Sequent Creative faced two major challenges with the redesign of the Straub Construction, Inc. website. First, was the use of Adobe Flash, which made sections of the site inaccessible for users on certain mobile devices. Secondly was the inability of staff to update the website in-house. The Sequent team addressed these hurdles with ease and efficiency.
Scenario
Straub Construction is a long-time leader in the design-build and construction management services industry.
Unfortunately, this esteem and professionalism was not conveyed in the company website. Because Straub relies on an online portfolio and bid calendar for new business, it’s key that these features are always up to date.
In an effort to increase business opportunities, Straub had four primary requests for Sequent:
- Update the website design to competing industry standards.
- Transfer the website architecture to a content management system (CMS) that could easily be maintained in-house post-redesign.
- Automate and provide a portal for the bid calendar.
- Develop online portfolio of projects to showcase accomplishments and awards.
Design
Sequent’s design team began by taking into consideration Straub’s wishlist for a website redesign, as well as a review of websites of industry peers.
The next step was to closely examine the proposed and existing sitemaps to prioritize features and pages.
From here, Sequent’s designers created high level wireframes and generated suggestions for style choices for the new website, including fonts, color pallets, etc.
The result was a new design that streamlined template aesthetics to maximize content and imagery.
Development
After the design team had successfully established the new look of the website, the development team was tasked with finding a CMS that could satisfy the functional needs of the new site, as well as the high volume of traffic it receives on a daily basis.
After extensive research and consideration, WordPress was selected. This user-friendly CMS provides customization opportunities and ease of use for even the least tech-savvy user.
Automated Bid Calendar
Sequent then build Straub’s online bid calendar, the first custom application of the project. This calendar advertises the latest project bids, allowing subcontractors to instantly determine if a partnership opportunity is available.
A web page containing detailed information is created for each bid. A custom-built toolset feeds each bid directly into the calendar application for ease of viewing.
The end result is a comprehensive calendar representation of all current bids that is automatically updated as each bid is entered into the system.
Dynamic Portfolio
The next custom application Sequent created for Straub was its online dynamic portfolio. This task required a strong design aesthetic that would highlight each of their projects and organize them into logical categories.
Each project would have its own page to include:
- A featured image
- A dynamic image gallery unique to each project with lightbox popup feature
- Specific information about the project characteristic and safety information
- The ability to be placed in multiple project categories.
Summary
On August 2, 2013, Sequent Creative and Straub Construction Inc. unveiled the new website, complete with updated functionality and a sleek, visually-stunning aesthetic.
The client was pleased with the new look and updates, and is now able to manage simple updates from within their organization with little fuss.
