Time to Redesign

Our first location was a tiny space downtown on Congress Avenue. It served our basic needs for a while, but we needed something ENTERMEDIA could realistically grow in. Bryan heard about an office space above a grocery store in Hyde Park. We checked it out.

It was four times the size.  You could park your car for free.  Desks came with it.  It had a bathroom, a kitchenette…even a large conference room. The kicker was we could just barely afford it.  We knew we’d found our home, especially with Quack’s, Julio’s, Hyde Park Bar & Grill, Fresh Plus, Pronto and Asti Trattoria safely within reach to keep us and our clients well-caffeinated, well-fed and well-met. So we signed the lease, plugged in our gear and got to work. We had rent to pay, clients to talk to, websites to build. We could unpack later.

Three years went by.  We moved in more people, more desks, more machines, but never quite unpacked or fixed up the place like we intended.

Until this week, that is, when we began a long overdue office redesign project. The goal? To make our office more inviting and usable, and clear out the clutter. A designer was hired to give us an outsider’s perspective and plan of action for our budget. Then we got to work recycling old equipment, painting walls, replacing fixtures, hanging art and creating smarter work spaces. We can already see real progress, if not unmitigated success.  Sure it costs money and time but it’s also fun and good for morale…in other words, worth it.

What has been the most interesting realization is how similar our office remodeling project was to our client’s website redesign projects. It’s as if we were saying all the things our clients say when they finally decide they can’t tolerate their old site anymore. Like our redesign clients, our motivation was to take control…to move forward…to reinvest, realign and refine.

“It’s something we’ve been meaning to do for years.”
“It’s just way too cluttered.”
“We’ve changed a lot.”
“We’ve grown so much.”
“We want to modern up our look.”
“We want to project a more professional image.”
“We can afford to do it.”
“We can’t afford not to do it.”

That last one was the one we couldn’t deny anymore.  We agreed it was about our customers. What impression did they form when they came to our office? What did we hope they’d think?

It was time to redesign.

Tags: web design