Kinetic Redesign
We launched a significant redesign of the Kinetic Communications website last Friday afternoon. It was a lot of hard work put in by everyone in the office and we are really pleased with the results.
Previously, the website had the same overall design for almost eight years, with a modest redesign/re-skin in 2002 and an update to the code in 2005, ditching the table-and-font code soup for CSS and XHTML.
This time around, we wanted a complete separation from the old site. We also wanted to throw some of our own personality into the mix, which is why we used so many images from around our office space in the new site. The new look features a bolder palette, wider layout, brand spankin’ new javascript image fader script, some microformat goodies and content rotator for featured projects.
We spent some time copy writing, revising just about every page on the site, from company information to service descriptions to project case studies. We also redesigned collages for more than 50 case studies and added new photography and a slideshow tour.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief Friday when the site went live. The biggest lesson learned through the process might be that we were our own toughest clients, analyzing every detail from every conceivable angle. In the end, though, our quest for perfection rewarded us with a site worth the sweat we put into it.
We also learned that changing a big site after a long period of inactivity is tough – you get used to the way things have been for so long that you resist change. Our plan is to make more frequent, smaller site improvements in an effort to postpone a complete overhaul for another 7-10 years.
