kobold
Understanding ethical mineral exploration
Helped the world better understand the complicated and multidisciplinary approach of making mineral exploration a process where ethics come first.
Roles
I worked with and presented directly to an internal team, the primary client, and a messaging consultant the client had hired. The internal team included:
Strategy & UX Design
Experience Design Dir.
UX Designer (my role)
Design
Digital Creative Director
Art Director
Digital Designer
Development
Technical Director
Principal Developer
Project Management
Senior Producer
Process
KoBold holds a unique role in the world of mineral exploration in their ethics, approach, and use of AI. However, their previous website struggled to represent them and the value of their approach.
Additionally, the technicalities in their process are challenging for the average person to comprehend. They desired an approach that would better communicate their process and its significant advantages to increase collaboration opportunities.
As a remote/hybrid team, we communicated primarily via online tools, scheduling meetings when necessary. Due to the extensive travel schedules of the co-owners and the involvement of the messaging consultant (abroad), we quickly learned the necessity of clear documentation for decisions made.
Stakeholder Interviews
Stakeholder Interview Review
Refining
As we drilled down and followed-up with KoBold, we were able to start identifying the themes and key messaging they wanted to prioritize and defining the material that would tie their full story together in a cohesive manner.
Information Architecture
After finalizing clarification on the primary audiences, and which buckets of info were relevant to which audience, we took a look at KoBold's current IA before looking at a potentially new structure for them.
Given their timelines and budget, we looked at a couple different options for the IA at different phases of roll-out for the new site, to ensure maximum impact and minimal friction and confusion.
Staying Aligned
As we moved from discovery into story development, content hierarchy, site structure, and module design, we knew the client was interested in moving very quickly and had very complex info to communicate.
It was important for us to have a plan for keeping the work moving while staying aligned with the client and confirming the story arc, messaging, and strategy were on-point.
Working with a messaging consultant and our own copywriters and brand experts made this an interesting challenge, especially as the Executives, Kurt & Josh, were unavailable for significant portions of the reviews. We made a point to confirm at what junctures they should be brought in to finalize decisions.
Strategic Wireframes
We began with the Homepage (again, with a phased approach), and then addressed the rest of the page wires, keeping an eye on any modules that could be reused or simplified for better consistency and more flexibility for the client. Additional pages:
Careers
News
Contact
Partners/Projects
Teams
Values
404
Conclusion
After working with Design and Dev to finalize the site and complete internal and external QA, the site went live. The client was delighted with how cohesive, comprehensive, engaging, unique, and clear the site had become.
Webby Awards
We were thrilled the site received two Honoree mentions by the Webby Awards:
Sustainability & Environment
Best Data Visualization
