CWS Launches New Website

In the last 24 hours CWS launched our redesigned website. The cutting edge website was designed to serve our existing clients more efficiently, tell our story more dynamically and allowed CWS designers to experiment with future technologies. “I kept trying new things (which I think made it better in the end) and that means it will never be finished,” said Chris Kostelec, the lead designer on the project.

As any web project should, our process started with defining objectives and getting everyone’s input. However, striving for perfection can slow any project to a crawl. “Everybody here has an opinion; of course. Everyone has a stake in it. Finally, we got used to saying, ‘That will go into phase II,’ said Dustin Hart, one of the designers on the project. It just goes to show that sometimes professionals are hardest on themselves.

So, you may be wondering what “the experts” considered important when designing their own website? Here are some of the highlights of the features and functions implemented as part of our own redesign:

CWS OBJECTIVES AND HOW WE ACCOMPLISHED THEM

1. Modern Look: Websites become outdated quickly. As a web design company we felt it was important to be cutting edge. One of the ways we accomplished this was through the use of creative motion video in the homepage. Creative use of video is a powerful tool on today’s websites. We felt representing ourselves in video would help tell our story and showcase our personality.

2. Showcase Our Clients: We placed a stronger emphasis on our portfolio and case studies through a dynamic and sortable portfolio. Ultimately, we solve problems for our clients and the best way to show that is through case studies that define the clients problem, states their desired outcomes and details how we solved their problem and achieved results. We have many more case studies planned for “Phase II”.

3. Explain the Process: Many companies find the web development process confusing and intimidating. We’ve spent 18 years perfecting and systematizing the web development process so that it’s not intimidating for our clients. Our new website better explains our 6 Step Development Process and how it benefits our customers.

4. Meet Mobile Demands: You never know where someone may be when they visit your website. They may be at home on the couch, at their desktop or between flights on their mobile device. The CWS site is built in break point design to make it responsive, rather than creating a separate mobile site. No content is sacrificed on mobile and it will work on all devices and screen sizes. This future-proofs our website. If new devices appear on the market with a different screen size, a responsive design is ready to adapt.

5. Personalize our Company: Lets face it, companies are only as unique as the people who work there. The new website better characterizes the uniqueness of each team member who adds value to our team. From custom bios about each employee (with interesting factoids), to photos and videos of team members around the office. We wanted visitors to understand that it’s the people who make CWS a great company to work with. Another small but substantial detail was to simply change our contact email address from sales@cws.net to hello@cws.net. It’s a simple, yet effective way to make your company seem like real people who care.

6. Hidden Treasures: A website experience should be fun and entertaining. Whether that means intriguing future hires to complete a job application form or to encourage prospects to “get started on their project.” One of the most secret components of our new website is our 404 Error Page (which we hope you’ll never see... so we’re sharing the link here). Feel free to email Tom and tell him to stop singing!

CELEBRATE YOUR WINS

At CWS, we’re always looking for a reason to have a party. Furthermore, it’s important to stop along the way and recognize when you’ve reach a milestone. Otherwise, work can become just work and that’s not fun for anyone on your team!

This website launch was definitely one of those moments and we’d like to give a shout out to the design team who put hundreds of hours into this project: Chris Kostelec, Dustin Hart, Sarah Link, Eric Reynolds, Ethan Herber, Sheryl Barlow and Jonny Yucuis (go ahead, click on the links to learn something interesting about them).

WE’RE NOT DONE YET!

While we may have brought the new CWS website out of beta, it’s not completely finished. Websites never should be. We're continuing to refine the new site, fix a few design quirks and make it really sing on every device you can buy. This new website isn't a finished product but rather a platform we'll use to showcase new clients and the products and services we offer. There's plenty more work to do.

That said, we think the new CWS website is a giant leap towards the future of web design. We hope you'll enjoy the new site and we welcome your feedback!