Hobsons is one of the largest education solution providers in the U.S. Millions of students, educators, and institutions use their products daily.
The
Challenge
Our collaboration started in 2010. Over the years, I have led six major website redesigns and two app designs. I have created interactive design systems for two major rebrands. I've evolved workflows and internal processes and contributed to a range of other marketing materials.
Informational
Architecture
All major (re)design projects start with a discovery phase: the roadmap details all the required stages and their owners. Working together with the entire team, we look at (realigned) goals and requirements. We define the type of customers, their needs, and how we can help them in their journey. The informational architecture highlights critical user paths and sale funnels.
Rebrand
With each rebrand, the visual follow the new guidelines. These are then extended for interactive mediums and documented for consistency. While part of the same family, easch product gets its unique voice. Their tone helps them address their customers better, whether school counselors, administrators, or students.
CMS
Implementation
The development phase looks to leverage existing SEO equity. The experience is optimized for all common platforms. User-friendly content management systems are customized to meet the needs of each website. Internal processes are defined and documented. Training is provided. All that makes regular updates and maintenance a breeze.
App
Design
The design of in-product or marketing apps follows a similar process. The scope here is usually more focused, and the interactive experience is richer than on a marketing website. Visuals reflect that while also taking advantage of the different mediums, such as touchscreens. Collaborating with the in-house UX team on some of these was a blast. Their hands-on insights into the customers' needs played a crucial role.
Brand
Evolution
I've also led branding initiatives for some of the company's new products, as well as their annual conference. With these projects, I took the opportunity to consolidate Hobsons' brand architecture and help elevate it.
Daily
Operations
Working with an ever-growing marketing team, having robust processes in place is crucial. I created the necessary integrations and templates to facilitate daily updates. This toolset was revisited as needed to take advantage of the latest automation options available.
Lucian served as lead interaction designer on multiple enterprise marketing sites for my teams. As a result of his work, we were able to more effectively communicate our message to help educate our target markets, improve the online user experience, and increase conversions.
