JLC works in the increasingly complex world of supply chain management, logistics, and sourcing, with a specialization in both soft and hard goods. They work with multi-billion dollar brands in Europe that expect the highest quality finished products produced and delivered on time, and on budget.
JLC are ones that make sure this happens on a consistent basis by being the eyes and ears of these brands in factories across South-East Asia, ensuring that products are produced within the quality guidelines and standards expected by the end consumer.
JLC’s operations span across the SEA region including Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines, and Singapore.
JLC had previously hired Mäd to improve factory QA (quality assurance) operations, which led to the design and development of a tablet application that improved factory QA efficiency by 40%.
With this success under our belts, it was only natural that the JLC reached out again to us when they had their next challenge.
The key challenge presented to us was to redesign the JLC website in mind to aid a new marketing and sales strategy that would highlight all aspects of JLC’s services and rely on both cold out-reach as well as sending potential customers to the website via highly-targeted advertising on platforms such as LinkedIn.
JLC had also just finished a rebranding, and whilst it is important for businesses to have a distinguished brand, maintaining a good brand image is just as important.
Following the advancement of technology, civilization has evolved significantly resulting in the swift changes in consumer behavior. Due to this nature, first impressions have become crucial for businesses as their first impressions can quickly turn into their last impressions.
In this digital era where information is globally accessible, websites have become a business card to the world. Unlike a decade ago when businesses used to be more fixated on doing business locally, in today’s world, we have expanded the horizons into doing business internationally. Likewise, websites have become an essential tool for businesses to make the first impressions in showcasing who they are and why they stand out among their competitors.
When it comes to problem-solving, the goal is to get at the heart of the problem but how to get there is not an easy task.
At Mäd, we like to start by asking the hard questions from the get-go to secure a smooth project with high-efficiency and effectiveness. Likewise, our initial meeting with our clients always starts with a Design Sprint session.
Our Design Sprint with JLC covered key topics such as competitor review, key user journeys, information architecture, and we even sketched out certain pages of the website on paper as quick prototypes to express our ideas. Both teams came away from the Design Sprint with a clear idea and a set of aligned goals.
Before going into details on the 'why' we have done it, we should first look at the initial product of the website.
Prior to the redesign, JLC used to operate as a single-page website with the information compressed together as a one-size-fits-all.
Whilst it is convenient to have everything all on one page, it does not reflect the depth and variety of services that JLC offers to their clients. Considering how the initial website was structured, there were chunks of information spread out on the page making it hard for the page visitors to process everything all at once, resulting in misinterpretation and confusion about the brand.
It is important that we treat a website visit equivalently to a face-to-face meeting at an office visit because our end goal is to ensure that when the customers leave the website, they have a better understanding of our business and services.
In order to provide the users with an amazing experience, our initial approach was to transform the website from a single-page to a multi-page site. A multi-page site allows businesses to share their thought leadership with their clients through helpful resources and insights. In a way, it showcases the brand personality and helps the customers feel closer to the brand.
At Mäd, we believe that every project differs and is unique on its own, therefore, we do not pick our tools based on familiarity or how easy and fast it is to get the job done but based on what the project needs.
For JLC, we decided to use Webflow considering the following key elements:
1. Speed. Whilst building a new website may take a significant amount of time for it to go live, redesigning an existing website is all about speed. Since Webflow is equipped with various UI kits, it allows the ability to easily unite both design and development into one platform.
2. Responsiveness. Webflow is adaptable with multiple user platforms compared to other CMS software, making it a perfect tool for this project.
3. Ease of Handover. Designing with our client in mind, we are always thinking one step ahead. Therefore, we want to design a website that is easy for the JLC in-house marketing team to manage and make further changes as needed.
User experience is the core element when it comes to web design. The purpose of having a website is for it to act as an informational hub as well as a representative for the brand, therefore, a website should not have to make the users think. Similarly to a tour guide, an effective website should contain all the necessary information to guide the users in finding their needs. When the users fail to navigate the website, it is equivalent to a company representative not knowing what they are talking about while explaining to their clients about their business. If the clients are unable to identify where the brand stands, it is only natural that they cannot put their trust in having the company deliver the work that would meet their standard. Therefore, a website should be user-friendly and easy to navigate.
Looking at the previous website of JLC, there were a lot of complicated wordings and analogies. Clarity was missing from the purpose of the website. Given the obstacle, it alters the customer journey and experience with the brand, making it hard for them to understand the company's main objectives and services.
As a response, we decided to keep things simple with a comprehensible content whilst reducing the number of clicks for easy user navigation.
Making everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Due to the digital-focused approach that JLC utilizes to assist their clients, we decided to add a touch of life to the website by incorporating Lottie Animations, an animation library designed by the AirBnB team. This allowed us to create a set of custom iconography that animated upon users scrolling down the page, which gives the website an additional element of interactivity.
Additionally, we also took some of the existing key brand elements such as lines and dots, and animated these in the background of the hero section on the main home landing page. These animations provide a callback to the fact that JLC work in one part of the supply chain industry that creates the incredible flow of goods and services across the world.
Following the completion of the web design, we had a copywriting workshop with the team from JLC on incorporating their content to fit in the new design. Thus, instead of having to go back-and-forth between revisions, we spent time with our client to get things done in a fraction of time, working in a highly collaborative manner.
The strategy of having an experienced copywriter in the workshop from the Mäd team, working right alongside subject-matter experts proved to be the correct approach, as we were able to reduce a highly-complex and jargon-heavy set of services into easy-to-understand landing pages that clear communicate the JLC value propositions.
In less than two months, we delivered a new website for JLC. Although it was a fast project, the result had a significant impact for our client. In a short amount of time, we were able to deliver high-quality work to our client, ensuring that their marketing campaigns could start on time.
At Mäd, we determine our success is based on our client satisfaction and success. Whilst it is difficult to measure something intangible like satisfaction level, our clients help us make it possible: when we see recurring clients like JLC approach us with new projects, it validates our approach of quality and long-term thinking.
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