During my role at WPP, global leader in the communications and advertising sectors, I led the redesign of the corporate website, with the goal to modernise and align it with WPP’s updated brand identity and to increase user engagement through improved user experience.
This project was essential in upgrading WPP’s online presence with major clients and OpCos—the focus was on elevating the brand through design and functionality.
The existing WPP website, while operational, lacked alignment with the WPP’s recently refreshed brand identity and user experience standards.
Users found the site outdated, both in terms of design and usability, which impacted their engagement and perception of WPP as an innovator in the communications sector.
WPP ORIGINAL HOMEPAGE
Our strategy revolved around three key objectives:
ORIGINAL WORK PAGE
Enhance user experience, by simplifying navigation and improving content readability and engagement.
REFERENCE FROM WPP BRANDING
The website should reflect the WPP’s updated branding for a more cohesive experience.
PREVIOUS CONTENT STRUCTURE
Improving content layout for a less monotonous display and personalized user engagement.
Competitive benchmark: what do adversing leading companies currently offer?
In this phase, we focused on analysing which attributes and offerings distinguish WPP’s main competitors. We reviewed their corporate websites, identifying specific areas where WPP can improve its online presence to better meet user expectations and strengthen its market position.
Our competitive analysis uncovered two main approaches within the sector’s digital landscape:
- Competitors are focusing on simplifying the navigation experience, ensuring their platforms are accessible, navigable, and engaging for various stakeholders.
- Competitors are focusing on simplifying the navigation experience, ensuring their platforms are accessible, navigable, and engaging for various stakeholders.
Gathering insights: what are the most needed changes in the WPP website?
Combining insights from team evaluations, client feedback, and contributions from our operating companies, we’ve compiled a set of data that highlights the emotional and practical needs of those navigating through personal transitions.
Key Insights:
- Emphasis on creating an intuitive user interface to enhance findability and user engagement.
- Reinforcement of WPP’s brand identity across all digital touchpoints to strengthen corporate cohesion.
- Upgrades to make the website more accessible, ensuring compliance with global standards and enhancing usability for all users.
WPP ORIGINAL HOMEPAGE
Define: creating personalised user personas
To ensure a comprehensive redesign that meets the diverse needs of our users, we developed detailed user personas based on the practical, professional, and engagement aspects of their interactions with WPP:
The busy executive, who needs to quickly access to WPP’s services, case studies and connect with the right departments efficiently.
The creative professional, who needs to look into insights into WPP’s campaigns for creative inspiration and understanding of WPP’s creative prowess.
The potential client, who needs to get information on WPP’s capabilities and success stories.
The Job Seeker, who needs to easily navigate on new career opportunities at WPP, checking job descriptions, and application processes.
Strategy development and wireframing
Following our research, we developed a design strategy that would make the WPP website intuitive and reflective of the brand. We produced wireframes to establish the foundational structure and flow of the site. These were refined through several revisions to ensure they met both the users’ needs and WPP’s goals.
Branding implementation
The WPP branding is integral to the redesign of the corporate website, ensuring a seamless brand experience across all digital touch-points. Our approach was to reflect the essence of WPP’s brand identity, creating an experience that is recognisable and resonates with the core values of the company.
The final designs
Moving from wireframes to mid-fidelity wireframes, we added detailed that adds elements from the WPP’s brand identity into the UI, showcasing a cohesive brand experience through consistent use of colours, fonts and imagery.
These steps led us to significant enhancements, including:
Readability: we transitioned to white or less busy backgrounds to ensure text readability and focus on key messages.
Navigation: to address user feedback, we reorganised the homepage into flexible modules with clear labels, to guide users in locating contents.
Content engagement: we refined our messaging and visuals to engage users, embodying WPP’s commitment to creative transformation.
Final Implementation & Review
After finalising the high-fidelity mockups, we collaborated with the development team to bring the designs to life, ensuring each element of the WPP website was both intuitive and engaging. The implementation phase included comprehensive reviews and usability testing to verify design alignment and functionality. Based on this feedback, we fine-tuned the design, achieving a user experience that aligns with WPP’s brand values.
HOMEPAGE PROTOTYPE
MOBILE DESIGN OVERVIEW
Our final step involved creating the WPP UI kit to ensure consistency, scalability, and ease of implementation for future website updates. Each element is designed to reflect WPP’s brand identity, ensuring consistency across digital media.
UI KIT OVERVIEW
After the launch, we closely monitored user interactions and gathered feedback to identify areas for improvement. This ongoing dialogue with our audience helped us make targeted enhancements, ensuring the website continually evolved to meet user needs and expectations.
The redesigned WPP website has significantly improved the overall user experience, receiving positive feedback from users and industry leaders. These qualitative improvements have bolstered WPP’s digital presence, aligning it more closely with its brand identity and enhancing user satisfaction. Our collaborative approach with the development team has also streamlined content updates, making the website a dynamic showcase for WPP’s extensive portfolio and thought leadership.