Rebrand & Website Development for Marietta, GA Law Firm, Reed Leeper, P.C.
Overview
This collaborative project aimed to rebrand Reed Leeper, P.C., a Marietta, GA-based law firm with a comprehensive overhaul of their brand identity and website. Stemming from the crucial need to reflect the firm’s successful litigation history during a firm restructuring and significant rebrand, the outdated logo was refreshed to align with the new dynamics of the firm. Simultaneously, a new website was crafted to seamlessly deliver updated information, streamline the online presence, and enhance accessibility. Throughout this journey, our designs underwent various user-testing stages, allowing us to refine and improve them based on valuable feedback. As you explore the journey detailed below, you’ll uncover the story of triumphs and challenges that shaped our path toward achieving these goals.
The Team
I served as the team's UX/UI designer by spearheading market research, crafting user journeys and personas, contributing to prototyping, and conducting user-experience research. Furthermore, I served as the primary point of contact for our clients, ensuring effective communication of their needs and feedback as the team progressed through the development of their brand identity and website.
Gavin Hall: Gavin’s primary responsibility involved crafting written content. Functioning as the team's wordsmith, he meticulously crafted and edited nearly every written piece produced. Moreover, he assumed the role of content strategist, offering guidance to ensure consistency in brand voice and tone, website design, and presentation and documentation structure.
Molly Linder: Molly took on the role of project manager. Responsible for overseeing the maintenance of the project's website hosted on the NMI server, she ensured the team remained informed about upcoming deadlines and deliverables. Additionally, Molly edited project deliverables content and produced videos, including both the Alpha and Beta versions, as well as the trailer.
The Problem
Embarking on this journey, we pinpointed Reed Leeper, P.C.’s pressing issues in outdated branding and website functionality, leading us to identify key areas for improvement during their comprehensive rebrand.
Rebranding Needs
In August of 2023, the firm restructured from Busch Reed Jones & Leeper to Reed Leeper, P.C.. Chad Reed and Jeff Leeper became the new and only named partners at the firm. Due to this change, the existing logo, website, and overall branding had become outdated and no longer reflected the firm’s identity, necessitating a comprehensive redesign to address this misalignment.
Website Challenges
Outdated branding: The website still prominently featured the old logo and contained references to staff members who were no longer part of Reed Leeper, causing confusion and inconsistency.
Complex navigation and cluttered layout: The website’s design included numerous different graphic elements, resulting in a confusing navigation experience. Users were overwhelmed by dense blocks of text without clear accessibility tools or language translation options, hindering overall and widespread usability and accessibility.
These shortcomings highlighted the critical need for a revamped online presence to enhance user experience and align with the firm’s new branding.
Outdated Reed Leeper, P.C. Website & Outdated Logo
The Solution
Navigating the evolving landscape of this project, our journey unfolded across multiple phases, each marked by critical design decisions and creative breakthroughs:
Competitor Research
Before diving into the rebranding and website overhaul, we conducted thorough research on local law firms’ digital presence.
We noted significant discrepancies in the quality and features of websites belonging to both direct and indirect competitor firms. Among the more appealing sites, common elements included client testimonials, Google reviews, and visually compelling imagery, complemented by comprehensive team profiles. Conversely, sites with lower-quality digital footprints, characterized by information overload, convoluted legal terminology, and maintenance issues such as broken links and outdated information, were unmistakably less trustworthy in conveying the firm’s ability to deliver top-tier legal services.
For additional insights, you can explore our Competitive Analysis Brief in Canva.
Brand Redesign
We initiated the process of crafting Reed Leeper’s new identity by engaging in discussions with our clients, Chad and Jeff, regarding color palettes and typography options. Concurrently, we began the development and presentation of several logo variations. Following careful consideration, the clients selected a logo that struck a balance between simplicity, memorability, and professionalism. Additionally, we provided them with several variation options to accommodate diverse needs across the office. While selecting a new domain posed some challenges due to preferred options being unavailable, we collectively decided to choose r-llaw.com.
Upon finalizing these pivotal brand decisions, we proceeded to create a comprehensive style guide. This guide encompassed the firm’s updated color palette, typography, relevant abbreviations, mission, tagline, and imagery. Serving as the foundation of our efforts, this comprehensive guide played a critical role in ensuring a cohesive and well-aligned design structure for our website.
