Knoll - Professional Designers Experience
In 2012, the famed furniture manufacturer Knoll was up to their neck in digital problems - They had upwards of 7 websites for different divisions and userbases, despite most of the information and functionality being similar. Each site experience was completely different from the next, leading to disjointed and confusing experiences.
At CTG I was the lead designer on taking all of those websites and trying to figure out how to consolidate them all without aliening any of their customerbase.
The problem
As a furniture maker that makes most of its money on office products, Knoll needed a space where interior designers and architects could evaluate products, learn the nitty-gritty details, understand customization options, and download artifacts such as 3D models and fabric swatches.
Initially, we wanted to fully integrate this content into our e-commerce product detail page (PDP), but user testing showed that it confused both consumers and professionals; consumers didn't understand what the prograde features were for, and professionals were annoyed that they had to scroll down so far to get to the stuff they needed.
The design professionals landing page gave quick access to common categories for pros. Exposing this kind of content upfront helped communicate to non-professionals that the content might not be relevant to them.
We were careful with our use of color, and the Knoll orange was used sparingly for accent. Our link design was tested and no usability issues were found. Breaking up the page layout made the layout easier to scan and identify what was most relevant to a user in their current context.
The Design
We opted for a dedicated design professional experience while making sure that we reused components and content where possible to maintain cohesion across the experience.
The landing page communicated the purpose of the section, and we intentionally left any price markings out of the experience (to avoid e-commerce affordances). We honed the Product Asset & Detail Page (PADP) to make sure all the necessary content was accessible from the single page without having to dig through menus or folders.
Starter projects and mood board imagery were easily accessible, and products available for purchase were clearly linked to their companion e-commerce pages. Product history and design intent were communicated throughout to help design professionals construct the narratives they would use with their clients.
The Results
The site was a raging success across all of its metrics, and we saw an increase in e-commerce traffic from all of the internal non-commerce pages. But the most gratifying result was an interior designer friend of mine sharing an email thread from her architecture firm raving about the website, with one architect claiming, "Did I die and go to heaven?"
