In the world of modern professional service firms, a company's digital presence is a crucial marker of credibility. 

The website, in particular, is often considered the equivalent of a virtual business card and is typically the gateway for clients and partners to engage with the brand anytime, anywhere. 

Crafting an effective website with intuitive navigation and transparent messaging takes meticulous planning and structure — after all, the website can make or break a potential lead’s first impression. Recognizing the importance of a thoughtful online channel, we made the decision to reshape our website while also redefining our services.

Who We Are. 

Where do we start? Perhaps by looking back at our story and how it evolved. 

Mäd was founded in Cambodia in 2016 as a small creative agency that mainly offered branding and marketing services to local and international clients of all sizes and various industries. 

Since then, we’ve grown, changed, and shifted our company and our services. 

Our website, in particular, has gone through seven (!) transformative iterations to ensure that it was always on the same page as our service offerings and objectives. 

This year, we decided to rethink and refine what we do in preparation for the exciting new year ahead as we explore increasingly diverse sectors and solidify our positioning as thought leaders in our space.

Our key mission is to help businesses embrace digital transformation through strategic thinking and user-focused design. Today, Mäd identifies as a human-centric consultancy that merges design, technology, and people to deliver high-impact, high-quality solutions for both the public and private sectors.

What We Do.

The primary reason why we undertook a website redesign was to better reflect our services. 

Our earlier website positioning prioritized simplicity at the cost of insufficient information. With this renewal, we wanted to ensure that all our audiences, leads, and potential clients could have an accurate understanding of who we are and what we do. 

Mäd services span an extensive area of the digital transformation realm: we work on projects involving UX/UI and web design alongside end-to-end development of high-impact digital products, including applications, websites, enterprise platforms, portals, dashboards, and software systems.

Operating across both the public sector and private sector industries, such as banking and finance, professional services, F&B, hospitality and real estate, and telecommunications, we continuously adapt our project approach to be tailored to the specific needs of each project and market.

Digital Transformation. 

Our work with digital transformation is characterized by a nuanced understanding of process design through a digital lens. At Mäd, we don't just engage in surface-level processes; instead, we guide our clients through a thoughtful journey that integrates design thinking and focuses on the end-user. 

We also apply the Design Sprint methodology to kick off all the projects we work on, helping us ensure a creative and aligned approach with each unique client.

Digital Products and Strategy. 

We specialize in creating high-impact, end-to-end digital products. From conceptualization to deployment, our services go beyond design and development. By emphasizing strategy, we integrate our projects into a broader organizational vision, adding a layer of sustainability and long-term impact.

UX/UI Design.

At the core of our work lies a commitment to thoughtful user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) design. It's not just about aesthetics but about crafting functional and intuitive designs that resonate with end-users and alleviate their pain points.

Development. 

Beyond conceptualization, our focus is on bringing ideas to life — making things happen. Whether it's hosting design sprint workshops, strategizing for digital transformation, or developing innovative applications, our ultimate goal is to deliver tangible results, ensuring our clients meet their business objectives.

Starting with Why. 

Adaptability has always been at the core of the Mäd ethos. It has helped us shape our identity and expand our skills and offerings in response to the evolving landscape.

As a result, our decision to refresh the Mäd website stemmed from an understanding of this process and the need to accurately reflect our current positioning. 

With our human-centric focus, client feedback played a pivotal role in steering this website transformation. We listened to the people we serve, identifying areas of improvement to enhance their experience.

Our Goals.

Considering our long-term goals — becoming the leading design agency in Cambodia and expanding our reach internationally — we needed a website that reflects our ambitions and positions us as experts in the digital product space.

We also wanted to maintain simplicity in design while staying true to our identity. This meant making content accessible to our target audiences while ensuring that it resonates with our values.

Finally, this effort was also rooted in a strategic push to generate more leads. We recognized pain points in the existing website structure: a lack of navigation, no way of searching or filtering content, unwieldy lists of clients and articles, and often insufficient information on our services. These could hinder our chances to work with potential clients. 

We then took these pain points and turned them into opportunities for improvement. 

Our How.

To start, we began by conducting an internal design sprint with the entire Mäd team to ensure that we were all aligned on where we are, where we want to be, and how we’re going to get there.

Through that, we identified what makes us stand out from other competitors in the market. This enabled us to outline our value propositions, from our interdisciplinary, multicultural team to our remote work structure and our wealth of experience working with diverse companies.

Here's a glimpse into the thinking that defined our process:

Why are we different?

The starting point was a deep dive into what differentiates us from other agencies and consultancies.

Our positioning as experts in digital products emphasizes our commitment to building superior digital solutions. From design and development to delivering exceptional user experiences, we pride ourselves on being doers — a team that gets things done. 

Our focus on quality, backed by a wealth of experience and a profound understanding of both the local and international landscapes, is at the core of our foundation. Our processes, management strategies, and cutting-edge tools and technologies further bolster our positioning. Finally, our international team, characterized by lean, smart, and cross-disciplinary individuals (M-shaped people), ensures that we commit our full efforts to every client initiative, with at least one partner involved in each project. 

Collaboration.

Our process thrives on cross-functional collaboration between design, development, and content teams. This holistic, well-rounded strategy allows us to integrate diverse perspectives into every facet of our digital narrative. 

