Client-based Branding & Responsive Web Design
Case Study
THE PROBLEM
The symbiotic relationship between brand managers and event marketers needs a reset. Right now there are too many agencies that do only one part of the job, meaning that promotion feels more like a patchwork than a coordinated campaign. But what if one agency could handle every part of the equation for both sides?
That’s where MAMMAL comes in — as a newly formed event-branding agency built to do just that. But first, they need branding and a responsive website, so they can show brand managers and event marketers what they do and make it easy to get in touch.
THE GOAL
To design a responsive website that introduces MAMMAL to brand managers and event marketers, providing them with information that drives their interest in learning more about what partnering with MAMMAL can do to help their business.
THE WORK
UX/UI Designer (End-to-end)
Idea Conception // UX Research & User Interviews // Branding // Prototyping // Usability Testing // Handoff
2.5 months: Q4 2025 - Q1 2026
MAMMAL needed a website that could help them build client trust quickly. I created branding and a responsive website aimed at introducing visitors to MAMMAL and converting them into potential clients. A thoughtfully informative, uncluttered experience, and a simple way to contact MAMMAL meant visitors could find what they needed without friction.
WHAT DO POTENTIAL CLIENTS NEED TO SEE?
Research Phase
2 weeks
What experience are visitors looking for when they visit the website of a company they may do business with?
What information and features would they most like that website to have?
Interviews and competitive analysis painted a clear picture: the competition wasn’t setting a very high bar, and visitors would need more to trust MAMMAL.
RESEARCH METHODS: What’s Everyone Else Getting Wrong?
Interviews
I interviewed users to understand what they’re looking for when they arrive at a company’s website for the first time.
Competitive Analysis
I looked at other event-branding agencies’ websites to see what they got right (not much), what they got wrong (plenty), and just how much logo vomit they had.
KEY FINDINGS: It’s More Than What You Say
Interviews
- Simplicity is key — visitors want to accomplish what they came for and be done as quickly as possible.
- Contact information needs to be easy to find and quick to complete.
- An informative “About” section allows users to get a sense of who they’re dealing with and what the company does.
- A quality visual presentation reflects the attention to detail the company puts into presenting itself, and how the company approaches its business.
- The site should strike a balance between being informative but not giving too much information or too many examples.
Competitive Analysis
- None of MAMMAL’s competitors provide a quality website, with issues including:
- Disorganized information
- Hard to navigate
- Hard to find contact information
- “Logo Vomit” — too many partner logos, etc.
- Generally unappealing UI
Research Wrap-up
Between the interviews and competitive analysis, it was pretty clear: visitors weren’t only judging what MAMMAL said about itself — they were judging how it said it.
PRESENTATION IS AN ISSUE — WHAT’S THE ANSWER?
Define Phase
2 weeks
Research had led me to understand that presentation was the real design challenge here. Affinity maps, points of view, how-might-we questions, and a persona helped me determine what that meant for MAMMAL’s site.
AFFINITY MAPPING: Organization, Balance And An Obvious Contact Method
Creating an affinity map from the interviews allowed me to identify three key takeaways:
- Strong organization and easy to find information were important to many users.
- There needed to be a simple and clear way to contact MAMMAL for more information.
- Balanced visual/informational presentation and pleasing UI was also important.
POVs & HMWs: How Can We Make This Work For MAMMAL And Visitors?
POVs and HMW questions allowed me to think openly and optimistically about potential solutions without yet worrying about feasibility.
POVs helped me see that both MAMMAL and visitors to the site wanted the same thing.
Kevin wants to increase his brand’s visibility and encourage customer engagement by partnering with a branded-event agency.
MAMMAL wants to increase the contact rate from companies and individuals that visit its website.
HMWs turned that shared goal into real questions about reducing the friction that stops visitors from reaching out.
How might we help brands and event companies to feel comfortable engaging with MAMMAL to find out if the services it offers can help them achieve their goals?
How might we reduce the barriers to potential clients contacting MAMMAL about its services, based on the information provided and their experience on MAMMAL’s website?
PERSONAS: Who’s Visiting This Site?
After synthesizing my research findings with my POVs and HMWs, one persona emerged — the kind of brand manager MAMMAL’s site needed to convince. This helped me stay focused on the needs, goals, expectations, and mindset of visitors as I entered the design phase.
Kevin
A brand manager looking for an event-branding agency that he trusts to meet his needs and can work within his budget.
