Mastering the creative experience: the making of a website
Creativity can take many forms and have a different meaning to people. If you ask a room with fifteen people what creativity means to them, I guarantee you fifteen different answers. It’s a difficult concept to grasp and even harder to define. Nevertheless, creativity could not be more important, especially nowadays.
We live in a world of digital sameness, where brands look-alike and customers are no longer able to distinguish one brand experience from another. How you use creativity in your customer experience (CX) can make or break your brand. It’s key for setting yourself apart and growing your customer base.
Luminary 2, a modern US based digital marketing start-up agency, knows how important the role of creativity is in the CX. When they came to us for help with their new website, we knew it was a project right up our alley.
The creative challenge
Luminary 2’s goal was clear, to grow from a start-up to a well known player in Dallas, Texas and beyond. But how to create a site that stands out in an already crowded industry?
A website is one of the most important touchpoints of the CX. It’s used to satisfy the needs and wants of different target groups, from potential customers all the way up to job seekers. Creating a good site goes much further than sleek design and beautiful photography. Your website needs to be user-friendly, represent your brand and set you apart from competitors.
Not exactly an easy task.
As the name “Luminary 2” already gives away, the people who work at Luminary 2 are luminaries in the digital agency sphere. Luminaries are persons that inspire others, they are seen as experts in a particular subject or activity. The new website needed to showcase that along with the edginess, playfulness and eccentricity that Luminary 2 stands for.
The main challenge was coming up with a custom designed high art experience while not losing sight of the user-friendliness of the website. High art stands for design that merges art and creativity together and will pass the test of time - impressive, aspiring and truly innovative.
Since Luminary 2 was a start-up agency, they did not have a lot of visuals and materials to go on yet. We had to create everything from scratch. However, this was put to our advantage as we could completely base the web design on Luminary 2’s brand personality.
A daring experience
The design thinking methodology was used to build the actual website. We started with research into Luminary 2’s target audience and created multiple customer personas. From there different prototypes were developed.
The finalized build has a minimalistic design that shows off Luminary 2’s portfolio in a unique way and makes the website feel rich and exciting. The playful colors, edgy motion graphics and eccentric visuals captivate attention and make the brand easily recognizable.
Case in point is the daring homepage. Where the first thing visitors see is a circle on the left side and a square on the right, with a button in the middle and the words “click and hold”. To enter the site, visitors must press and hold the button which then starts an interactive 2D motion graphic.
Working alongside a bold client who is not afraid to stand out and try fresh ideas certainly helped us use creativity as a differentiator. As a result, Luminary 2’s website stands out from other common agency sites and displays their portfolio in a distinctive way.
Curious how you can use creativity as a brand differentiator and growth accelerator? Download our CX guide on creativity.
