InSite EFS

Education-focused real estate firm

image

Project: Website Redesign

Roles: UX & Interaction Design, Research, FE Dev

Duration: March 2016

BACKGROUND

The redesign of the InSite EFS website. A few meetings and discussions with the president of the company and a partner within the firm led to a few simple ideas and goals for the site. They are as follows:

  • Display projects and accomplishments - i.e. Portfolio
  • Provide potential clients with available services
  • Provide necessary contact information for team members
  • Acquire leads and provide a means of communication from potential clients to the company members.

RESEARCH


InSite is unique in that they have a very niche market. They are successful because they have almost no competition. There is only one other company that does what they do. Here is a breakdown of the comparison.

Competitor Analysis

The Good

  • Responsive
  • Resource Section
  • New vs. Existing School Services

The Bad

  • No portfolio. List Schools, but very few images of them.
  • No team page. Who am I dealing with and what do they specialize in?
  • Location? Where do they provide services?

Similarities

  • Explanation of Services
  • Contact form
  • Good visuals of education

LEARNING


Analysis

After comparing the current site with its competitors, the client and I sat down and determined the following features to be implemented into the redesign.

Portfolio Page

With so many projects under their belt, InSite needed a place to showcase them. A portfolio would provide the following:

  • Show off best work
  • Show project types
  • Show project locations
  • Display number of seats per project

Team Page

The team page would provide the following information to existing and potential clients.

  • Know you are working with
  • Know which areas in the country they work
  • Provide a list of skills and specialties
  • Provide necessary contact information

Client Satisfaction

Testimonials and quotes will help potential clients realize they are working with the best in the business. They can show:

  • Trust in the company or team member
  • Satisfaction on job well done
  • Answers to questions or doubts
  • Humanizing effect- others have had good experiences

Engaging Content

Part of the design should be interactive, allowing for more site engagement with the user.

  • Free up space
  • Provide delight
  • Provide more details

CREATE


Sketches

Getting the basic structure and layout of the site

Wireframes

A more polished approach and being able to use tools like Sketch to work out user flows and interactions with the pages that required it.

Mockups & Prototypes

I created an early prototype to show some of the site functions. The prototype as it is here does not represent the final design. I got the design to a certain point and the client wanted to speed up the time-line so I began to develop it. Once the site was put to code, I was able to tweak and adjust as the needed, based on bug fixes and other design iterations from the client. You can see the prototype here.

SHIP

Implementation

Taking the design from mockups and prototypes to code.

Bootstrap Framework

I used the bootstrap framework when developing the site to utilize the responsive capabilities.

Sublime Text

As with all my development, I like using Sublime Text because of its lightness and ease of use.

Edits & Tweaks

I feel that the development stage allows me to implement effects and change them as necessary if something is not working right with the design. This process is fairly quick, once the initial design is created, making it easy to change or add interactions and styles across the board.

REFINE


Site Launch

After launching the site in Feb. 2016, here are some things I learned from user feedback.

Language

The copy needed to be changed in certain places because it was confusing or sending the wrong message.

Bug Fixes

Certain effects didn't work quite right, so I had to fix them across the board.

Responsive Issues

I had to take a look at the various screen sizes and browsers to make sure things displayed correctly. Using a framework does not guarantee 100% functionality in all circumstances.

Tony was a great partner in the development of a refresh of our company web site. We were seeking a specific look and design and Tony took the time needed to understand what we wanted and more importantly, he was able to implement what we wanted.

by Benson Sainsbury, President InSite EFS

Measuring

Reviewing site Analytics to see what's working and what is not

3858

Site Visits in Q1 2016

6010

Page Visits in Q1 2016

180% increase from Q4 of 2015

3553

Unique Visitors in Q1 2016

Customer

  • CLIENT:InSite Educational Facility Services
  • DATE:Mar 2016
  • WEBSITE:www.insiteefs.com

Client description

InSite Educational Facility Services is an education-focused real estate firm with a mission to help public and private schools find the best solutions for their facility needs. We specialize in providing site selection services to new and existing schools throughout the United States. In addition, we offer related services such as asset sales and leasing, business acquisitions/dispositions, assistance in financing, entitlement services and much more. InSite Educational Facilities Services is the only national full service brokerage and consulting firm exclusively dedicated to educational facilities.

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