A Digital Experience Agency

Going From Four Brands To One Story.

Manhattan Prep

Challenge

Manhattan Prep was having an identity crisis. As they expanded their business, four distinct brands emerged, each telling their own completely disconnected story. The central brand was getting lost in the noise.

Solution

We worked with the team at Manhattan Prep to figure out their core story, and then rebranded the company with a unified visual identity and voice. We also took their four unique brand websites and brought them together into one streamlined, responsive site.

SERVICES PROVIDED:

  • Brand Strategy
  • Logo Design
  • Content Strategy
  • Digital Strategy
  • UX Architecture
  • Responsive Web Design
  • Content Development
  • SEO

Breaking up the band

Manhattan Prep was like a band — a band that needed to split up. With four brands, each singing a different song, customers were completely missing the main act.

Creating a fresh look and personality

We worked with Manhattan Prep to refocus their story as one unified brand. Then we created a new visual identity, from the logo and color palette to typography and photographic style.

Getting schooled by the students

After talking with Manhattan Prep leaders, instructors and students, we identified the key users for the new website. We let the most important of these — the students — teach us about their needs and goals. From there we created user stories and flows to guide our strategy.

Hatching our master plan

Merging four websites into one was a massive undertaking. Our sitemap brought order to the chaos, establishing navigation and information hierarchy. The wireframes and content strategy showed how the big story would carry through the site.

Look ma, it’s a responsive website!

Manhattan Prep caters to smart tech-savvy students. Thinking mobile-first wasn’t just an option, it was the only option. We designed the site to adapt fluidly to the user’s screen, serving up the same intuitive navigation and helpful content on every device.

Dishing up a big plate of tasty UX

For prospective students, trying to choose between prep options was like ordering from the Cheesecake Factory menu. To save users from a super-sized helping of information overload, we designed the prep options page to show the big differences at a glance.

Weighing their options

A simple comparison chart lets users see the different options side-by-side. And when they drill down to the specific course page, we serve up quick and concise details with a big, bold call-to-action.

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Botox for a bumpy checkout

The existing shopping cart got the job done, but had a few wrinkles in the UX. During the redesign, we kept what worked and smoothed out what didn’t. We added emphasis to the products, made contents more scannable, and added an ever-present order summary. Now users are guided through a smoother purchase and enrollment flow.

It’s not you, it’s them

When asked why they chose Manhattan Prep, students all say the same thing — someone told them to. From pushy older siblings to over-sharing roommates, Manhattan Prep has an army of evangelists waiting in the wings.

We decided to put the student stories center stage on the new site. After all, their stories are more powerful than any marketing spin we could dream up.