Brand website design & development
The client
Barwon Investments Partner is a Fund Manager that invests in alternative assets such as Global Investments, Healthcare Property and Property Finance. It was founded in 2006 to help its investors generate attractive returns on alternative investments. As of today, Barwon manages over A$3 billion on behalf of its clients.
The brief
Tell it like it is and don’t be shy
Our brief was a complete overhaul of their online presence – design, development, brand refresh and website. We rolled up our sleeves and got right in.
There were a lot of perceived issues with the current site – apart from the fact that it was not immediately recognizable as an alternative funds manager, it didn’t come across as ‘investor first.’ Moreover the brand legacy, track record and variety of products was not clearly visible upfront either.
We knew we had our work cut out for us, so we started with what we do best – approached the website with a thorough understanding of the client’s needs and our unique design approach.
The path to a good website is paved with a hundred design briefs
Discover
Part of the discovery phase included reviewing the current site, where we understood what was working and what wasn’t.
There was a fair bit of research involved, right from understanding and identifying the different types of audience who come on the site to mapping out their individual user journeys and how we would lead them to conversion.
We also researched six key competitors and understood their user journey, interface, content and functionality and finally confirmed the project plan, which was split into a number of phases.
Define
As part of this phase, we mapped out key sections, created a site map and template list, developed wireframes, worked on a design brief and even planned content for the entire site.
By planning the flow of navigation and how secondary pages will be placed, we were able to clearly determine how many pages would need to be designed. The wireframes we developed helped visualise all the key pages and sections required so we could map the user experience. We then created a ‘bible’ for the rest of the project, which was a detailed spec document that included all the agreed functionality the site would have.
Next we moved into the brief where our designers gave life to the site visually, after getting inspiration about the brand and understanding the client’s likes and dislikes.
Design
This phase of the project involved us giving the brand a complete refresh by identifying visual concepts, working on a digital style guide and creating high-fidelity responsive designs.
At first, our design team identified key visuals that resonated with the brand team and clearly defined the brand. These were then developed into design concepts that flowed seamlessly throughout the entire site, creating a strong visual language for the brand. This helped us define an online style guide with downloadable assets which included hex codes and fonts that could be used by any designers or developers in the future. We then worked on beautifully responsive designs for all key pages that would render well across all screen sizes.
Development
In the development phase, we focused on CMS set-up on WordPress, creating the front-end animations, and testing the site across a matrix of devices, browsers and resolutions. Finally we moved into the analytics implementation stage, page speed optimisation and final go live checks, culminating in the deployment of a brand new website.
