Bringing the SEI Spirits to life through design and content hierarchy

Using the right taxonomy, consistency in design, and benefit-focused flow and content to bring about the best quality and efficiency of product searchability.

Type

Website Design

Client

Sumitomo Electric

Industry

Automotive, Energy, B2B Consumer Discretionary Products

Project Hero Image
Role
UI Design, Wireframe, Design Direction, Prototype, UX Writing, Design System
Year
Mar 2020 - Feb 2021 (1 Year)
Background
Agency

Sumitomo Electric is one of the leading Japan-based manufacturers for advanced technological innovations, from wire cables to fusion splicers, materials to systems. Sumitomo Electric strives to contribute to society through their expertise in innovation and over 120 years of experience.

The company’s sprawling global website containing thousands of pages was maintained directly without use of a CMS. The website revamp must allow for low and easy maintenance as well as reflects the refreshed brand essence.

View Live Website
Arrow

The Challenges

Challenge 01

Different branding interpretation Across Sites

Challenge 02

High Volume of product enquiries

Challenge 03

Multiple sites are maintained without CMS

Solution 01

Creating the north star that guides all designs

A website rebranding requires design rules that bound or serve as the ‘North Star’, the single guide for any form of design. This ensures that the brand narrative stays cohesive throughout all aspects of the website. For each design principle, we outlined what it would mean or how it could be represented in the designs. Example would be using large macro images to show immenseness of products.

No items found.
Solution 02

Finding balance of both business and user needs

Providing various consumer information about the products such as key features, product application and products specification help to reduce enquiries that could have easily been found within the website.

The page layout is bottom heavy, with summarised products details at the top and ends with CTAs to connect potential consumers to contact Sumitomo for further enquiries or to other relevant microsites.

No items found.
Solution 03

Designing for scalability and central Governance

The components-based approach gives flexibility for local markets to customise their websites’ content and structure based on what fits their local consumers’ interest best.

Design system contains the list of design components, elements, rules, animation prototypes and possible combination to form key pages. It has to be maintained at a global level for a centralised control over any changes or updates.

No items found.
UI Design

Main Designer

It took 2-3 designers for the massive design system creation and overall website design. I was in charge of mostly on design system creation and maintenance with each sprints running, along with the micro interactions, and responsive behaviors across devices.

No items found.
View Project
Next Arrow

What I learned

The importance of well-organised and thoroughly-maintained design system, especially when it will not only be used internally but also as part of the deliverables to the clients.

Have a project to discuss or just want to have a chat? Let's connect!

ensabrinaa@gmail.com