Discovery phase to manage audience expectations
To provide an opportunity to dig a little deeper into the firm’s expectations and aspirations, we started the project with a Discovery Workshop. Our team asked questions about the problems with their current website and the purpose of their new branding. We got to the bottom of what they wanted to achieve from this project: a website that would reflect their ambition and support their evolution.
One of the main topics of conversation was about the client’s audience, a reflection of our three-dimensional thinking, considering the needs of the audience first and foremost. For Carbon, this was particularly important, as there were two core audiences to target with the new website functionality: those looking for legal advice and those interested in becoming a partner.
Previously, they had two websites where they tried to tailor the content and messaging for each audience. Considering their new aims, however, they were concerned this had the potential to confuse their audiences if they ended up on the wrong website. During the Discovery Workshop, we decided to bring the two audiences together with one streamlined website design. Using a comprehensive sitemap, we showed the client how the content would be organised on the website, while providing our designers and developers with a plan to follow.
A flexible CMS to manage content and page layouts
Our team quickly identified that WordPress would be the best CMS for the firm. Historically, they had two different websites to operate through two different CMS’, but together we realised managing two websites was an inefficient use of their time and resources. Renowned as one of the most user-friendly CMS’ available, WordPress allowed us to create a selection of flexible blocks for the internal teams at Carbon to take advantage of. This made it significantly easier for internal teams to manage the content, giving them the power to adapt the page layouts depending on the audience requirements.
Refreshing visual branding
Visually, the aim was to reposition Carbon Law Partners as pioneers in the legal industry. They were keen to avoid the corporate feel of traditional law firms, so we introduced a brave new branding that would stand out against competitors. The original branding was fairly limiting when designing new graphics for their website and social media as it consisted of a simple colour palette of grey and red.
To move away from this limitation, our design team incorporated a secondary colour palette with green, blue, yellow and purple to give plenty of versatility to the internal teams. We also darkened the original grey colour to give a higher contrast between content. This gave the brand a highly-effective refresh, without losing their identity. Our designers also included custom icons and image guides to once again make sure that Carbon stood out from its competitors – avoiding using stock photography of corporate environments and office workers.
Using their new colour palette, we created a selection of custom icons – from a waving hand to a moving eye, these are used across the website to encourage user interaction. The internal teams at Carbon could find advice on what good and bad photography looked like with an image guide, to avoid cliché stock imagery used by competitors. To provide Carbon with a clear idea of the end result, we put together a Style Tile to show how the font, colours, icons and images would work together.
Optimising existing content
Since the content across the previous two websites served two audiences, our team reviewed the content to make sure the language was consistent. Working closely together, our team of content specialists pinned down the tone of voice and refined the messaging across the site. To optimise the content, we assigned a focus keyword and semantic keywords to each page through keyword research and keyword mapping. This was used to optimise the page title, meta description, headings and content on each page, increasing the likelihood of Carbon Law Partners ranking for key search terms.
Making a difference to the legal industry
The end result was not just a dynamic website that perfectly represented the firm, but one that allowed them to stand out against competitors, had a completely unique visual design and grabbed the attention of lawyers and clients. We presented Carbon Law Partners as a brand that demanded the attention of their audience through bold colours, playful icons and a distinctive tone of voice.
Our long-standing relationship with Carbon Law Partners is maintained through social media campaigns as we continue to support them by sharing their platform and promoting their services. The firm remains committed to making a difference to the legal industry.
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