Freelance 2021

New modern website with
strong family roots

Customer

Resume

In collaboration with MyCo Seed, we not only developed a new website and tightened up their identity. It also became much more than just that…

Responsibility

UX/UI Design
WordPress

Related to

WordPress
Digital Vikings

Start from the roots and highlight the family business

I came to MyCo as a freelancer through some networking, where I helped with some video work. We had a conversation about their family business and I inquired about their website and asked several questions about their existing site. It ended with us scheduling a further meeting which resulted in a collaboration. The company chose to focus on highlighting product information, process and quality assurance. Additionally, the family also has extensive knowledge about potatoes and wanted to share that knowledge.

Task description

  1. Highlight the values and
    services MyCo Seed offers.
  2. Create better transparency
    about what their business entails.

The Task

1. Discover

Understanding their internal processes and operational framework was essential for my comprehensive analysis and project success.

This involved a detailed examination of their daily workflows to identify efficiency opportunities, thorough target demographic profiling to ensure messaging alignment, strategic market positioning analysis to differentiate from competitors, and mapping their complete order fulfillment procedures from initial customer contact to final delivery.

I dedicated significant time to understanding their communication channels with customers and internal documentation systems that support their operations. Additionally, I conducted an in-depth investigation into their strategic focus on potatoes, carefully assessing the long-term viability of this specialization in the agricultural market, and worked to identify their unique competitive advantages within the industry. This included analyzing their proprietary growing techniques, quality control measures, and specialized knowledge that has been developed over generations in this family business.

2. Explore

Following comprehensive interviews with internal team members, partners, and customers, I acquired a clear understanding of the company’s identity and value proposition that attracts their clientele.

I subsequently analyzed existing data from their previous website’s flowchart to evaluate active elements, though the available information was somewhat limited.

This led me to conduct a thorough competitor analysis to identify market positioning opportunities. A key finding revealed that competitors generally maintained opacity regarding their processes, whereas our client demonstrated a strategic advantage through their transparency and pride in their quality standards and comprehensive production workflow. Based on these insights, I developed communication patterns aligned with stakeholder expectations, drawing from both internal and external interview findings.

3. Testing

To establish a strategic direction, I developed a comprehensive sitemap and presented to executive leadership the strategic purpose, functional role, and business significance of each proposed page. Following approval of the sitemap architecture, I proceeded to create low-fidelity wireframes to evaluate the interaction patterns and conceptual frameworks identified through stakeholder interviews and market research.

Subsequently, after developing multiple wireframe iterations aligned with the approved sitemap, I implemented targeted testing with industry-specific participants. This systematic evaluation process ensured the pages effectively communicated the intended information and provided potential clients with sufficient confidence in the organization’s capabilities to initiate engagement and proceed with order placement.

4. Observe

Through test interviews, I identified key market insights that shaped our design strategy. Participants highlighted the international nature of the seed industry, particularly connections with French and Canadian markets. This led to implementing multilingual features to improve global reach and communication.

My analysis also revealed MyCo Seed’s deep expertise in their product lifecycle and cultivation techniques. This knowledge gives them a competitive advantage, positioning them as industry authorities. This expertise-based approach strengthens client confidence across existing and potential business relationships, creating growth opportunities through reputation-based differentiation.

The result

The result was a brand website with many visual elements to introduce the pride MyCo Seed has about their products. During the design and development of the website, I also spent considerable time selecting and adapting the many media elements to ensure a good balance between the technical and human aspects that the process clearly utilizes.

Therefore, we defined our own small rule that whenever there was textual content, there should always be visual media to support the message. This way, the recipient would always perceive that there are people behind the various processes and topics, and that there is always someone ready to help and clarify any questions.

The flow

A key priority for the client, reinforced by analytics from the previous website’s flowchart data, was ensuring users could efficiently navigate the site with a clear overview while being strategically guided toward relevant and complementary information.

Conclusion

The MyCo Seeds website project stands as a successful example of how strategic design thinking can transform a family business’s digital presence. By emphasizing transparency in their processes, highlighting their generational expertise, and creating a visually engaging experience, we effectively differentiated MyCo Seeds from competitors who typically maintain opacity about their operations.

Key achievements include:

  • Developing a multilingual platform that expanded their reach to international markets, particularly in France and Canada
  • Creating a content strategy that balanced technical information with human elements, reinforcing the family business aspect
  • Establishing a visual language that consistently paired textual content with supporting media
  • Improving user navigation to maintain clarity while guiding visitors toward relevant information

This project evolved beyond a simple website redesign into a comprehensive brand strengthening initiative. By showcasing MyCo Seeds’ unique position as industry experts with deep product knowledge and quality processes, we’ve created a digital platform that not only generates leads but also reinforces their market authority and builds trust with potential customers.

The website now serves as both a marketing tool and an educational resource, reflecting the client’s core values of transparency, expertise, and family tradition in the seed industry.