VISITORS WANT
TO TRUST MAMMAL
My research and definitions made it clear that trust would have to come from more than just what MAMMAL said about itself. The question was how to design a well-organized, informative, and visually polished experience that would actually earn it.
BUILDING MAMMAL’S IDENTITY
Ideation Phase
4 weeks
With my research completed, I began developing the site’s structure and MAMMAL’s early brand identity, turning my findings into design decisions about usability, originality, and visual appeal. I really enjoy this part of the process, and this time there was an added twist: I was working with the client to shape these decisions.
PROJECT GOALS & FEATURE PRIORITIZATION: What Are We Actually Building?
Organizing what visitors wanted, what the business required, and what was technically possible in one place helped me determine how best to develop MAMMAL’s website. Anything that didn’t fit one of the three didn’t make the cut.
Key features included the ability for website visitors to:
- Easily learn what they want to know about MAMMAL.
- Access additional information about MAMMAL’s projects and clients, if interested.
- Easily find contact information to get in touch with MAMMAL.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Visitors had told me organization mattered, so I anchored MAMMAL’s Information Architecture Map around that idea. It became the foundation that the rest of the site would be built on.
WIREFRAMES: Making Organization Visible
Next, I sketched out low-fidelity wireframes to turn “organization” into something visitors could see right away. Making it easy to learn about and contact MAMMAL was the priority.
Home Page Variations
About Page
Recent Work Page
Contact Page
BRANDING & UI ELEMENTS: MAMMAL’S First Impression
MAMMAL’s branding had to do more than represent the agency; it had to support the feeling of trust MAMMAL hoped to impart. So I worked with them to identify brand values that would guide each design decision. Those values — Collaboration, Relationships, Engagement, Accountability, Trust, and Evolution — became the basis for my choices around color, typography, logo design, and UI.
DO VISITORS LIKE THEIR VISIT?
Testing Phase
1 week
With the prototypes ready, it was time to see how MAMMAL’s website performed for real visitors. Did the organization and ease of use translate to real trust?
PROTOTYPING
Based on my wireframes, I built prototypes so visitors could experience the MAMMAL website on both a desktop and a mobile device.
Desktop
Mobile
USABILITY TESTING: Turning Visitors Into Clients
Since turning visitors into clients was one of MAMMAL’s goals, I tested a contact flow — on both desktop and mobile — to see where the design worked and where it didn’t.
Target Users:
- Three participants
- Primary age range: 40-70
- Working professionals from a variety of work/life situations.
Success Rates:
Visitors completed the flow without questions:
- Desktop - 100% // Mobile - 100%
Visitors experienced no pain points in completing the flow:
- Desktop - 100% // Mobile - 100%
Visitors completed the flow in a reasonable amount of time:
- Desktop - 100% // Mobile - 100%
Visitors were satisfied with their experience once they completed the flow:
- Desktop - 100% // Mobile - 100%
Testing Wrap-up
All visitors moved through the flow with no issues — a good sign that the design was working.
GOOD ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH
Iteration Phase
1 week
Usability testing revealed a few small refinements I wanted to make, so I added a contact confirmation screen, removed a few unnecessary UI elements, and clarified language, all aimed at creating a smoother visitor experience.
ITERATION: Removing Minor Pain Points
None of the pain points were major, but I wanted to make sure there was nothing that might create friction for visitors or distract them from following through on contacting MAMMAL.
HANDOFF
With the design refined and visitor-tested, it was ready to hand off to the developer.
Desktop
Mobile
Working on the MAMMAL branding and website design was a really positive experience for my growth as a designer. Not only was it my first opportunity to design for a real-world client, but it was also the first time I built a brand with client input shaping the work alongside my own.
I consider myself lucky that there was little to no conflict in reconciling what the research suggested, what the client wanted, and my design instincts; however, it was still a challenge to factor all three into the work at the same time. Working with a real-world client — communicating design ideas to them, receiving and implementing their feedback, and working on their time schedule — was invaluable experience that I’m sure will be extremely useful for the future.
I’m really happy with the work I did for MAMMAL. The final responsive website showcases the MAMMAL brand and does what it needed to for visitors: it’s organized, easy to navigate, and offers a clear, uncomplicated path to contact MAMMAL. If it matters how a company presents itself, and whether it pays attention to details, then I think MAMMAL’s site represents them well, while also giving them an elegant, functional, online home they can share proudly.