenize the components and brings more consistency. Also, in order to bring value and impact to their business, I reduced the number of choices users had in one place, focusing on a few main actions (the most important ones). In keys part, I decided to add some catchy animations to engage users a little further: they have been handled by Yann Testu (Motion Designer) under my guidelines and vision for the project.
Outcomes
The new landing released, the brand has gained in credibility and coherence which helped to improve usability and accessibility. Most importantly, the company immediately noticed a significant improvement in the user experience and also a positive impact in their business: it was easier to navigate (feedback from clients), faster to load and more responsive to mobile devices, resulting in an increased conversion rate from visitors to customers.
The website redesign allowed the company to better showcase its various expertise and services, leading to increased demand and new sales opportunities. Quantitatively, the company saw a 40% increase in website traffic, as well as a 30% increase in conversion. Additionally, the bounce rate (visitors who leave the site after viewing a single page) decreased by 10%, indicating that people were spending more time on the site and were more likely to explore more pages ✨
