Jireh Industrial Services
1 of 4: Discovery
The Client
Jireh Industrial Services (JIS) has an enviable position in the construction world where they operate. Through the excellent service they provide, they’ve established a reputation of respect and reliability for themselves, and they’re currently transitioning to a women-owned and women-led organization. Things are being passed to the next generation, and they needed their digital tools to more fully represent who they are, the quality of their work, and the direction they’re moving in.
Not only is the women-led nature of JIS impressive in such a male-dominated industry, it’s notable that their approach isn’t that of “female pirates” trying to conquer anything. They’re simply bringing community, inclusion, and heart to the strength and reliability their industry demands. These are not mutually exclusive traits, and JIS is proving that.
Project Objective
Evolve their web presence so it aligns with best practices and helps facilitate sales, and evolve their branding so it reaches the high standards of the services they provide.
My role on this project
UX/UI Design, industry & Audience Research, Wireframing, Visual Design, Website Development QC, Logo Design & Refinement.
Collaborator
Shea Ashdown (PMI-ACP, CSPO) for Content Strategy, Copywriting
Discovery & Research
The existing JIS website had done its job, but the company was evolving. They were expanding into a new industry, taking on new types of work, and needed a digital presence that reflected their capabilities and direction.
Discovery began with me and my creative partner, Shea Ashdown (PMI-ACP, CSPO), identifying the key members of the JIS team we needed to interview. Our goal was to understand the people they serve, the problems they solve, and the clarity the new site needed to deliver. The big questions we had to answer were:
- Who are we speaking to?
- What are they searching for, and how do they describe it?
- What big questions does the website need to answer?
As we answered these questions, it was all distilled down into the User Personas I created. These guided everything that was designed for the website and said in the copy.
User Personas
Altogether, the goal of this project was to ease the sales process. We had to give curious researchers and hiring managers the right information and create a clear path to booking an inspection with JIS.
Generally speaking, JIS's clients have a tech-savvy engineer who does the initial research, and then they pass on their findings to the hiring managers above. So, engineers are who we were talking to first, and they want details and information to answer their technical curiosities. But, we also needed to create straightforward layouts and content that are easy to distill quickly for the hiring managers who need to make good, but quick decisions.
Competitive Analysis
One thing I noticed on the website for JIS’s industry peers was heavy use of industrial caution colors as their branding. Emergency reds, warning oranges, and screaming yellows. It looked unsurprisingly like the signs and cones used for road work, and while that was understandable and even thematically appropriate, it was a little too on-the-nose. It also conflicted with website color conventions that most users are familiar with: gray for inactive, red for alert, yellow for warning, and green for confirmation. The way their competitors use colors often feels vague and meaningless.
In my research, I looked at companies that are of a similar scale to JIS right now, and then some that are larger and represent where JIS is heading. It was a matter of differentiating from the other fish in their current pond, while also leveling up to declare their readiness to swim with the bigger fish.
The Cons
There were several examples of companies that left a lot of room for improvement, so I pointed out both what I was seeing and alternatives I wanted to explore.
A few common elements I found were:
- Images are used to convey a high-tech quality to their work, but land as cold and create an “uncanny valley” quality where things feel off.
- Inconsistent color usage, which resulted in difficult way-finding and a heavy cognitive lift.
- Numerous WCAG violations that impaired usability, implied a carelessness to technologically savvy visitors, and risked ADA lawsuits.
Here’s a small sample of how I notated the various examples to the client to show my thinking:
The Pros
In addition to the “Room for Improvement” examples, there were also companies that have very refined design systems that speak volumes to the general quality of their products and services. JIS is ready to join these best-of-breed examples, so this level of visual and aesthetic quality is what our design explorations focused on.
Color Palette
Our colors had to be comforting to visitors who were familiar with construction conventions, but not so common that they were forgettable. So this image represents a few of the color options, competitive analysis notes, and typeface combinations I presented.
We needed to understand the professional context around JIS so that the “why” behind my presentation was clear. After all, this was the context the new designs would exist within, and ultimately, it’s the context that gives their branding its meaning.
The Chosen Palette
This is the palette the team chose to move forward with. Read the “Review Notes” below to see some of the team’s comments.
Impact
Knowing who we were talking to allowed us to understand the human needs our work was addressing and brought the abstract into a more real form. Ultimately, it’s people who are visiting the JIS website, not analytics, graphs, or robots with one-dimensional needs & problems.
Now that we’d confirmed who we were talking to and what needed to be said, we could move on to the next phase.
Our next step: brand evolution.
Client Testimonial
We were overwhelmed by the prospect of redesigning our website, but when Ryan and Shea got involved, they were a breath of fresh air. They carefully walked us through the process of our website overhaul and made every step along the way very clear.
They created customer profiles, custom color schemes, and our new web pages in phases that were easy to review and fun to participate in. When we saw their final website designs, we were so delighted! They are talented, wonderful to work with, and truly understand how to sift through the mayhem to create beauty.
Candace Duby
Operations Manager & Customer Relationship Manager
