Rhino Construction
Summary: Renovation Time
Position: UX Designer & Brand Consultant
Type of Company: Construction Company
Project: Customer Surveys, Interviews, Site Design, and Visual Refresh
Technologies: User Survey, User Interviews, Card Sorting, Sketch, Affinity Designers, Photoshop, Illustrator
Rhino Construction is a construction company delivering landmark residential, commercial, and industrial projects throughout America. As the Senior UX Designer & Brand Consultant, I collaborated with marketing and leadership to create a user experience curated for their desired clients.
Goal
Define the user experience for both mobile and web within 6 months to provide value for premium construction clients. I would create a consistent user experience regarding user flow, visuals, tone, and behaviors based on user research.
My approach was to collect feedback from existing and potential customers, bring past projects to light in a shareable form and place them as a leader in the online construction community.
Problem: "Fixer Upper"
The site was losing target customers due to outdated brand choices, legacy web standards, and broken mobile pages. It looked pretty straight forward. However, user testing would point out the main feature was missing.
Collecting Feedback
Not every project needs a survey but every company needs feedback. I wrote and conducted surveys to create natural experiences utilizing feedback loops. After reviewing current feedback, i wrote surveys that could be used before, during, and after a project. While working with the front desk administrator, I understood feedback back was coming in but not being documented. The surveys helped inform my decisions and future projects. My goal was to:
Discover clear and actionable insights
Write clean, simple, and unbiased questions
Ask the right types of questions in the best order
Focus on completion time instead of the # of questions
Project Survey
5 sample Rhino questions:
Was the quality of the work what you expected?
Did the job start on time?
Were the workers on the job courteous and professional?
Was the job completed in a timely manner?
Would you refer our company to someone else?
Branding Survey
5 sample Rhino questions:
Share 3 words you'd use to describe Rhino Construction?
What do you think this company does?
Is this logo trustworthy?
Would you change any of the colors of this logo?
What comes to mind when you look at this logo?
Contractor Survey
5 sample Rhino questions:
How would you rate your experience with our contractor?
Were they able to answer your questions or concerns?
Would you like to work with this person again?
Overall, how would you rate their performance?
How could they improve the Rhino experience?
Website Interview
5 sample Rhino questions:
Was the Rhino website easy to use?
What would you change about it?
How would you describe the Rhino site?
What are you hoping to accomplish by visiting our website?
What were you looking for on the website?
Survey Says!
My branding survey for Rhino Construction informed the owner and marketing about their image and what they could do. It was important to back up my findings with examples of best practices to help the client understand and not take results personally. Here are some telling questions:
What comes to mind when you look at this logo?
What do you think this company does?
Is this company trustworthy?
The survey results came back with answers like Kids Sports Team, Toy Company, and Aggressive. I delivered these findings in person, prioritized the problems we can solve, and provided a plan for addressing those problems.
Early Findings: Persona
Using past client data and stakeholder interviews I was able to create a persona:
High net-worth
35-55 years of age
Already owns buildings
Interested in high-end and modern amenities
Attracted to crisp, clean styling with natural light
Updating the Brand
After reviewing the feedback from our users, I made a style guide with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign to help unify all aspects of marketing. As a former art director, I enjoyed working with their marketing department and the owner. The revamp was necessary to align with our new user base and product strategy.
Strong & Simple
Some of my early sketches were based on survey feedback. Customers requested: Stability, Experience, Reputation, Communication, and Professionalism.
I wanted the logo to show who Rhino is, what it does, and who Rhino is for. Most of my logos revolved around the theme of construction, rhinos, and the letters RC.
As Solid as a Rhino
The logo font requirements were strength, free to install on every computer, and be legible. After presenting 6 options, the Google Font Black Han Sans Regular was chosen.
"R" Main Focus
By incorporating a "residential home" or "industrial site" into the logo it might exclude potential clients. So I decided to focus on an R, a rhino, and use of color to indicate construction.
Meet Michaeli
I named our main rhino Michaeli after the Latin name (Diceros Bicornis Michaeli). The profile of a rhino best displayed its features, appeared less aggressive, and a realistic image provided a more grounded feel.
Putting it Together
After streamlining the rhino silhouette, removing the r's counter, and reducing the aperture size between the diagonal stroke our logo was done. In our sample follow up survey, we asked which colors best represented our services and yellow & orange were the winners.
Rhino Construction
Meet the new Rhino Construction. Based on our survey results, interviews, and branding updates, it was time to implement our findings. We had identified our audience, gotten to know our competitors, and developed our messaging.
Now it was time to decide what channels, assets, and campaign tactics will be the most important. The promotional plan was set to be completed before fall. My job was to lay the foundation for a better user experience.
Global Quote System
User flows showed a global quote system built into the main navigation was necessary. After the first round of testing, I added a "Request a Quote" to my wireframes. Working with the user's feedback, we used the wireframes to inform our decision about requesting a quote from every page.
Designing a Floor Plan
Before you can jump into building a house, you need a logical floor plan. I used my UX Kits - Website Deck to help remind the clients of possible options and wrote down additional ideas with dry erase on the back of the cards.
Information Architecture: Sketch
I wanted to take both the clients' and users' needs into account, improving upon the site's current functionality. In Sketch App, I've constructed a sketch web-flow library. It helps speed up IA tremendously and is something I can maintain myself.
Wireframes
We approved these wireframes in two rounds, skipping a mid-fidelity mockup. Content creation was clean and quick. Our mantra was, "show don't tell." The copy was kept brief, allowing images and testimonials to shine.
Final Results
Rhino Construction's goal was reached, ahead of schedule and within budget. Before launching, the site received some minor updates to fix immediate problems. The "Request a Quote" feature provided a big win as gave a way to immediately funnel requests to the correct person. This feature came directly from user flow & testing.
Online Quotes increase 84% percent year over year
Visits to the site increased 3x due to mobile
Inserted and improved metadata
Optimized site speed
What I Learned
I learned about creating an environment of feedback. When giving notes, be mindful of how connected someone is to their job and company. Someone poured themselves into a previous project like the logo or website. Respect their creators and remember how they helped get Rhino Construction to this point was always on my mind.
What I Provided
Rhino Construction acts as a new company. A company who's branding and accomplishments match. The new homepage helped them connect with new clients. To the tune of over 84% growth in online signups, surpassing phone requests.
DISCOVERY & STRATEGY
Baseline Evaluation
Research
Interviews & Surveys
Branding Strategy
Experience Strategy
UI/UX Design
Information Architecture
Content Strategy
UX Strategy and Design
Interactive Design
Visual Design
Responsive Design
BRANDING
Branding Strategy
Visual Identity and Assets
Illustration
Brand Guidelines
COMMUNICATIONS
Messaging and Positioning
Verbal Identity
Communications Style Guides
Content Strategy
Content Production