We also consider our clients an integral part of this collaborative journey — this means that with every client project, our team joins in to work as an extension of their team. This team-driven approach ensures that every aspect of our work receives the collective attention and expertise of both Mäd and our clients.

The Process.

We executed our complete website redesign in just over a month. This is how we made it happen: 

1. Design Sprint. We began with a collaborative design sprint, where our internal team worked together to set the stage for the changes ahead. This involved a comprehensive group brainstorming session (with several follow-ups) to identify pain points and areas of improvement in the current website, and kickstart strategic planning for the redesign project. ‍

2. Analysis and preparation. The next phase involved a meticulous gap analysis, where we examined our current website (and any past renditions), noting how it presents relevant information about our work and services. Drawing from our history, we evaluated past client work to leverage successful and redundant elements. We also researched and reviewed our competitors’ websites to gather insight into current trends and to ensure differentiation. ‍

3. Cross-functional collaboration. A website requires collective efforts from various experts across design, development, and content. Our interdisciplinary team worked closely on website planning, design, and execution to ensure that every facet of our online presence received full attention. We also ran regular team working sessions to align progress for design, development, and content aspects.‍

4. Design refinement. Building on the insights and steps established in earlier phases, the Mäd design team got started on a complete overhaul of the website’s look and feel. Some of the key elements we focused on included

• Navigation: The information architecture and navigation were completely restructured and enhanced for a more intuitive, user-friendly experience.
• Wireframing: A UI kit was chosen and customized to meet our goals, and detailed wireframes were crafted to visualize, refine, and test the new layout and structure of the website.
• Reorganizing: A focused effort to redefine and enhance service pages, insights, and case studies was made for clarity, ease of access, and impact.
• Typography refresh: Our typefaces were re-evaluated and adjusted to ensure a true typographical representation of our refined positioning and consistency across all branded materials.

5. Enhancing user experience. Integrating categories, tags, and filtering mechanisms throughout the website improved user experience, allowing efficient navigation through our content.‍

6. Organizing content. A meticulous approach to content planning and grouping ensured information was not only accessible but also logically grouped for clarity.‍

7. Streamlining information. Understanding the importance of simplicity, we ran a process of trimming unnecessary information. This streamlined our digital narrative, presenting a more focused and impactful story.

What’s New? 

Here are some key highlights and updates:

Service clarity. Effortlessly navigate through our array of services and areas of expertise to get an understanding of our skills and capabilities. The revamped website prioritizes clarity, making it easier for potential clients to explore the solutions we provide.

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Client showcase. Visitors can step into our client showcase, a dynamic gallery featuring our diverse clientele categorized by industry. We give a glimpse into the spectrum of projects we've undertaken, reflecting the variety and impact of our work across both public and private sector entities.

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Case studies. Dive into our in-depth overview of client projects. These case studies provide a detailed look into our collaborative problem-solving, showcasing the real impact of our work. It's a chance to understand our processes and gain insights into our services.

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Knowledge hub. Explore our curated collection of insights that reflect Mäd’s positioning as an industry thought leader. Beyond showcasing our services, our knowledge database offers perspectives and expertise on various subjects within our domain.

Expected Impact. 

While the primary aim of our website redesign is not something we can reflect in tangible terms, there are a few ways we can measure its impact in the long run:

• ‍Analytics. We'll closely monitor website analytics and visitor metrics to understand the reach and engagement of our revamped platform. This data will provide insights into the effectiveness of our online presence.‍
• Engagement. Measuring user engagement is crucial. We aim to enhance the time users spend on our website, the pages they explore, and the interactions they have. ‍
• Inquiries. The number and quality of inquiries generated through our website will serve as an indicator of its effectiveness. An uptick in relevant inquiries signifies that our content and offerings resonate with our audience.‍
• Client acquisition. The number of new clients, the duration of client relationships (lifetime value), and the strength of client retention could be helpful metrics. A positive trend in these areas reflects the effectiveness of our online presence in attracting and retaining the right clients.‍
• Project quality. One of our primary goals is to showcase the quality of our projects. We'll assess how well our revamped website communicates the excellence of our work, positioning Mäd as a provider of impactful and high-quality solutions.‍
• Monetary impact. Quantifying the monetary value of projects initiated through our website can be a measure of success. It demonstrates the economic impact of our website and its role in driving valuable business outcomes.

Final Thoughts.

Ultimately, a well-crafted website is more than a digital extension of your business; it's a space that communicates purpose, fosters connections, and leaves an impression. 

The revamped Mäd website embodies this philosophy, offering visitors an immersive experience that reflects the nature of our services.

Our website redesign initiative was a strategic effort to align our digital presence with the evolving identity and business objectives of the Mäd brand. Beyond the visual appeal, our commitment to excellence, innovation, and user-focused solutions is deeply ingrained into every phase of this project.

As we unveil our digital evolution, we invite you to explore the refreshed Mäd website — a digital space designed not just to showcase our work but also to inform our audiences and connect us with them. It stands as a testament to our dedication to delivering impactful, high-quality solutions that resonate with clients, partners, and users.

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If you have any inquiries or are seeking further insights, please feel free to reach out to us at hi@mad.co or mad.co/contact.