UMW Holdings is a Malaysian company that has grown very rapidly in manufacturing, distribution and oil and gas services. The conglomerate wanted to extend its new visual identity system—developed by Lippincott—to the Web to ensure that its new sophisticated identity was conveyed as universally as possible.
After growing mostly through acquisitions, UMW had a large number of sites with little in common. And the corporate portal did not provide a cohesive sense of the company.
With a new brand platform being developed by Lippincott and soon ready for launch, UMW needed at least an introductory microsite up and running in time for the announcement—with a rich corporate portal to follow soon after.
Lippincott began by developing an information architecture for UMW’s Web presence, using a structure that could make the transition from microsite to full corporate portal without appearing to involve a full design change. We created templates that were elegant in their simplicity, and quite flexible enough to accommodate a wide range of subsidiary information. We established image guidelines, naming conventions and a content hierarchy that would remain easy to use while enhancing recognition and consistency.
Our new Web design will make the transition from microsite to corporate portal so smoothly that users looking through the top-level pages won’t sense any changes at all. With a fresh design and flexible templates, UMW can now meet its objective of projecting a sophisticated global presence on the Web.