Durham Industrial: A Case Study

Enabling a parent company and subsidiary partners to expand into new markets while maintaining brand equity

 

“Anna is a delight to work with. Knowledgeable and thoughtful, you can count on her to dig deep into the core of a problem before providing recommendations. She has an ability to take something complex and make it simple.”


- Mike Nitsopoulos, Creative Director, MDNA Creative

 
 
 

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Background

Durham Industrial Group is comprised of 4 industrial companies with close to 140 years’ combined experience. The brands were unified under the parent company in order to provide a full service experience for their clients. MDNA Creative were commissioned to establish the new brand and visual identity and selected Blue Umbrella as the UX partner.

The business goals:

  • Design a website with unified branding under a new parent company, communicating that all brands are part of a unified company offering one-stop, cost-effective solutions to their clients

  • Maintain brand equity for the acquired companies

  • Appeal to current customers who prefer to make deals in-person & to a new generation of tech savvy customers who expect to conduct business online

  • Expand into new markets e.g. green, renewable, sustainable sectors

First, we dove deep to understand the business. We asked thoughtful questions, then worked to create a global web navigation. As we wireframed the pages and layout, we discussed content needs.

 
 

Partner: MDNA Creative

Services:

  • UX Advisor

  • Website Navigation Design

  • Wireframing & Prototyping

Keywords:

  • Product Pivot

  • Brand Acquisition

  • Form Design

Home page and navigation (2024)

 

Global Navigation Design

 

The initial proposed sitemap (below on the left) highlighted individual brands as part of the global navigation. This was a good starting point but did not meet all the business and user needs.

After asking questions about the business strategy, the needs of different customer groups, web content & design, we proposed a revised global navigation, which:

  • Provides a landing page (Our Companies) to communicate the new company structure and it’s advantages to customers

  • Provides each brand with its own page to respect their brand equity

  • Introduces a high-value Request a Quote page which addresses to the needs of a new, tech savvy group of customers

The initial sitemap


The revised sitemap after consultation with Blue Umbrella

 
 
 

The solid foundation we set in 2018 allowed the team to adapt the website to their evolving business needs. Here is the current navigation in 2024 (right).

  • They now highlight Custom Fabrication, Products & Services, Industries, About Us and Contact Us in the global navigation

  • Request a Quote and the new Sign up for Our Newsletter were strategically moved to the secondary navigation

Current global navigation and secondary navigation (2024)

 
 
 

Request a Quote Page Design

By asking the right questions about the business strategy and user needs, we learned that Request a Quote is critical to the website.

In order for the form to be useful, we suggested adding:

  • A brief reason for a customer to complete the form

  • What to do with an urgent request

  • The ability to Attach a file where diagrams or documents best explain the customer needs

We applied best practices in form design by:

  • 
Prioritizing the form flow to align with a user’s mental model by beginning with the Project Description

  • Minimizing the number of required fields to what the Sales staff need and what customers typically communicate

  • Clearly marking required vs. optional fields

  • Including useful placeholder text

Our wires vs. the live design are on the right and show good form design. The Request a Quote Page is effective and meets both business and customer needs. While other pages have been updated, this page has stayed true to the original 2018 recommendations.

Wireframes for Request a Quote (2018)

Live website for Request a Quote (2018-2024)

 
 
 

Contact Us Page Design

By asking the right questions about the business strategy and user needs, we designed a Contact Us page that hasn’t changed in 6 years. Simple, but effective.

  • It was critical to include a map and working hours for in-person customer visits.

  • Customers needed to contact the company at a physical location, by phone and via email.

Contact Us wireframes during the design phase in 2018

Contact Us page live 2018-2024

 
 
 

The impact

By asking the right questions, we were able to:

  • Identify the need for a single Request a Quote page for all brands.

  • Emphasize the importance of highlighting each brand’s expertise.

  • Remove individual product catalogues and cut development time and cost.

  • Create a simple navigation and a succinct, cohesive site.

  • Design high-value pages that have stood the test of time (2018-2024).

The re-brand and new website resulted in:

  • A cohesive story of 4 brands providing a best-in-class service under one roof, while respecting each company’s area of expertise.

  • Increase in requests for an online quote by 6x.

  • The ability to expand into new markets and grow the customer base.

  • The ability to reach a new, tech savvy generation of customers taking over family-run businesses.

 
 
 

Let’s find out if we are the right UX advisor for your team!

We really enjoyed working with MDNA Creative & Durham Industrial on this design-branding-build project. MDNA is a great partner, always open to trying new ideas. And Durham is highly knowledgeable about their customer needs!

Are you working on a web project that could benefit from a UX Advisor to ask thoughtful questions and prioritize the must haves? Want to reduce development efforts and build a website that will stand the test of time?

Let’s find out if we’re a good fit.