Getting Started
As we’ve already been working with Germains for over 4 years we had a clear idea of their brand values and corporate identity; so it was a case of using our experience to best fulfil their brief in terms of features, functionality and cost. Germains had confidence that we would achieve what they wanted and push the limits of WordPress whilst maintaining the simplicity that the platform offers when managing the day to day running of the website.
Design & Development
When Germains came to us for the website redesign they wanted the site to look more up to date. The old site had a textured background, gradients and small images. We changed this so the new site would have a clean & fresh look using highlight colours of the signature Germains green. This really allowed the headings, buttons and links to stand out.
A font change was overdue; with this change plus a subtle increase in font size we not only made the site look cleaner but also improved the readability of the site.
We also added a seed growing across the full width of the footer; this adds a nice visual highlight when the user is at the bottom of the site.
The new Germains site now also includes translatable text, thanks to WPML. When you first go to the site you’re given the option of a European site or US site – which can be changed at any time using the flag icons. This was extremely important to Germains as they offer different products depending on the location of the customer.
Homepage
Germains asked us to include new dynamic photography to help show off their products. The slider size was increased and we added call to action notes too.
There’s a brand new section showcasing various areas of the site allowing easy access directly from the homepage content, a revamped blog and a search by species feature. These allow the user to move around the site much quicker.
Homepage Before
Homepage After
Timeline
Previously Germains had a timeline that depended heavily on the user clicking through various sections; we wanted to change this to be more visual and be a journey through the company’s history plus add elements from their corporate branding for continuity.
Locations
Being a multi-national country Germains had a world map highlighting their various offices. Keeping with their vision of more, larger images we now have a full width image that represents each location with an interactive dropdown, which highlights information about the location and the team based there.
