Rickett Architects
Founded in 1972, Rickett Architects is an experienced architect firm with a commercial approach to the built environment, helping clients with every stage of their projects. The firm needed a new website that would better reflect their vision for the business and emulate the quality and style of its work.
The challenge
A titan in its industry, Rickett Architects needed a website that would reflect half-a-century of expertise while staying ahead of the curve for centuries to come. It was also important to convey the style and quality of its work – creative developments sensitive to their environment and purpose. With a website that was clunky and difficult to use, there was a large discrepancy between the poor user experience offered by the website, and the incredible added value offered by working with the firm.
What’s more, the website’s existing visuals did not emulate the sleek, contemporary aesthetic of the firm’s projects, or values of transparency and simplicity. And it failed to showcase its outstanding work. Rickett Architects approached The Bigger Boat with a brief to create a website befitting the firm’s standing.
How we've helped
Rickett Architects comprises lead designers and architects who are prolific in their field. With their work boasting effortless style and value-led solutions, we wanted to embody these qualities in the website design and build.
The vertical navigation bar on desktop offers a unique user experience, remaining fixed down the side of the page as the user scrolls. The bar features a progress indicator, to keep users informed on how far down the webpage they are. When clicked, the bar launches a big takeover menu. Design details like these give the site a slick, intuitive feel and make it pleasantly simple to use.
Of course, a large consideration was how best to showcase the architectural work. Minimal white space confidently surrounds striking imagery of the projects, placing them at the forefront. By keeping textual information to a minimum and adopting a pared-back approach to design, we’ve ensured the website emulates the firm’s cool and contemporary nature, while allowing the architectural visuals to speak for themselves.
Although we were only originally asked to design and build a new website, Rickett Architects liked our designs and suggested tweaks to the brand and logo so much that it has since brought all its materials in line with our design. Now, not only does the new fully responsive website reflect a firm of their calibre, their wider collateral does too.
Going forward, we’ll continue to support Rickett Architects with their LinkedIn channel, and are discussing other potential opportunities.
Dan Rickett
Managing director, Rickett Architects
Charlotte Conqueror
Senior UI/UX designer, The Bigger Boat
