Redefining a property developer's digital brand
Project
Role
Client
Agency
Taylor Wimpey looked to Valtech to redefine their digital experience, and align with their customer-first strategy through a market-leading platform.
While Taylor Wimpey's brand existed within print materials and signage, their marketing function was decentralised with multiple regional brand managers which meant much of their collateral was inconsistent and lacked a single point of truth. As well as visual inconsistencies, tone of voice was purely dependent on individual marketing teams. Their website was basic, using only system fonts, lacking a responsive framework and several expected features such as complex search and contextually-suggested content.
Working in a core team comprising a UX Designer, Business Analyst, Researcher and Technical Lead, we took Taylor Wimpey through a discovery phase of UX and Brand workshops, interviews, and creative ideation. We used these insights to outline user stories and journeys, culminating in a mobile prototype used for moderated and unmoderated user testing.
Art Direction was minimalist with brand colours used sparingly for interactive elements, with further colour added through photography and bespoke iconography. house buying is an emotional purchase, so we gave space to hero the photography. Putting emphasis on homes over houses, we included photography of people enjoying their homes to add some humanity to the living spaces; these were balanced with more traditional empty spaces, allowing home buyers to better imagine their own use of space.
Up until this point, Taylor Wimpey used one primary sans-serif font, and a secondary serif for higher-end plots across their print marketing, but despite commonly supported webfonts, still using Helvetica as their websafe brand font. We used this an an opportunity to update their typography to more consistent brand alternatives across their digital platforms, and in the process promoted their secondary serif font to primary use to reflect a more elegant and modern aesthetic. Two new iconography sets were also created including one to communicate local amenities and features such as bedroom and bathroom numbers, and a simpler UI set. Along with the website update, a Tone of Voice and photography document was also created to guide the production of new content for each local marketing team.
