Clarinox – Sending a clear signal

When Clarinox CEO Trish Messiter decided her company needed a new website, the simplest way to do it would have been to build it themselves. After all, the company, which specialises in embedded software, knows about IT. But Clarinox had built their own site when the company launched in 2001, and managed it ever since. That experience convinced Messiter they needed a designer’s eye the second time around.

Clarinox's original website hompage
Over the space of seven years, the site had expanded on an ad hoc basis, and had become cluttered with mismatched fonts, inappropriate graphics and dense technical text. The site failed to explain Clarinox’s core business of software and hardware development for wireless devices, and its high jargon content shut out all but a tech-savvy audience. Clarinox wanted a site that was more streamlined and professional looking, which would be technical enough to impress engineers but which could also address a lay audience. This, probably the most challenging aspect of the brief, was particularly important because business managers with the budgetary power to hire the company might not have the technical understanding to fully fathom Clarinox’s work. The company hired NeoPurple, a design agency with experience in web design for technology companies, to build the new site.

Initial brainstorming sessions brought creative input from both sides. NeoPurple suggested a homepage layout which would split the audience into managers and engineers and direct them to pages targeted at their knowledge levels and interests. Another idea from NeoPurple for the homepage was to include an animated illustration demonstrating the nature of Clarinox’s business. Clarinox came up with the idea of an application builder which NeoPurple then designed as a questionnaire using information flow principles. This would allow visitors to work out quickly and easily the specifications for their required device, and email these to Clarinox. With these front-of-house pages in place, NeoPurple was able to move the more technology-heavy copy to less visible but still easily accessible areas of the website.

Because of an initial miscommunication of expectations, construction of the site was stretched over a period of months as client and designer worked to accommodate each other’s ideas. While Clarinox had wanted the designers to build the entire site, NeoPurple thought it would be more suitable to build a template which Clarinox could then populate, and change when needed, employing a user-friendly content management system. Messiter worked closely with NeoPurple web developer Jason Stewart to iron out technical challenges in the site’s construction.

Clarinox's new website homepage as designed by NeoPurple
The resulting site has a clean and professional look softened with subtle visual elements. Navigation is logical and easy, and the site is comprehensible to a non-technical audience. With the new site in place, Clarinox is reaching its target audience and receiving enquiries that are appropriate to its business. The content management system and the ‘What’s New’ page accessible from the homepage enable the company to add new material without altering the structure and look of the site, a feature Clarinox finds very convenient.

Facts at a glance

Challenge

The existing website had become cluttered and difficult to understand, and was not addressing the required audience.

Type of designer engaged

Website designer

Most important part of the process

Communicating the needs of the business and designing a site that reflected these.

Most difficult part of the process

Coming up with a design that expressed the true nature of the company’s business, and building the site to the company’s expectations.

Solution

A website that translates highly technical subject matter into key messages accessible to a broad audience, with a content management system that the company can maintain on its own.