Website Development
After solidifying the brand identity and potential key features, we embarked on our website development journey by utilizing Figma to create a functioning website prototype. Through this prototype, we facilitated early feedback collection from our client to align our design ideas with their expectations. Additionally, we conducted brief user testing sessions to ensure a user-centric approach before commencing actual website development.
Drawing from our thorough competitive analysis and discussions stemming from brand identity considerations and insights from the client base, we identified three pivotal features that shaped our approach moving forward. These key elements served as the foundation as we worked to develop our client’s new website.
Three Key Features:
1. Accessibility: We implemented a floating widget positioned in the top right corner of the screen. The accessibility feature includes:
Text Size Control: Easily adjust text size for improved readability.
Visual Adjustments: Options for grayscale, high contrast, and negative contrast to cater to individual preferences.
Enhanced Readability Features: Underlined links for clear navigation, a light background for better visibility, and user-friendly fonts contributing to enhanced readability.
2. Language: The translate button enables effortless translation of our website content from English to Spanish.
3. Simplicity: We redesigned the website to streamline information and emphasize hierarchy, ensuring content is easy to read and navigate.
User Experience Testing & Analysis
Following the launch of the new Reed Leeper website, we developed a user-experience research plan for Zoom-based user testing sessions.
This plan involved conducting a pre-test survey via social media to recruit 8 participants from our target population: individuals over 18 seeking (or potentially seeking) legal representation in construction, personal injury, real estate, or wills & estate law, including native Spanish speakers, reflecting a portion of the law firm’s client base.
We examined task-success ratings, where success was defined as completing a task with 80% or more success, indicating minimal assistance required. Across all participants, task success rates ranged from 94% to 100%.
In addition to task success, we analyzed participants’ reactions using production reaction cards. Participants selected 10 descriptive words from a list to characterize our product. The top descriptors chosen were accessible, clean, appealing, and inviting.
Furthermore, we conducted a post-test survey using the Likert scale to gauge participants’ opinions and attitudes towards the website. 8 out of 8 participants found it easy to locate and comprehend information related to legal services offered at Reed Leeper, P.C., while 7 out of 8 participants found the Spanish translation option somewhat or very effective.
Participants provided feedback, with one stating, “The way that it’s laid out [the website] and presented really does help to make me feel like they are a law firm that cares.” Another commented, “I feel like it all flows nicely — I don’t struggle to read any of it. Everything has been easy to navigate.”
Based on testing results and survey responses, we identified two areas for improvement: making the category drop-down on the blog page sidebar more obvious and expanding the placement of the practice states map beyond the home page.
To address these, we adjusted the title of the sidebar and added the practice states map to the “Why Hire” and “Practice Areas” pages of our site.
Reed Leeper, P.C. Styleguide
Figma Prototype
Project Trailer
User Experience Research Report
Product Implementation
Despite initial concerns about meeting law firm standards, bridging client expectations, and ensuring accessibility, our collaboration culminated in success. The new website not only met the client’s needs but also became a point of pride for our team. The redesigned logo adorned merchandise and building signage, serving as a tangible representation of our dedication and hard work. The journey highlighted the significance of persistence, adaptability, and practical application in crafting innovative design solutions in a real world application.
Throughout the website creation process, our commitment stayed unwavering in ensuring that our three key features — accessibility, language, and simplicity — were not just met but exceeded. From client meetings to adhering to our style guide, we successfully crafted a website that is both user-friendly and provides a variety of accessibility options. A comparison between the old and new websites clearly illustrates our success in making the site adaptable for those who need it.
Challenges & Pivots
We began adding new information to the website and improving existing content to meet our goals for the new site. Copying over 132 blog posts posed a challenge, but the website started taking shape.
While organizing the blog posts, we encountered obstacles with the WordPress theme. After switching themes three times, we found one that aligned with our design ideas and plugins. With each theme change, we had to manually update the appearance settings and content to meet the client’s requirements.
Finally, we waited for our client’s contract with a website management company to end, allowing us to swiftly launch the new website in December of 2023 without disrupting our client’s online presence.
Monument Sign, Building Sign, Charity Golf Tournament Merchandise
Conclusion
The website was designed to empower Reed Leeper, P.C. to easily edit website content without the need for extensive web design knowledge. We conducted comprehensive sessions where we reviewed branding guidelines with them, ensuring they can confidently make branding choices and place additional merchandise orders while remaining compliant with the style guide. Additionally, I remain available to collaborate with the client beyond project completion, providing ongoing support for major updates and additional needs.