Overview

When Green Light Law Group – a law firm specializing in the cannabis industry – decided they needed to have their website redesigned, they realized they didn’t just want someone to simply redesign their site. They wanted someone to guide them in how to best apply a change in their marketing strategy to their website. They had been “Portland marijuana attorneys” for quite some time, but with the goal of expansion into other states and cities, their site had to pivot. And after a few initial conversations they put their trust in Block 81.

Client: Green Light Law Group
Project Type: Law Firm Website
Services: UX/UI design, WordPress to Craft CMS migration, on-going support and maintenance
Year: 2021

Discovery

Before diving into any of the larger phases of the site, as is usual for us, we got to know Green Light Law Group a bit more. Through discussions and questionnaires we learned that while their previous website helped them reach top Google rankings and provided a clear understanding of the firm’s focus, this new site needed to not just keep that intact, but to expand and build on it. That essentially meant developing a site that was much more in line with their visual brand, told a better story, and had a more sophisticated yet simple design.

In our content evaluation we noticed – and they agreed – that the content needed some reorganization not just at a higher level, but also on a page-by-page basis. To tackle this, we created a clear site map and set of wireframes. The site map laid out the various sections and pages of the site, leaving room for future content. And the wireframes laid out the content for each key page. Arguably, the wireframes were the most critical as it allowed the team at Green Light Law Group to get a good feel for the kind of content they’d need to write to tell their story.

Design

Typically when we go through the design process, the second and third rounds focus on minor changes – the overall design aesthetic doesn’t change much. We were wonderfully challenged by Green Light Law Group though! The first iteration was heavy on the conceptual side which made for some pretty neat visuals and a broad color palette. While the overall layout didn’t change, in subsequent rounds, the style did change to something calmer, somewhat restrained, and sophisticated via simplicity. The palette was narrowed and toned down and the content became front and center. The end result was a calming look and feel that they absolutely loved.

Code & CMS migration

Built on WordPress, the previous site had served Green Light Law Group well – really well – for quite some time. A major factor of how well the site served them was the amount of content they had racked up over the years – content that ranked really well in Google. Part of our challenge in building the new site was migrating that well-ranking content into a new, more robust platform: Craft CMS.

While WordPress is capable of a lot, through discussions with Green Light Law Group, we opted for Craft primarily because of its authoring experience. Managing content is incredibly easy. Migrating the content, while not for the faint of heart, proved to be straightforward. And working with our SEO partner, we successfully kept the critical pieces for SEO and put in proper redirects to help Google keep track of all the content.

Results

Green Light Law Group ended up with a website they are proud to display and, more importantly, one that continues to rank well while serving more than just Portland.