Longtime friend of InSource, Brandie Knox, who is the principal and creative director of Knox Design Strategy, shared a recent successful case study with us. Knox has an interesting career story. Prior to running her own design firm, she led an in-house design team at one of the largest corporate law firms in the world, during which time she gained expertise regarding the legal industry and learned how to strategize complex projects while managing a global team. This in-house experience led her to the next stage of her career: running a design firm that takes on branding and identity projects in addition to developing UX/UI strategy and marketing collateral design.
Her unique career trajectory is what first brought her to our attention, and now we are pleased to share an interesting case study from her recent project for corporate law firm McElroy Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter, LLP.
The initiative included the design of a new logo to reflect the abbreviated firm name, McElroy Deutsch. The namemark incorporates a contemporary serif typeface, while the new palette – which is brighter and more “energetic” than that of the prior website – was inspired by the firm’s historic use of green.
After solidifying the new information architecture, Knox embarked on the design and development of a fully custom, responsive website. The website and easy-to-update content management system allow for single content entry. Meanwhile, the association of various pages can be established with one click on the back end by a site administrator, which affords a seamless user experience, connecting site visitors with relevant information and, ideally, increasing time spent on the site.
Knox shared a few inspiring before-and-after samples:
Logo before/after
Home Page
The new home page features a cleaner and more modern look. Featured content – such as the firm’s news, blog and practice highlights – is updated regularly in order to encourage user click-throughs.
Attorney Landing Page
The firm’s previous attorney landing page constituted a long scrolling list of names and contact information for more than 280 attorneys. The new bio landing page provides an alphabetized list with photos; this user-friendly format tends to resonate better with site visitors. The functionality includes additional filtering capabilities, so users can search by specific practice or industry area or by jurisdiction of bar admission as well as by attorney name.
Attorney Bio Pages
The updated attorney bio pages work like individual mini sites. The website continues to utilize tabs across the top as a way to minimize the need to scroll down long pages to access content. At the same time, the new design is cleaner, incorporating environmental photography and individual social media channels, allowing for a more personalized bio page.
Industry Pages
The website’s previous industry landing page included a simple list of links to the individual industry pages. The new design retains that list, but also allows site visitors to click to see an overview of each industry as well the related practice areas within those industries.
In Conclusion
Not only did the firm achieve a more contemporary website look and feel by taking advantage of Knox Design Strategy’s expertise, but also the investment ensured a better overall user experience – one that aids visitors as they seek relevant content and attorney information, thus creating an effective and efficient resource for the law firm’s clients and prospects.