Case Study: Logo and Website Redesign for Top RF Specialists

Client: Epiq Solutions

Working on the Epiq Solutions website and logo design was by far the most challenging project our team has had this year. 

Epiq Solutions is a company that develops tools based on RF technology for engineering teams and government-focused organizations. They produce advanced tools that require good technical understanding, and their target audience has very specific occupations, education, and needs.

To us, designing content for products like processors and software-defined radios sounded cool cause we got to learn new tech stuff and improve our designing skills. 

But, as fun as it has been, getting to know Epiq meant digging some serious expert literature. To understand the products we were about to showcase on their website, we had to expand our knowledge and skills once more and direct our creativity to high-tech fields.

We can surely tell that we are proud of how we did in the finals! 

We’ve come up with a design that is above all practical, and we’ve learned a lot during the process. Not just about the new industry, but also about designing, selling, and presenting products with unique specifications.

Logo Design

The first task of the Broworks team was to redesign Epiq’s old logo. This meant modernizing the existing look since it had some outdated elements, but it had to be done with caution. The new logo design depended on the collaboration that Epiq has with another company - Xiphos.

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Harmonizing Epiq and Xiphos

Xiphos is a technology company that makes computing solutions that are embedded in spacecraft. It became the sister company of Epiq Solutions and brought another kind of target audience into the picture. Since they began their collaboration, these two have been aiming for a common umbrella brand. To begin with, they wanted their new logos to match in design, but also to keep their separate identity.

The most demanding design tasks for us were to:

• Keep separate characters of Epiq and Xiphos (which are reflected in some elements of the old logos),
• Show the new synergy between the two in logo and web designs

Designers established this harmony by giving both brands a modern, cleaner look, with shared elements of graphics and typography.

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Strengthening the Epiq Look

From the old Epiq logo, we kept the RF signal as a trademark of their brand. By removing everything that was too much for a modern logo, we enhanced its overall appeal. 

We provided the Epiq team with a variety of options, including RF signals, antennas, and other technical trademarks. Decision-making took longer because of all the logo requirements, but we agreed on the best version to meet them all.

The logo icon got more in balance with the typography. It got more readable on different surfaces while standard Epiq colors encapsulated the essence of the brand.

The UX problem

The old website of Epiq held a lot of information, all that one buyer needed to understand the product they were about to buy. It was no easy job putting relevant info together‌ so that the website itself was enough for the customer to decide if Epiq solves their problems.

What needed improvements right away was user experience. People needed better navigation through a vast ocean of information. 

As a rule, we started with the UX sprint and learned as much as possible about users' needs and expectations. Constant meetings were super important in our UX phase, and the team of engineers, developers, and salespersons from Epiq has helped us a lot. Besides talking to the Epiq team, we were reading and absorbing knowledge through blogs and videos. A lot.

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Solutions

We agreed that the new website should act like a virtual seller. 

Hitting pain points, persuading, and being as informative and transparent as anyone getting money out of their pockets would expect.

In the UX phase, we started equipping the new Epiq website with features that will explain, navigate, and support site users through their search. Using all from our design toolbox: descriptions, photos, demo videos, filters, graphics, etc.

The UI design is done in layers (and we are not talking about Figma layers).

Each layer represents a section or a page from which users can go deeper into content and reveal product specifications bit by bit.

We made the site of overview pages and detailed pages to create different levels of knowledge. The last step in learning about a product would lead to downloadable specs or manuals or buying CTA. The idea was to give every visitor the ability to choose to what extent they want to explore the Epiq website, and not get lost in the process.

Art direction

All the UI solutions had to align with the brand of the company. Although we needed to categorize products, services, and applications on the website, we didn't want to confuse users with many colors. 

We stick to black as a primary color, and green to bring accents, draw & keep attention, and as helping pin points of the website. 

We did not use graphic elements so much in order to show actual products, since that is the content customers mostly look for. We used only some RF signal abstractions to set the mood.

Since we had to harmonize two companies, some Xiphos products found their place at the new Epiq site. Even though they share the spotlight, the Epiq website is designed with the recognizable Epiq look, while Xiphos has its own site that looks different.

Audience-oriented design

Epiq company has a specific target audience, knowledgeable people who like a direct and transparent approach. Knowing their niche, we spoke their language, giving them shortcuts (like floating buttons and anchor links) and not to overwhelm them with something they already knew. 

But we still needed to pay attention to the new customers and users that had to be introduced to a product from zero.

We designed certain elements, like the search bar in navigation, specifically for those who know what they are looking for. On the other hand, short annotations and descriptions became parts of the design that follow users around to help new people with their journey.

Flexible Structure

In creating the site's structure, we paid attention to the fact that the Epiq team would add more and more of their products using flexible sections of the design. We thought of moving things around, choosing one section over another for describing a certain product or service. 

This website should also serve the people of Epiq if they need to find something fast on their website, present it to others, and make new pages. That’s why we designed many pages as customizable templates.

Conclusion

We made numerous unique pages with a layered structure that customers and Epiq’s team can easily use. The main item of this project was to build a clean and readable site with a smooth experience of learning and buying.

Through UX and UI thinking, Epiq's new logo and website got an enhanced look with improved practicality.