Cox Architecture
Role ⸻ UX & UI Lead | Time ⸻ 2015 | Status ⸻ Launched
This website was my first project working at Juniorcru. I was involved in the proposal and responsible for the scope of work, user experience and digital design.
The brief was to deliver a full service website for Cox Architecture, an award-winning Australian multi-national architecture firm. Their previous website had been built on flash and, with no CMS, lacked the ability to effectively publish new content.
My role involved leading a number of workshops with key internal stakeholders to gain a deeper understanding of the business needs and internal user requirements. The workshops identified external and internal user archetypes, beginning to develop an understanding of their needs and goals. The outcomes of these workshops informed the information architecture, sitemap and initial wireframes of the website.
I began this project as a junior digital designer. My previous agency experience was as an interaction designer and this was my first opportunity to take on the role of lead designer on a large project. This experience taught me how to justify my design, rationalise my decisions and ultimately deliver on a large scale digital design project.
The primary client stakeholder for this project was a senior architect, however, the company had over 20 partner architects all providing feedback on the requirements and design of the website. Presenting to a room of architects was probably the most challenging task of my career at that time. These people designed beautiful and useful buildings; naturally they wanted to influence the design.
During the first concept presentation I let my nerves get the better of me and the client rejected the concept. I put faith in my process, adapted to the client and didn’t let it happen again.
Using the relationship I had built with the key stakeholder, I proposed a more collaborative approach to the next round, making design reviews more often and with fewer people involved.
This was a success and the website began to take shape. We began locking down sections and components allowing the client to embark on the task of gathering content from their eight international offices. We commissioned a photographer to modernise the headshots of all key staff and encouraged them to submit work or inspiration to be featured on the website. These stories, learnings and case studies from across the company were part of a new content marketing strategy we recommended. We provided the client with a content management system to publish within the new framework. This content would go on to form the ‘Aperture’ online publication.
The website design continued to evolve with the content discovery phase. Within set limitations we crafted project, people and story templates. Each page was built to best showcase the content and a cyclic navigation ensured each page would lead seamlessly onto the next.
I’m very proud of the final designs for this project. The process strengthened my ability to deal with client feedback and built my resilience to critique. This project also proved my ability to deliver under pressure and within budget. I forged a relationship with the client and they benefited from the collaborative approach to the project.