Previously in this series, Eric Williamson, Acquia's Vice President of digital marketing, shared how website redesign led to rebranding. Before you read Huge's side of the story, catch up and read Eric's blog, here.
“Which color blue are we going with?” It seemed like a benign question asked during an early design discussion. “Drupal is blue. Acquia is blue…but how close should the blues be?”
As the design agency brought in by Acquia to lead the overhaul and redesign of Acquia.com, we at Huge listened intently as our clients discussed. “Aqua? Navy? Cerulean?” And we listened carefully, because the minute this question came up, we recognized this wasn’t a matter of blue at all. It was a much bigger issue, and a much more important question: Acquia knew who they had been, what made them different, and unique. But, as they continued to grow and compete in newer spaces, they weren’t sure how to talk about themselves in a way that kept their approachable nature, demonstrated their breadth of expertise, and showcased their products. No website design in the world will solve that. They knew they had a bit of an identity crisis, but they needed help in admitting it, in framing the solution, and finding the right path forward.
Enter Huge
While Huge had been brought in to work with Acquia on a beautiful new website, with updated user experiences, new layouts, imagery, etc., little would matter if we didn’t properly articulate who Acquia is, what that means for customers, and how who they are informs the products. We could design the most beautiful website in the world, but if it wasn’t saying the right things, the impact would be meaningless for customers and, as a result, for Acquia.
So, we stopped and had a chat. The Acquia team originally turned to Huge for our passionate approach to user-centric design. But what started as a design project was about to evolve into a collaborative partnership to strategically define a brand.