Overview

Heavy Duty Lighting manufactures LED lighting for heavy-duty trucks, trailers, and recreational vehicles. When HDL came to Block 81, they had a less than ideal experience in redesigning their product catalog. Having spoken prior to that, they called us up again and so began the beginning of a pretty great web design project and an even better relationship.

Client: Heavy Duty Lighting
Project Type: Company Website
Services: UIX design, branding, Craft CMS development
Year: 2016

Mapping It All Out

It was clear that this wouldn't be a tiny site and it wasn't a huge one either. But there was enough complexity that, like most website projects, mapping out the various page types was critical. So we started with a site flow diagram to help us all get on the same page (no pun intended).

UX Design

With everything organized from a high-level perspective, our next step was to organize the various page types. That was done through wireframes. Because each page type had different types of content that needed to be on the page, wireframes were absolutely critical.

Branding Interlude

Part-way through the project, as we began conversations about the design and overall HDL brand, it became clear that HDL was in need of a definitive style guide, particularly since working with different creatives is not uncommon for them.

So we paused on the website UI design for a bit and straightened out their branding issue. We created a custom brand style guide which outlines HDL's color palette, logo guidelines, and typography.

Building It Out

Working closely with our design team, our development team added the subtle but engaging interactivity to the site. Part of the challenge here was ensuring that HDL reps and dealers would be able to log into that area of the site easily, along with having the ability to change their account information. As we always do, the site was built with mobile in mind the entire way.

The Result

The finished website has proven to be a success for HDL, both internally and with their customers, dealers, and reps. As the company continues to grow, the site can grow with it as the HDL team has full access to the CMS we integrated so that they can add and manage content, including over 500 products.