Graham & Company, LLC

Website Redesign

Overview

As the sole Graphic Designer for Graham & Company Commercial Real Estate, I was tasked with overseeing the creation of a new website which launched in 2017. As I was reviewing their previous website, I noticed that it had both usability issues as well as pages that were not responsive at all. For this project, I utilized the following skills: User Research, Site mapping, Wire-framing and UI Design concepts. I worked directly with the developer, assigning goals and working with him to meet these goals to produce the final product.

Goals

To have a website that is capable of showing all available properties with useful filters, maps, and images.
To include a “Watch us Build” section where new builds could be shown in real-time.
To design and develop a responsive, more user friendly website.
To incorporate a more human-centric culture to the look and feel to the “Our Company” section and highlight community involvement.

My Role

UX/UI Design | Art Direction

Team Players

Thomas Jones: Developer

Duration

This project took 4-6 months of user research and collaboration with the Developer, Marketing Department, and Brokerage Teams.

User Interviews

In order to gain a better perspective on how the end user associated with the current website and what their issues were with it, I conducted a detailed user survey/interview for those in our office to fill out including: Human Resources, Business Development, Commercial Real Estate agents, and the Marketing team. I also asked the real estate agents to ask their clients what their current frustrations were with the old site. Listed below are some of my findings.

Who comes to the Graham & Company’s website & what are they looking for?

Competitors looking for availabilities
Firms/Individuals or other Real Estate companies looking at our listings or our personnel.
From an HR perspective, my “customers” are coming to find out who we are, what we do, what do we do for community service, who the players are, what major deals/projects we have done so they can be prepared for interviews and/or decide if we are the company for them.
Market data gatherers, usually from a major brokerage company.
Prospective tenants that are typically not represented by a broker.
Our potential brokerage clients go to the website looking to see that we have a regional presence as opposed to most of the mom/pop companies we compete with. They are looking for credibility and a comfort level of knowing they are dealing with professionals.
Brokers and companies searching for properties, national broker and CRE directors seeking representation, vendors wanting to do business with Graham & Company.

What websites do you visit on a regular basis for work or pleasure? What makes you keep going back? What do you like about those websites?

I like websites that are intuitive, easy to navigate, pleasing to the eye, responsive, and not too “busy.”
The web sites I look at generally provide me quick information. It’s like comparing the USA Today to a traditional newspaper.
I continue to use websites for work or pleasure that are reliable, safe and secure, and to easily navigate thru their site.
AL.com – Ability to filter to a geographic specific location to receive detailed information within an exact menu category (business, politics, etc.).
Flat designs; Large, Hi-Res images; Easy to navigate.
For work I visit Xcelligent, LoopNet, and CoStar, Hoovers, Google and all other real estate firms’ sites. I go back to these sites to find the information I am looking for which is what I think others do with our site.
I subscribe electronically to the Atlanta, Bham, Tampa, Nashville, and Jville Southeast Business Journal. I receive daily updates and try to read an article or two a day just to keep up. I like it because the headlines are highlighted in Blue and it is very easy to scroll thru quickly to see if there is anything of interest.

How do you think our competition views our company/our website?

Too many hurdles to jump to find listing, not easy to find contact info on the people portion. Should be able to hit link to email us.
The font seems really small on website – I think it is hard to read.
I think the look of our website is a little outdated but the search tool is the best of all the websites in my opinion.
Graham is well respected throughout the commercial real estate industry in Birmingham, our website design is definitely dated.
Ours navigates slightly better but there are so many listings that it is difficult to sift through them.
Our competition views our company as an equal partner in the office market, and market experts in the industrial market in the Huntsville metro area. Our competition views our website as bland, but with sufficient information.
Favorably, although I have been told that they have had difficulty locating a property.
In Jacksonville, we are a minor player compared to the larger firms, but I believe competition thinks we are very competent.

What is your biggest frustration with our website or competitor websites? Have clients ever expressed negative feedback or frustration when sent to or when visiting our site?

The website is not tablet/mobile device friendly.
It would be great if pictures of buildings could be bigger when you scroll over them.
I think it should also be easier to do a “map search” where all of the Graham listings pull up on one map. Right now you have to click “Show All Properties” and then click “Map Search.”
“The issue with most of these web sites is they try to provide too much information. We all try to demonstrate all our capabilities and don’t want to leave anything out. I think brevity is more important. If someone gets bogged down I think they will leave the page.”
The property search functionality is too complex. Selecting the various criteria should all be accomplished through a single page. The way we have it now, you have to click on “Advanced Search” to query various criteria and this link is not very prominent (hidden under the header of Birmingham Properties). I think the “Advanced Search” page should be the page that you land on when you click the “Properties” header on the top ribbon.
Difficulty finding contact and contact info.
There is currently a lot of wasted screen space. I feel like this space could be utilized somehow with something visually appealing, not text.

What would you like users to think when they view our new website?

Good introduction to company – Thorough understanding of what we do.
To get the impression that we are really busy working on cool projects and that we have the best website in Birmingham.
This company has it together… If they pay this much attention to web design, they must handle their core competencies with even greater diligence…
I want to convey an image of Graham & Co. being the best, a major player without being ostentatious.
I want them to think“That was easy!”when viewing our new website.
We are customer driven, competent, and operate with integrity.
The main thought I would clients and new visitors to have once they have visited our site is that like our clients, we have invested a considerable amount of time and effort to make our website easy for anyone to navigate.
I would like for them to feel confident that the information they retrieved is valid information and thorough information they are seeking.

Research Insights

The property search definitely seems troublesome for clientele and needs to be re-done.
Our users would like to be able to watch the live feed of new builds.
The agents want to convey to users that Graham & Company is the “best, major player” in Birmingham, AL for Commercial Real Estate. They want Graham & Company’s reputation to match their website. The agents want to convey to viewers their honest, hard working reputation.
The contact information for each agent needs to be easier to find.
The search feature needs some work.

Final Design

Before the final version of Graham & Co.’s website was revealed to the public, I requested that the Developer send us a beta version that we could pass around the office for a few weeks to hash out any bugs or issues. We also tested the beta version on tablets, Android, & iPhone. See the final UI screens below. Disclaimer: I do not have access or control over any changes the website may have gone through since my time with Graham & Co.