Justin Scherer

The challenge

We had to create a unified web presence from scratch for the biggest integrated marketing agency in Canada.

The site had to represent the best work and capabilities of dozens of divisions, which were all centrally managed, independently operated, and located all over the country in three regional offices. Also, it had to be responsive. No big deal, right?

I worked as the lead UX Designer on this project.

The approach

Getting buy-in from so many people meant that the design work we did had to be constantly visible and open for critique at any time. The project war room was a revolving door of stakeholders. Anyone, from a junior art director to the CEO could walk in at any moment.

We started by spending a LOT of time looking at the portfolio sites of digital agencies from all over the world. Then we worked through as many concepts at low fidelity as possible—sketching, wireframing, and getting quick feedback from engineering and art direction. We used big foam core boards and the walls of the office to post up sketches, competitive audits, paste-up comps, and creative concepts.

The Solution

We wanted to encourage contextual exploration of the agency's work, so we used massive, attention-grabbing stills and video content (the auto-play wasn't my idea, I swear) so that casual browsers' would instinctively ignore the chrome of the site and dive into the agency's work. They get pulled in, but the navigation is still succinct and intuitive enough so that, if someone is looking for something specific, they'll be able to find it.

The core of the experience lies in campaign-specific case studies where we showcased the quality of creative work alongside the results the campaign generated.