Scient
 

Client Objective:

In 1998, Scient hired vivid studios to redesign and extend its corporate site, working in close collaboration with the marketing team to develop new content and functionality. The primary aim was to radically distinguish its approach and culture from that of established competitors such as Andersen Consulting, EDS, and Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP). The user interface had to communicate Scient's unique development process and sell its new implementation model, minimizing its late entry into the eCommerce arena.

vivid Implementation:

Because the window for development was only eight weeks, vivid followed a rapid prototyping model. The first challenge was identifying strategic and tactical goals for development. We knew that the site could not be successful if it was a static marketing communications brochure. Repeat visitors were critical to sustained visibility for this new start-up. Equally important was the need to design a compelling recruiting tool for a company which relies primarily on its web presence to attract top talent.

From process, vivid shifted its focus to people. We interviewed Scient employees, from senior management to new hires, asking them how Scient's approach, clientele, culture, philosophy, work environment, and solutions differed from that of the competition. We also immersed ourselves in scores of trade articles, documents and case studies. Once we crafted the message, vivid started working on the delivery of that message. We divided Scient's target audience into three groups, existing and potential clients, recruits, and the press, deciding that we could attract repeat visitors by hosting a continuous dialogue tailored to each of these three groups.

The chosen design treatment achieves a delicate balance between bold, cutting-edge technology and structured process and results. A blueprint metaphor reinforces the architectural nature of Scient's approach to technology implementation and its claim to "helping companies reinvent themselves online". Most notable is the interactive cube which illustrates Scient's "eBusiness model" that there are three ways that customers buy, three markets in which they buy, and eight ways to build a business online. This cube was developed by vivid and distills several binders' worth of documentation into one animated screen. Written content was equally important to the site's overall look and feel---vivid developed nearly all of it with careful attention given to voice and audience.

The site, which launched in late 1998, will serve as a forum and community for eBusiness and establish a name for Scient within this industry.