I was contact by APL in the summer of 2015 to improve their website. They were keen to stick with WordPress because they were familiar with the UI and already had a lot of existing product data in there. There were some further concerns with using WordPress but after speaking to them I was able to address their concerns.
I worked with Juliana Viginette to complete the design of the site. I was involved in wireframing and creating a solid foundation for the site whilst also trying to meet the goals of the project, which were:
- Fast load times
- Use imagery to give a friendly feel to the site
- Convey the locality of APL
- Keep the layout consistent and simple.
- Include ample space for product/category descriptions
- Give flexibility to APL to create different styled pages
Some of the aims of the site were direct conflicts with others so this was a real challenge to meet all the criteria.
Layout
Although APL have had a web presence for years they were still keen on pushing the PDF brochure of their product range. I thought this was counter-productive and although the site is not an e-commerce store it does share a lot of the characteristics.
Throughout the site there are clear calls to actions and once you are at the product level there is plenty of signposting for potential customers to get in contact with APL. A lot of mistakes made on business websites is the information potential customers need to get in contact with them. We ensured the phone number was visible with different methods to get in contact with APL. Social media is prevalent throughout the site.