Chevron.com
Client
Chevron
Agency
Elephant
Responsibilities
IA, UXCD, lead user research, content strategy partner, workshop facilitation and moderation, product strategy, led 3 to 5 designers
The Challenge
Chevron was seeking to conduct a full, mobile-first web redesign that reflected who they are as a business today. This meant rethinking both how they talk about themselves and who they’re talking to.
The “human energy company”
Chevron wanted their web presence to reflect their uniquely human-centric approach. Chevron is a people-forward organization; as the “human energy company,” it's the people of Chevron that are working towards solving the world’s energy challenges today and tomorrow. We sought to authentically convey this sentiment both in narrative tone and through the site experience.
Reorienting the conversation
Previously, the site deliberately reflected the structure of the organization, and as a result, was oriented as “the business talking to the business.” Our goal was to reorient the conversation to address the everyday person looking to understand Chevron’s impact around the word (namely, the “engaged public”) while still providing secondary audiences—investors and members of the government/media—with clear paths to the content they need.
Approach
Throughout product development, we consistently consulted top competitors, analyzed site analytics, and embraced best practices. Building on this, we aligned our strategy with our dual objectives of how we present ourselves and who our target audience is. From initial planning through design, we focused on meeting the nuanced needs of our stakeholders, and actively engaged with our intended audiences whenever possible.
Sample Inputs: Sustainability Page
Defining the needs of the business
I worked intimately with our client to understand content requirements from a business perspective. We conducted a comprehensive audit of the existing site, and worked with our primary stakeholder to take a first pass at vetting this content. I then conducted worksessions in Figjam with stakeholders from each of the core lines of business to ensure the granular needs of the business were accounted for.
Example Stakeholder Worksessions
This bottom-up initial effort provided us with a comprehensive understanding of the landscape, and allowed us to trim down the site by over 60%.
Existing Site Map
Collaborative Consolidation Exercise
An authentically human-centered architecture
Now that I had a realistic sense of the baseline content requirements from a business perspective, I turned to our core audience to understand their needs and perceptions. I conducted a card sorting exercise in which respondents were asked to sort high-level content I had aligned on with the client. Respondents were asked to create their own categories, giving us a better understanding of what language about the business outside of business might sound like.
Emerging trends became in evident in the way our users were consistently classifying content.
Respondents generally classified content into 12 relatively similar buckets.
The way respondents were correlating content also revealed a few notable trends:
Clear relationships emerged between cards expressing product offerings.
Respondents viewed Renewable Energy as its own category.
Cards representing operations were difficult to place.
Cards representing company information and partnerships were consistently grouped.
Leading with user-based insights afforded us with new structures and language to work from, as well as real data to substantiate our recommendations.
A series of templated systems
I worked closely with strategy and copy in the iterative refinement of content on a page-by-page basis. From this process, I developed a templated page hierachy to ensure consistency in usability, scalability and way-finding. For each template, content, copy, template goals, recommended modules and benchmarks for measuring success were defined. In conjunction with a templated approach to page content briefs, we used this system to inform our designs, and provide a foundation for consistency across future states of the site.
A bold, refined, and immersive experience
Driven by our site objectives and best-in-class examples that most resonated with our client, we established 3 guiding experience principles to drive the redesign. We opted for high contrast moments, and bold color choices and typographic expressions to differentiate ourselves as leaders in the space and grab our users’ attention. We relied on refined, highly curated content presentations to convey authority. In alignment with our human-centric approach, we elevated immersive storytelling to engage our users.
Delivery
2 templated content briefs
holistic copy guidelines
comprehensive executional annotations
proof-of-concept motion prototypes
9 fully designed, responsive pages
35 dynamic modules
comprehensive information architecture
4 templated page types
Tree Test Results
The Result
We launched a fully reimaginged global site with a dynamic and scalable system that set Chevron up for future success. Our reimagined taxonomy was proven to speak directly to our core audiences. A tree test exercise validating taxonomy and architecture resulted in a 82%+ successful first click rate, a 93% comprehension rating, and a 99% company favorability rating, with respondents citing the companies perceived priorities for their positive impression.