Blackstone Federal Website

“You seemed like such a cool company, but I couldn’t really figure out what you did when I looked up the website” was a frequent comment among new employees at Blackstone Federal. The site featured fun videos of events and interviews, but little content about what employees did every day. Any information that was available couldn’t be accessed without watching these videos, making it hard for prospective hires to interact with the site if they were at another job or in a public place. We wanted a website that not only showcased our unique culture, but also the way we work and solve problems, in a way that users could interact with easily no matter where they were.

The Blackstone Federal Website redesign went through several iterations to get to the final product.

• I kicked off the project by assembling a team and conducting initial user research to gathered reactions to the (then) current site, as well as elements that the users looked for when reviewing the websites of prospective companies;
• Sketched an draft wireframe during a creative brainstorming session, with a focus on content placement on the homepage;
• After presenting the concept to stakeholders, I built out a more refined wireframe, including preliminary layouts for secondary pages;
• Drafted an initial design of the website, and conducted another round of user research to test assumptions about layout, organization, and language;
• Based on that research, I discovered that some of the copy was too insular, and some important elements, such as job information, was located in unexpected places and therefore inaccessible to users. We adjusted our sitemap and copy based on this feedback;
• Worked closely with senior leadership to refine the page design;
• Upon approval, I worked with an external vendor for page development, packaging assets and creating notes detailing interactive elements and mobile considerations for each page;
• As the developer was building the site, I coordinated the finalization and approval of other site assets, including custom icons, videos concepts, and copy, as well as soliciting and coordinating feedback to ensure approval from all stakeholders.

The final product is a website that oozes Blackstone culture, highlights company successes, and allows easy ways for users to engage with Blackstone on multiple levels.