Over the past two years HiDef has grown in size, but most importantly, in vision and purpose as an organization. In the early years of the company we were happy to take on any project that kept power running to the team’s computers and covered a few coffees every once and a while. Now, having worked with some wonderful organizations and realized the true passion we have for helping great causes reach their goals, the meaning of our name--and now our website--is freshly inspired.
Anatomy of a Redesign
Our previous site wasn’t bad, all things considered. Its design was inherently “Web 1.0” with smaller text, constrained proportions, and font/color selections that reflected a corporate approach to our brand that lacked a true direction other than, “We create web solutions.” When we had some time to sit down together and think about our growth as a team, we realized our web presence needed to reflect our refined purpose: “We create web solutions for great causes.” Based on this identified need, we took a look at the approach: technology, content, and other accoutrements that would most effectively get the job done. A short while later, our site is now powered by Drupal, sports our new identity, and refines the way we speak about ourselves and our work.
The Platform
Drupal is one of the world’s most advanced open source content management systems in the world. We find that many projects that come to us benefit from starting with Drupal rather starting from scratch, as it lowers both cost and time to market for our clients, not to mention lower total cost of ownership thanks to Drupal’s built in tools for managing one’s site. Our set up is fairly standard: Drupal 6 along with a few key contributed modules such as Views and Content Construction Kit (CCK), as well as some spiffy carousel action brought to you by jCarousel. When you know how to use Drupal to its full potential, there’s not much you can’t do with it.
The Look
Brian, along with creative feedback from Azin, chose to distinguish the “hi” in HiDef to communicate the idea that we are a relational bunch. The “hi” is also elevated to show we are driven by an altruistic vision: yes, we can actually make the world a better place by putting our skillset to use. Through several iterations they played with and then stripped out elements of the logo that weren't adding to the message, leaving us with a clean mark.
Throughout the site you’ll see design elements informed by our desire as a company to be both relational and professional ("big agency talent on a personal scale"). The speech bubble effect on content containers captures the sense that we’re starting dialogs with our visitors, not delivering lectures. On the other hand, clean lines, strong fonts, and bold contrasts promote our ability to take on larger work through our rigid and professional processes.
The Content
One revelation that came to us as we approached our redesign was the wealth of knowledge each member of our team has--and the fact that we weren’t sharing that wealth. Our old site seemed to treat the blog content as an afterthought, as if it was there only because, well, it was expected to be there.
Our new site reflects the emphasis we place on our team by promoting the blog to foremost importance, on par with our work. Each of our team members now participates in a workshop (powered by a customized version of Open Atrium's Case Tracker) that produces a new blog post every month as part of our desire to see not only the company improve, but each of its team members as professionals. Besides, we really do have an awesome team, all of whom are great teachers and articulators. I think you’ll enjoy subscribing to the site feed or Twitter feed for a regular installment of tutorials, tech musings, and case studies (hint hint, nudge nudge).
The way we give back to charity is also very important to us, and as a way to follow through on our committment to support great causes from all angles (not just in the clients with whom we partner but also in the profits we make), we disclose exactly how much that amounts is in multiple areas.
No matter what happens when you visit the site, we hope the large mastheads and overall message better communicate that, from here on out, we're all about great causes. Hit us up in the comments to give us your thoughts.