Christmas Morning
Launching a new or updated website always feels like Christmas morning. It doesn’t matter if you have been immersed in the details for months. It’s still surprising and uplifting. Last night, we launched the new Exhibits Northwest website (www.exhibitsnw.com). Exhibits Northwest is a sister company of Classic Exhibits that operates exclusively in the Pacific Northwest.
So why does this launch matter to you, a Classic Exhibits distributor? Three reasons ….
Website Design
The new Exhibits Northwest website was designed to be optimized for full screen, tablet, and mobile devices. This was the goal from the beginning and drove every-single design decision. The announcement from Google last week to prioritize mobile-friendly websites was a coincidence but a happy one for Exhibits Northwest (and the Classic Exhibits website, which is also mobile-friendly). If you haven’t altered your website for mobile devices, it needs to be added to your “To Do” list for this year.
Mission
We’re not new to website development, but this time we took a different approach. Instead of listing all the features we wanted the site to include, we defined what we wanted the site to convey. The Exhibits Northwest website had to focus on three goals that spoke to the ENW mission: Creativity, Capability, and Culture. So, whenever we talked about a feature, it had to be “stress-tested” against those three objectives. In the end, it meant jettisoning quite a few pages from the old site, which had meaningful content but didn’t add to the story. It’s an approach we would recommend to others.
Exhibit Design Search
Anyone who has attended Shared Knowledge University or spoken to Kevin, Jen, Reid, or me knows that Exhibits Northwest serves as a testbed of ideas for Classic Exhibits. We ask them to review new products or new online features before funneling them to the Classic Distributor Network. Some make it to the Network, others don’t based on their feedback. Exhibit Design Search is a perfect example. The new Exhibits Northwest version shows a new approach. The images are larger, less blocky, the menu minimized, and there are clever animations. This approach can’t be achieved on all distributor-branded EDS websites since it’s format specific, but there are elements we will look to add to the next Exhibit Design Search software update.
Last but not least, a special thanks to everyone who made this happen. You’re the BEST!
Should you have any questions, give us a call. We welcome your comments and feedback.
–Mel White
http://www.linkedin.com/in/melmwhite
mel@classicexhibits.com
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Based in Portland, Oregon, Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions. Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100 or www.classicexhibits.com.
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