Clark Builders - Website Refresh
User Research / Site Rebranding
Design Brief
Clark Builders & Remodelers is a family owned business in New Brighton, MN. They work within their community to upgrade homes and the lives of the people that live in them. Their website was outdated & not doing their business any favors - they wanted a new look to inspire trust and confidence in new clients looking to find a contractor for renovation projects.
ROLE: UX Researcher & Designer, Brand Strategist
TOOLS: Sketch, InVision
DELIVERABLES: Digital Brand Guidelines, Hi-Fi Mockups, Interactive Prototype
Renovation Research
I conducted research with users who had previously had renovation work done on their homes. My research shows there are two main concerns users have when undergoing a large project - they want to feel in control and they want open communication.
“My tip to anyone getting work done is to follow along closely - the work goes fast and it’s hard to make changes after the fact.”
- Jon-Michael, bathroom & stairs renovation
Having a renovation done brings stress and anxiety; not only are these expensive projects to undertake, there is risk and uncertainty inviting strangers into your home to do work. These were the pain points that lead me to want to create a functional client portal as a part of the Clark Builders website.
Competitive Analysis
Before starting any sketches, I conducted a brief competitive analysis to determine what other remodeling companies are doing well, and what could be improved upon. I found one company in the Denver area and one local to Clark Builders to draw upon for inspiration.
Denver
I located a company and after performing a quick heuristic evaluation of their website, determined their design was easy to navigate, but didn’t show any customer reviews.
My earlier research showed users want to see reviews, samples of work, and details about the company - mainly how long they’ve been in business.
Minneapolis
Same process here - found a company, evaluated their website and noticed a different problem. This company showed lots of customer reviews, but their content was overwhelming.
The pages were packed and scrolled for ages. If time had allowed, it would've been great to set up usability sessions to see how users navigated and felt about this site.
Sketches
To get ideas flowing, I sketched out all possible screens to be included in the user flow. Everything from details about the company to how I imagined the client portal would operate.
These sketches were reviewed by the same research participants and their feedback fed into my next round of sketches.
1st Round
2nd Round
“I found three companies to get quotes from, but not all of them had websites to see samples of their work. One company just gave me addresses to go look at - Ha! What a joke.”
- Maureen, patio renovation
Coming Together
Once my sketches were updated to incorporate feedback I had received, some basic wireframes were created and loaded into InVision for further testing of the functionality of the client portal feature.
After a few more iteration sessions, I felt higher fidelity wireframes would be useful to start incorporating branding with a curated color palette, typography and UI components.
“I love what I do. It’s like being an artist, but people get to live inside your art.”
- Owner of Clark Builders
Let’s Build It
I'm happy to report that Clark Builders is excited to move forward with their website design, and I'm working in Squarespace to start prepping the content pages. The redesign will ensure that homeowners who visit their site can quickly find the three most important things when planning a renovation:
How long Clark Builders has been in business (About Us)
Samples of their work, both residential and commercial (Our Work)
Honest reviews from real people (Customer Reviews)
September 2018 Update - Clark Builders asked to have the website work be put on hold indefinitely; I’m looking forward to completing their site when their schedule allows.
In the meantime, please feel free to check out the Branding Style Guide used to showcase the strategy that went into the Clark Builders design.