January - March 2006

Before I got my hands on it, top-15 global law firm, Reed Smith’s website was neatly silo’d into four distinct sections. With no cross-linking, each chunk of content presented a dead-end. Users were missing out on a wealth of quality content I was sure they’d love …if only they knew it was there.

Faceted information

It was clear that the site had more to offer. The four sections had deep connections - library articles were written by specific attorneys; attorneys worked in practice areas; practice areas related to news items. It was a classic faceted information space. If I could link them up, users could be drawn through the site.

By enticing visitors to explore with genuinely relevant content, the site successfully exposed the full breadth of Reed Smith’s activities

Meaty metadata

To make it work, I wrote a metadata schema which detailed how all the content types would be classified to allow cross-linking. Then I constructed wireframes that clearly showed how the scheme would look. Finally, I user-tested and refined.

The sticky solution

I delivered a highly effective, sticky solution, which, by enticing users to explore with genuinely relevant content, successfully exposed the breadth of Reed Smith’s activities.

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