Creating a new brand for acoustic consultancy

ACOUSTIC CLARITY | SMALL BUSINESS

The challenge

• My client’s business, NACSound, had been struggling to generate sales leads
• Comments and user feedback had been received from architects and engineers that this website doesn’t represent what is required for an acoustic consultancy
• My client wanted to understand whether to split his acoustic consultancy business from his speakers and sound sculptures

Discovery

My client’s current website, NACSound, was not generating sales leads for either acoustic consultancy or for his high-end speakers and sound sculptures.

My first task was to help my client define who his target audience and website users are. It became immediately clear that users looking for speakers and sound sculptures were very different from users looking for acoustic consultancy.

This was the first indicator that a new brand should be created for acoustic consultancy. There were also key differences in time availability for the different personas. The website would need to immediately show key terms these people are looking for.

Feedback my client had received about the NACSound from architects and engineers:

• The website did not look like an acoustic consultancy, so there was immediately an issue with trust
• The website looked like either a restaurant or a church depending on which lead image was visible
• Regular services provided by acoustic consultants weren’t being advertised, and this was causing concern for potential clients who need to adhere to particular building standards

Defining design challenges

After an initial workshop with the client, the following challenges were identified:

• A new brand needed to be created to solely advertise an acoustic consultancy, project management and product fitting service. This service was a key differentiator in the market as other acoustic consultancies do not offer this “full-stack” service.
• Landing pages other than the home page needed to be considered (see user journey map). The NACSound website did not feature detailed service pages, product pages for the acoustic panelling, or case study pages for most of the previously completed works.
• The architect and architect-CEO personas were highlighted as key users of this service. These people are time-poor yet still need to quickly understand a good amount of detail about the service offering. This would help to define the content planning.

Competitor analysis

Certain elements were clear from a competitor analysis based on key search terms related to the acoustic consultancy business:

• Competitors almost universally had links to their service offerings on the home page of their website
• All competitors bar one looked industrial in approach, clearly showing they offered environmental noise impact assessment and building site box-checking. This was not something we intended to match as a service offering as my client does not specialise in these activities.
• The competitor that stood out, AF Acoustics, featured an abstract 3D animation of “sound movement” within a space. This was an aesthetic my client was keen to capture.
• Ramboll Group appeared to have the most professionally executed and stylistically well-considered brand approach for their website, even including a custom, gothic typeface of their own.

Brand design

When creating brand identities I tend to lean towards typographic approaches based on visual portmanteaux or negative space treatments (like my own logo).

Wireframes

After creating a sitemap (always the first thing I do) I created responsive-sized wireframes to illustrate basic page layout parameters for all key page templates.

When creating wireframes for a project like this, I tend to focus on the overall layout and information flow without worrying too much about the copywriting accuracy. I find that the copy is better created and edited on the live website when building a site myself.

UI design

I chose to align to the aesthetic of Ramboll by choosing an asymmetric homepage layout which is pleasing to the eye and allows for good information flow. I also opted for a Gothic Slim font throughout the website.

Building the site

I built the site using the WordPress platform, which is now surprisingly powerful, offering a huge range of optimisation options and added features. I was able to build complex layouts and site features by utilising a variety of features offered by this platform, to great effect.

When reviewing the website, updating copy and adding content, I realised the slim gothic font, whether presented large or not, was not impactful on mobile screen sizes. I changed my approach to increase the font-weight while still maintaining the overall elegance of the Gothic font style.

Project outcome

I designed and built a website that clearly defines my client’s service offering and is already rapidly climbing the rankings on Google for key search terms

While still in progress of being populated, this website is already performing outstandingly compared to my client’s previous site in Google rankings. It is my sincere hope that this website generates lasting business value for my client for years to come, and I will be on hand to help him explore his new lead-generation platform. See the website for yourself.

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See the site