mBolden Consulting
I was matched two with fellow Springboard UX Designers to collaborate on a design challenge for mBolden, a forward-thinking consulting firm based in Toronto specializing in helping medium sized businesses anticipate the future of work and enable companies to thrive.
Team
Me: Team Leader & UX Designer
Mikayln Marston: UX Designer
Sheena Grove: UX Designer
Alan Bresgi: Senior Consulting Manager
Tools
Step 1: Laying the Groundwork
The Client's Ask
We were tasked to create a website redesign for mBolden’s current website and to create and prototype an internal communications audit tool that would live on the newly redesigned website.
Uncovering the Problem
My team and I began by conducting a UX audit of mBolden’s current website to assess the current site.
What I found:
After discussing our findings as a UX Design team, we then had our initial kick-off meeting with the client, where they shared with us their goals and areas for improvement.
The Client's Goals
Be perceived as bold, innovative, and transformational
Set themselves apart from large consulting firms
Appeal to medium sized businesses with unique technological company problems
mBolden is looking to create a more representative brand look and feel through a website redesign and provide consumers with an internal communications audit tool to help them better assess their current business strategies.
Step 2: Fulfilling the Ask
The Crafted Solution
To solve mBolden’s problem statement, we created a solution containing 4 main deliverables:
• Brand Style Guide
• Website Redesign Wireframes & Prototype
• Internal Communications Audit Tool
Wireframes & Prototype
• User Testing & Report
A New Brand Identity
mBolden expressed the desire for a company image that was not being reflected through their current website.
My team and I each created our own unique brand style guide and after combining elements from each guide and feedback from the client, a new brand style guide was finalized.
The new brand style guide included:
A modern, bold, and innovative sans serif font
A bright and welcoming color palette
Imagery reflective of mBolden’s brand
Brand appropriate iconography and graphics
Redesigning the Website
With a new brand style guide and clear client goal, a clear design direction was outlined.
Through team collaboration, multiple iterations and client feedback from our weekly design reviews, the new website was created.
Building the Audit Tool
I spearheaded the creation of the internal communication audit tool, “Capture”, that would live as a survey on the new website.
It contains 8 multiple choice questions, each option assigned a score between 0-2, and users would get a final tallied score upon completion, ranking the effectiveness of their current business communication strategies.
Step 3: Putting It to the Test
Usability Testing
After the completion of the audit tool prototype, I conducted usability tests to examine:
• How businesses would find the usefulness of the questions of the tool
• The understandability of the copy
• The overall user flow of interacting with the tool
Participants were tasked to:
Read all instructions and descriptions before the start of the tool
Answer the 8 questions within the tool
Provide overall feedback
Blatant Benefits
Explain how the survey will benefit the businesses taking it.
Specific Examples
List specific examples of tools/channels as answer options.
Concise Copy
Condense the copy text in each paragraph to maintain user attention.
Step 4: Putting a Bow on It
A Successful Ending
The project came to a successful close with a final deliverables presentation with Alan Bresgi as my team and I shared all the project deliverables.
In the end, my team and I were not only able to meet the client’s requests but provided extra deliverables and support for our client.
My Final Reflection
It was a valuable experience getting to serve as the team lead for this project.
There were struggles as communication was slowed due to us all being located in different parts of the country and topics that could be resolved in one day in-person, took several days.
Nonetheless, I was able to take initiative and make efficient use of the limited time we did all have together and I am proud of the high quality work, attitudes, and communication my team and I demonstrated throughout this 4-week endeavor.
Thank you for reading!