GRANDJEAN WAGNER BEITER & CO.

Grandjean Wagner Beiter & Co. is a medium-size, privately-held financial planning and consulting firm formed in 1990 with a 12+ employee team. Grandjean Wagner Beiter & Co.’s mission was founded with the goal of supporting success to individuals and small businesses by providing a level of care that, in other firms, is usually reserved for larger clientele.

Project Overview

Grandjean & Wagner knew they had an outdated website, so they contacted me and we met to discuss the scope of work and again for a discovery meeting. We met with the owners of Grandjean Wagner and discussed their plans to add on a new partner and update the name of the company to Grandjean Wagner Beiter and company. They wanted to take the opportunity to redesign their website.

My Role

From planning to content to photography to design to development, I worked with the owners at Grandjean Wagner directly on their new website.

Website UIUX
Website development
Photography Art Direction

Current Website Audit & Analysis

I met with the owners and reviewed their current website and discussed the features and ideas they had for the new site. I talked them through my recommendations and we reviewed other competitors and industry thought leaders.

I shared with them the following statistics from recent web studies:
57% of internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile
75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design

Site Map/New IA

I designed a site map and wrote site copy that followed our discovery findings and the competative analysis.

Wireframe Prototype

I built a low-fidelity prototype with basic wireframes in order to present navigation and layout design concepts and to elicit content and navigation feedback from the owners.

Photography Planning & Art Direction

I recommended on site photography to the Grandjean Wagner team, knowing that custom photography has been cited in several studies as generating more engagement than stock imagery. I hired a professional photographer that I had worked with on previous projects and planned a 1 day photoshoot at the Grandjean Wagner Beiter offices which included team member portraits as well as candids to be used for graphics throughout the site. The photographer and I art directed and composed every shot and I retouched every image and used the assets when I built the site.

High Fidelity Mockups

After receiving final content revisions to the wireframes, I built high fidelity mockups for all of the unique page designs for final approval before beginning the development phase. The new website UI gives the warmth, personal care, and friendliness that only a visit to their office could previously accomplish. The website is also now easier to navigate, user-friendly, on-brand, and ranks higher in search engine results.

Measuring Success

Though they preferred to not add a Google Analytics account for their website, I have kept in touch with the Grandjean Wagner Beiter & Co. owners and have discussed specific feedback they have gotten from their clients regarding the website. We have discussed iterations and new features.

Josiah holds a Certification in User Experience Design from Massachusetts Institute of Technology