Professional Services Website Redesign
Project Summary
Progressive Companies is an architecture and engineering firm that is expanding nationally and needed a new, modern website to reflect their current capabilities.
Key Deliverables
Structural model of new website
Structural prototype and evaluative research findings
Sitemap for new website
My Role
I was the part of the delivery team for this work alongside the project lead.
Timeline
April 2023 - July 2023
Nondisclosure Agreement
Examples of this work have been lightly redacted to protect the clients’ proprietary information.
Progressive Companies (formerly Progressive AE) is an architectural and engineering firm based in Grand Rapids, Michigan that has significantly expanded their service offerings and national footprint. They needed a new website to showcase their expanding portfolio and attract talent.
My team designed the new site’s information architecture while another agency, Highland Group, were responsible for building the site. My team collaborated with Highland Group to ensure a seamless handoff of the site plans.
Screenshots of the Progressive AE website when we began our work in April 2023. The image on the left is the homepage; the image on the right is a page showcasing Progressive AE’s portfolio.
The client knew their website was out of date, but weren’t sure exactly what to changes to make. With that in mind, we began our work by interviewing stakeholders and conducting an alignment workshop using the InTension Modeling method. The alignment workshop was a hybrid event, with our team and eight stakeholders in Grand Rapids while two stakeholders called in remotely.
In the workshop, we presented stakeholders with six strategic tensions related to their website. We used these to facilitate a conversation around stakeholders’ vision and goals for the new website.
Results from two strategic tensions voted on during the workshop. Each continuum shows a set of strategic aims that are both desirable, but that cannot be emphasized equally on the new website. Green tiles represent how stakeholders think this set of tensions is weighted on the current website. Blue tiles represent the way stakeholders want to see these tensions weighted on the new website. The dark tiles represent group averages for each round of voting, and show the degree of change stakeholders want to see between the current website and the new website.
After the InTension modeling workshop, stakeholders had aligned on a clear vision for their new website:
Stakeholders wanted a website with a look and feel that reflects the design expertise they demonstrate in their work. Their new website should feel like a coffee table book, showcasing rich stories and inspiring visitors to think about what’s possible when working with Progressive Companies.
After establishing a clear vision for the new site, our next step was to outline key sections of the site. We conducted generative interviews with the site’s two key user groups: prospective clients and prospective employees. From these interviews, we learned that there is a set of core tasks that applies to both user groups:
Looking at case studies of past work
Looking at employee profiles
Finding contact information for individuals or offices
With this in mind, we put together a structural model depicting how the new website could be organized.
This structural model depicts the different content areas within the website. The green cross-section in the middle represents a single visitor’s context, which can determine which content subsets they want to view. Areas of the site that are heavily influenced by a user’s context should allow for content filtering.
After discussing a proposed sitemap with the client, our team built a low fidelity structural prototype representing the proposed structure. Then, we conducted evaluative interviews to test a set of hypotheses about the new structure.
A screenshot of the prototype used in our evaluative research. We purposely made the site look incomplete in order to keep users’ feedback focused on the site’s structure, rather than its content or design.
Our research results showed that the structure we designed was an improvement over the old site, and revealed three key findings:
Visitors appreciated a simplified site structure and could easily find what they were looking for.
Information about Progressive Companies means more when it’s shown in context. This applies whether it’s blog-style material documenting their expertise or information about their values and culture.
The website is primarily a vehicle for storytelling.
After completing our research, we created an updated site map that depicted the way the new site and global navigation should be organized.
After documenting the site’s proposed structure, my team handed off our work to Highland Group, the agency responsible for building the new website.
We worked collaboratively with Highland Group to answer questions about their designs for the new site and ensure the structural integrity of the new site design was maintained.
In March 2024, Highland Group and Progressive Companies launched the new website, along with a renaming and rebranding effort. The new site is a stark contrast to the previous version and successfully delivers the on the vision stakeholders articulated in 2023.
Screenshots of the new Progressive Companies website. The image on the left is the home page; the image on the right is the timeline view of the Experience page.
Project Impacts
By establishing a good working relationship with both Progressive Companies and Highland Group, our team helped facilitate a seamless redesign of the Progressive Companies website.
At the beginning of our work, we established a clear strategic vision for the project that was shared by everyone involved.
Before our work was completed, we began collaborating with Highland Group to hand off key deliverables and answer questions about our work.
After our work was completed, we maintained open lines of communication with Highland Group to consult on design challenges and adaptations.
Progressive Companies successfully launched a beautiful new website that captures their company’s design expertise.