ESSIQ AB · Website · 2024
A new in-house website for a tech and engineering consultancy with about 200 employees. I led a team of four from research and positioning to design and development.
Results
60 000+ SEK
saved every year by replacing a paid PR tool and agency fees with two custom-built CMS
4.5 / 5
for navigation in user testing. Before, 71% of employees found the old site hard to navigate
2.5×
more women in the site’s images, from 16% to 40%, towards the goal of 50% women
100%
editor autonomy. No agency or developer needed, so publishing takes hours instead of days
Martin Engström
Co-Founder, ESSIQ AB
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with and alongside Sofia for the last couple of years. She has successfully, and with passion and commitment, managed to rework our homepage to better communicate company goals and vision, and contributed to grow our social media engagement and presence. Throughout our collaboration, her natural leadership, ability to drive projects to completion, and her composure in high-stress situations has impressed me. Sofia is a true problem-solver, and I recommend her without any hesitation.”
ESSIQ AB is a tech and engineering consultancy founded in 2005 to put consultants’ wellbeing and development first, attracting and keeping top talent. In a male-dominated industry, ESSIQ believes women make deliveries better.
Business goals:
ESSIQ’s previous website was hard to navigate, with inconsistent layouts, broken links and repetitive content. Its look felt overly masculine, clashing with ESSIQ’s focus on inclusion, and edits depended on an external agency.
Most importantly, it didn’t help position ESSIQ as the top choice for senior consultants or support its goal of a 50/50 gender balance.
Problems summarized:
Overview of the previous website:
An iterative process with many stakeholders.
01
Plan & define
02
Discovery & research
03
Brand & web strategy
04
Communication
05
Creative direction
06
Early testing
07
Hi-fi web design
08
Test with prototype
09
Implementation
Existing brand colours and assets
Primary Orange
#F15D22
White
#FFFFFF
Primary Matt Black
#222222
Cool Grey
#6D6E71
Colours added for the website
Background Beige
#FAF8F7
Transparent Black
#222222 , 50%
Soft Black
#4D4D4D
Soft White
#E6E6E6
The site as launched in 2024
A much better experience for learning about ESSIQ’s service areas. No repetitive content, and the navigation always stays clear and intuitive.
Custom-built CMS (content management system) for projects.
Custom-built CMS for news, which helped replace a paid PR tool.
PR/publishing & web management cost
Before
PR/publishing: 4 167 SEK/month (external media and PR tool)
Web management: 839 SEK/month (outsourced to an agency)
After
0 SEK fixed cost
Two custom-built CMS replaced the PR tool subscription and the fixed management costs, which gave little value for money.
Before
Image representation:
82% of images were men
16% were women
2.3% were women & men
After
Image representation:
46% of images are men
40% are women
13% are women & men
The website now better reflects ESSIQ’s core values and the business goal of being 50% women within the company.
In a survey about the previous website sent to ESSIQ employees, 71% said the site was, to varying degrees, “hard to navigate”.
After the second round of testing, the navigation got a 4.5/5 score. Since launch, there has been no negative feedback about the site’s navigation.
Because the website was built in-house, no developer or agency help is needed. Time to publish is a matter of hours instead of days.
In ESSIQ’s anonymous yearly vote, I received six nominations across Årets Engagerad (most dedicated), Årets Nytänkande (most innovative) and Årets Öppen (most open), though as overhead staff I was not eligible to win. Translated from Swedish:
“Incredibly ambitious and dedicated in her role, always happy to share her knowledge and expertise. She does not hesitate to think outside the box and always strives to find solutions to the challenges that come her way.”
“Sofia is a great match for most dedicated of the year. She is as committed to ESSIQ’s brand as a whole as she is to all the colleagues around her. We can thank her for much of why the conference trip turned out so well, as she put a lot of heart into making it the best it could be and making sure that everyone who came felt good.”
“Sofia always comes up with new, exciting ideas and solutions, big and small. In marketing she broadens the possibilities and thinks in new ways about how we can reach out in the best possible way. Creative and extremely skilled with colour and form in graphic design. Sofia is both great at what she does and an exemplary colleague: a key person at ESSIQ who is very valuable because of her warm personality.”
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Contact
Need someone who can take a brand and a website from research to launch? Send me a message and I’ll get back to you.
Sofia Bågenholm
Designer & Founder, Polu Design AB
Gothenburg, Sweden / Remote
