Web Design
Redesigned Website Showcases Automation & Robotics Capabilities

Situation: An Outdated Website for a Legacy Industrial Brand Needed to Reflect Newer, Advanced Capabilities

The team at Mereen-Johnson felt they had outgrown their existing website and that it no longer represented their company and its future. Their expertise in automation and robotics was not apparent on the website, and in marketplace conversations, Mereen-Johnson’s towering reputation for manufacturing heavy-duty rip saws and other large-scale wood cutting machines tended to crowd out discussion of other strengths. In addition, a recent acquisition had expanded the range of products, and the acquired company’s website content needed to be integrated into the new website.

Solution: A Robust Website Redesign that Maintains Brand Equity While Expanding Content and Functionality

In alignment with Mereen-Johnson’s growth goals, Windmill created a UX strategy including robust mega menu design, content strategy/mapping and cross linking. A detailed site map proposed strategic industry and application pages to highlight, in greater depth, the areas that Mereen-Johnson focuses on and in which it is most profitable.

Our design and information architecture recommendations worked hand in hand to build upon the existing Mereen-Johnson brand and incorporate it into a website that positions the company as a key player in automation and robotics for the wood products industry and demonstrates their sophistication and prowess in building custom machinery. The information architecture recommendations incorporated content from two other web properties and were informed by search rankings and relevant competitor rankings. One of the other properties was sunsetted when the Mereen-Johnson site launched; a robust redirection strategy ensured that all the SEO value was captured.

We discussed product types in depth with Mereen-Johnson to ensure we understood the catalog inside and out, allowing us to make well-informed recommendations for how to best organize products from a UX standpoint. Landing pages covering Mereen Johnson’s expertise specific to certain industries, such as doors, windows, cabinetry and flooring, were designed to also house related products for each industry; this content had to be created from scratch. Windmill provided extensive copywriting and editing assistance for the project.

One challenge was that Mereen-Johnson’s product content was contained within PDFs rather than on HTML pages. For the new website, we broke these out into unique HTML product landing pages to give the website an e-commerce feel, with unique taxonomy sorting and filtering. We planned ahead to use the content entry budget wisely to ensure we could efficiently translate PDF content into the website.

The new taxonomy helps customers find content appropriate to their needs. The design of the new homepage reinforces this with icons representing major products categories positioned below the hero area that allow the user to easily tab between the categories, adding another visually interesting menu to the homepage, in addition to the traditional mega menu. Other nuances on the new website include a simplified logo, using only one SVG file, when the new website is viewed on a mobile device.

Services Utilized

  • Analytics and Insights
  • Branding & Visual Design
  • Client Training
  • Copywriting
  • Messaging & Positioning
  • Moodboards
  • SEO
  • UX Consulting
  • Web Design & Development

Project Information

Client:

Mereen-Johnson

5301 East River Road Suite 113 Minneapolis, MN 55421

3950 Business Park Drive Columbus, OH 43204

Date:

May 28, 2020

Website:

https://www.mereen-johnson.com/

Interested