When the two Columbus-based law firms Isaac, Brant, Ledman & Teetor and Wiles, Boyle, Burkholder & Bringardner, Co. LPA, decided to merge, they looked to Switchbox Inc. to help them develop a new website the would reflect the culture vision and reputation for the newly formed Isaac Wiles.
A merger of equals required some special consideration in order to bring out the depth of practice areas and the benefit to clients who were poised to benefit most from the merger. In recognition of these requirements and challenges Switchbox assembled a team of specialists including Blue Laser Design and communications specialist Lori Murray. Working with the coordination and support of the firm’s internal marketing lead, the team embarked on an ambitious schedule to build and launch the new site.
“We don’t want it to look like every other law firm’s website” was the main directive. The site also needed to display over 50 attorney profiles that were not only engaging, informative and scattered among the firms many practice areas, but they also needed to be easy to find. Lori Murray rose to the challenge either by meeting with the lawyers in person or interviewing them by phone. The goal was to craft individual profiles that were expressed in a single team’s voice. Blue Laser came up with several design mockups from which one emerged as the clear choice: A clean look that was as engaging as useable.
The Content Management System (CMS) was another challenge. The client wanted to be able to manage the content without having the site and its design look like a “CMS” driven site. Switchbox implemented the unique CMS platform developed specially for its clients in order to address this very issue. CMS platforms often require a sacrifice of web design and usability in order to make it possible for a non-technical person to edit and maintain content. Switchbox has overcome much of these challenges with a unique approach that allows the page design to come first. There are enough additional features to satisfy most power users as well.
From initial design to final launch, the team worked closely with the firm’s marketing coordinator, Amber Seymour, who functioned as an effective single point of contact to keep the project on schedule and facilitate all the internal tasks required. The result is website in which all parties can take pride. It will doubtless go through the sequence of post launch-improvements that make for winning websites.
