Provided best-in-class design application across industries
UI DesignConnected Experiences
We design systems that make a difference for digital brands and their users.
Elevating a brand in the digital space relies heavily on clarity, consistency and tone of communication.
Aesthetics are, of course, a big part of that, but not just in trends or palatable colors. Truly elevating a digital experience uses design in a functional way, one that not only meets user needs but drives business growth while still feeling personal, valuable and seamless.
Envisioning what “new” looked like for Northwestern Medicine
Northwestern Medicine (NM) tasked our team with exploring contemporary design options for their website, which had not been updated in years and lagged behind the evolution of the core brand. We were given a subset of pages in need of new design thinking that could scale across the rest of the site. To provide a holistic recommendation set, we designed two directions—the first to work within their existing component set, the second to expand outside of it.
The results for both directions pointed back to modernization in several ways.
We treated the iconic NM purple with more purpose in our designs to make it pop. We used elevated assets, like photography and video, to create visual interest in new ways. And we created a flexible type system that ensured a breadth of content could be supported while still looking clean and engaging.
Connecting a bank back to their website
After we launched the “Bank Your Best Life” campaign for North Shore Bank (NSB), their web team engaged us to deliver a new digital vision to align with their core brand. NSB’s website was overly templated and cluttered with content, making it hard to stay engaged or find specific information. The campaign colors were clean, impactful and effortlessly connected back to the brand’s evolution—a look the NSB team was excited to carry over to their site.
A digitally focused, user-first solution
Our design vision for northshorebank.com ultimately used the brand campaign as a north star but with some web-specific considerations. The new color palette, for example, had to be infused tactically, since some of the pairings were not compliant with digital accessibility standards. To solve, we designed a system to not only reinforce color usage and accessibility but futureproof it. Additionally, we introduced an evolved type system that connected back to the brand campaign but still accommodated for a breadth of content in an intuitive hierarchy.
Photography posed a unique challenge. The "Bank Your Best Life” campaign relied on patterns and typography—no photos. Adding a human element to the site was important for making a personal connection to users, so we translated the campaign sentiment into a variety of portrait-focused lifestyle images exuded feelings of warmth and positivity.
Finally, we collected and detailed all our design decisions into digital style guidelines. This ensured that new templates and content had guardrails going forward, keeping things consistent across the site.
Creating smart solutions for security
Master Lock’s product portfolio is vast, expanding far beyond standard padlocks. Their digital team tasked us with elevating their suite of Bluetooth products and compatibility software from the rest of their portfolio. Before making any recommendations, our initial efforts focused on understanding the pathways and content that existed around the Bluetooth hardware and software solutions. The overall story between the two was muddled and convoluted, even buried in some places. Additionally, the visual storytelling for this suite of products was dated, lacking the modern design needed to reflect their innovative technology.
Giving high-tech locks a high-tech interface
Distinguishing this subset of hardware and software started with elevating visibility within the ecosystem. Based on search data and client input, we aligned on a “Smart” label for the product suite and added it to the main website navigation so more users could find the products.
Substantial content and user experience work went into untangling the multiple products for multiple audiences, but imagery played a big part in clear representation. We thoughtfully incorporated high impact images across the suite of Smart pages, using them to help explain what the products do, who they are for and how they work as a unified ecosystem.
Elevating design treatments across other areas, like overall components and iconography, resulted in an aesthetic much more aligned with the sleek, minimal style of high-tech products.
The digital space leads with design
Visual design plays a vital role in elevating digital brands. Across healthcare, finance, security and a wide range of other sectors, we work tirelessly to elevate our clients’ experiences with detailed attention to aesthetic application. Aesthetics can elevate the quality of content, the articulation of the core brand and the clarity of the user experience. These things, in turn, affect how a user feels and ultimately engages. From typography to video to color usage and more, every design choice is critical to realizing the ambitions of our clients, and serving the needs of their users, in the digital space.