A New Website for Kevin Spence, Architect
Website Design
As Kevin Spence | Architect (KSA) neared its 20-year anniversary, the owner sought to elevate the firm’s branding to match the quality of its work—something that truly sets KSA apart from competitors. After creating a new brand identity that is refined, enduring, and personal (which you can read about here), it was time to take the next step: designing a website to match.
KSA’s collaborative, personal process involves working closely with clients to understand their needs, desires, and unique style. The results are stellar, and the process helps build lasting relationships as well. But the existing website wasn’t in alignment with the firm’s qualities. It wasn’t user-friendly and its styling was dated, particularly on newer devices. It just didn’t measure up for a firm with KSA’s pedigree, expertise, and thoughtful approach.
We needed to design a site that showcased the work visually while infusing the firm’s philosophy throughout—in a way that is accessible and intuitive to anyone who visits.
A field of varying quality
Our research started with the creative brief from our previous work on KSA’s brand identity. We looked closely at what wasn’t working on the old site, aside from how dated it was, and made sure the new site would be easily navigable for the firm’s audience.
We also did extensive research on local competitors, as we do for almost every Chalkbox client. The quality of design and the presentation of work varied greatly—which we found somewhat surprising for a highly visual field such as architecture.
Some firms had websites similar to KSA, with design and branding that clearly had not been updated for quite a while. Others had more contemporary sites but avoided branding almost entirely, seemingly content to present photos of their projects with little context to the ideas behind the work. A few had both pieces right, however, blending solid branding with a clean, attractive digital presence. That was the level we wanted for KSA.
Simple, clear, elegant
After we received content for the pages, we wireframed the site so we could understand the underlying structure. We then built a few key pages in the form of high-fidelity mock-ups, working with KSA to refine them until they were just right. Keeping things simple, clear, and elegant, while emphasizing photography and key messaging, seemed to hit the spot.
The final website echoes KSA’s approach, presenting the firm’s work in a contemporary and responsive way. The simplicity of the design allows viewers to focus on the important things—learning about what it’s like to work with KSA, and seeing examples of the beautiful results they can expect. The new brand elements were incorporated in a way that both bolsters the overall message and provides greater meaning to the project images.
Simply put, it’s a site worthy of an award-winning firm celebrating two decades of success.
