A new brand narrative for a 50-year old tech company
Client
Esri
My Role
Art Direction UX/UI Design Brand Narrative Content Strategy Storyboarding
My Deliverables
Creative Workshop Series Wireframes Storyboards Pitch Decks High-fidelity Comps
Challenge
It's become an inside joke in the GIS community that it's impossible to explain what GIS is. Esri makes the world's most powerful GIS software, but even they had a hard time translating the value of their technology. Their main education site, WhatisGIS.com, had 300K annual visitors, but was packed with technical language and confusing information. The goal for the project was to redesign the existing website and develop a digital campaign to reach new audiences. I led the creative strategy and redesign, facilitating workshops with stakeholders and pitching executives to find a new way for Esri to explain its core product.
Approach
This challenged how Esri had traditionally communicated. Getting buy-in required steering the team toward what users actually needed rather than what felt safe or familiar. I developed a semiotic framework to guide myself and the team, focusing on using the most universal symbols to communicate abstract ideas, helping users latch onto meaning quickly. Instead of cramming everything onto dense pages, we also gave ideas room to breathe. Content was structured around a clear learning progression with high-level concepts first and technical details later. I developed a visual approach where data became the hero. Short animations broke down key concepts using simple visuals and muted backgrounds, letting colorful maps and spatial analysis take focus.
Digital Campaign
“The goal was to grow the GIS market by reaching new audiences. We inspired meaningful engagement by placing digital and print ads and articles in trusted, top-tier publications. We’re introducing people around the world to GIS through real-world stories that reveal how it’s helping solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.” — Laura Krenek, Esri, Head of Brand Marketing
Impact
The framework we developed prioritizing clarity, pacing, and visual storytelling influenced how Esri communicated about GIS across other channels. Now professionals in the field can finally share a link instead of struggling to explain their jobs at dinner parties. The site won a Digiday Content Marketing Award for Best Branded Content Site (B2B) and a Gold Addy for Microsite. In the first 90 days post-launch:
97%
increase in visitors
130%
increase in page views
23%
decrease in bounce rate
45%
increase in time on page
2
awards
The Team
I worked closely with copywriter Andrea Massey, motion designer Dan Gill, Creative Director Carl Bender, and Chief Creative Officer James Hitchcock. The full team included video production, UX researchers, front-end developers, content strategists, project managers, GIS SMEs, and the marketing department.
