The Matechik Law Firm practices law in the state of Florida. They specialize in the areas of probate, estate planning, and guardianship. Run by attorney Matt Matechic, they are a small firm with a forward-thinking staff who embrace technology as a tool for their trade.
When CSRQ met the firm, they were experiencing a noticeable growth in their business and community recognition. As such, they felt it was time to reevaluate their digital footprint and give their web presence an overhaul.
They were also frustrated with their website management company at the time. As a business engaging web technology as a means to growth, the firm was looking for regular content and feature updates to their website. The company that they contracted to perform those updates were very slow to respond to any requests. As such, the Matechik Law Firm’s ability to build any Internet advantage was crippled.
Objectives
The company needed a site that reflected their professionalism, vitality, and modern approach to the practice of law. The areas that we identified as needing significant improvement were:
- New photography.
- Modern and refined website design.
- Clear and precise website messaging.
- Professional typography specification.
- Secure, high performance hosting.
- A maintained blog section.
- Responsive website management.
Images & Typography
Two major issues with the previous design were the image selections and the typography. With any web page design, it is of paramount importance that the imagery and typography work together. In their case, images, typography, and messaging were fighting one another.
Photography
The Issues
The previous image selections seemed haphazard. Some of the images were completely unrelated to the industry of law and all of them were obviously less expensive stock images. In many sections, the images interfered with messaging copy.
Aside from an older portrait of Mr. Matechik on the “About” page, there were no images on the website that were specific to The Matechik Law Firm, Sarasota, or Florida.
The Solutions
To remedy these issues, we spent an afternoon taking photographs of the staff and environment. We had models sit in to fill out situational shots and took detail shots from around the office.
In the instances that we did implement stock photography on the website, we took great care in using relevant images, fitting them into the content organically. In a few cases, we even integrated custom shots of Mr. Matechik with stock photography in order to convey a specific message.
Typography & Messaging
The Issues
The previous site’s typography made many of the pages very hard to read and obscured the messaging and calls to action. In many instances the headings and/or sub-headings were in ALL CAPS and were very long. This made it extremely cumbersome to identify what the company offered. All Caps should be used carefully and sparingly, and headings should be as short as is practical to convey the message. This way, a viewer can easily scan a page for useful information.
To compound the issue, the Home page had too much information. Any call to action was diluted because a visitor’s eye could never settle on any one topic before another muddied the water.
The Solutions
Typography is perhaps one of the most overlooked elements of website design. Many people offering WordPress website design simply use whatever font comes with the theme they bought. At Creative Sarasota, we consider typography as much as anything else on a website: what font families are best for the design and attitude of the company?; what color should a font be?; how long should a heading be?; will a subheading help the message?; how big should the font of the body copy be on different sections? All of these issues and more were scrutinized for this project.
Home Page Messaging
For the home page, we went a step further in highlighting different messages. As a user scrolls down the page, information fades or scrolls into view. Thus, the viewer’s eye is allowed time to identify and ingest a message before more data interferes.
Image Tricks
Stock & Custom Photography Commingling
In the below shot, we superimposed images of a video conference from stock photography onto an image of Mr. Matechik sitting in front of his computer. This reinforces the message of virtual meeting capabilities.
Crisis Averted
Unfortunately, one of the staff members was unavailable for the photo shoot on the day we scheduled. But that wasn’t a problem for us. Using a headshot that the employee had on file, we were able to remove the old background and insert the same background that we used for the rest of the staff portraits. This small attention to detail gives the About Us page a professional and consistent look that would otherwise be missing.
Blogs & Content Management
Chief among Mr. Matechik’s goals was to grow his website content and presence on the Internet. To do this, he wanted to expand his website to accommodate a blog. He also wanted new blog posts to be published on a regular and timely basis.
The Issues
This goal was thwarted by the firm’s previous website administrators. Requests for content updates would go unanswered for weeks. This made it nearly impossible for them to invest in their website.
The Solutions
The solution is simple: Communicate, consult, and act. When a client submits a request ticket, Creative Sarasota quickly responds, even if we can not execute the task immediately. We review their request and, if necessary, consult on any issues that we see that may conflict with what the client wants to achieve. When the goals and tasks are clear, we perform the work, typically within 24 hours of the request. It’s that simple.