While developing a new brand strategy and identity for Johnson Controls, Lippincott led an ambitious effort to re-architect and redesign the company’s corporate Web presence from the ground up.
As a leader in automotive experience, building efficiency and power solutions, Johnson Controls (JCI) has operations, brands and customers in countries around the world. But not every JCI division has sales or operations in every region. So regionalization, localization and accommodation for multiple languages had to be built into the company’s new Web site.
JCI needed a site design that anticipated its developing brand; the site would be the primary vehicle for launching the company’s new identity. Since its Web presence had expanded organically through homegrown contributions from various regions and business units, it was time to bring it all together to support and deliver a unified brand message for the company.
Interviews with sales, operations, IT, and marketing representatives from each business unit in each region helped us define the common and divergent communication needs of the entire enterprise, and gave us a clear picture of the capabilities and constraints of each unit’s Web-enabling systems.
Our information architecture for the site segregated and simplified the presentation of corporate versus business unit information. The new architecture brought capabilities and cases together under themes that align with key brand attributes—attributes such as innovation, sustainability and technical proficiency—in ways that worked for every region and business unit.
Our design uses both the emotional and cognitive potential of color and typography to create a distinctive and consistent but easily changeable system. Users in different countries can see different offerings in different languages, but the new site always speaks positively and clearly about Johnson Controls.