High usability and brand recognition

The key to a fantastic multi-agency collaboration

In order to complete the task in such a short time, it was necessary to quickly and effectively align expectations between the three parties in terms of subject areas and decision-making competences. A realistic requirements specification and a mutual trust that we were each competent to make ad hoc decisions about the development of the site in our own areas were the reason why we succeeded on time with a well-functioning site. Well, and a lot of hard work - of course :-)

At Illumi, we had Jimmi Hassel on the job. Jimmi is a digital designer and an expert in translating advertising agencies' visual concepts into fantastic digital user experiences.

User-friendly website - without too many frills!

As a brand, Normal is known for its honest and 'normal' communication with consumers, and it was essential that the new website reflected the same honesty in design and functionality. The solution we developed together is first and foremost designed to give Normal's customers the best user experience from a mobile device - a user experience that is all about giving customers information about stores and product ranges. In its simplicity, the site should give customers answers to questions about where the nearest store is, what products they have on the shelves and what they cost.

Just for fun, you're completely normal

A website with multiple language versions enhances the user experience and ensures more direct communication with customers in markets other than Denmark. The solution we have developed together with Normal currently includes four language versions, with a fifth on the way. It's quick and easy to add more languages as the company decides to open stores in new markets. With meta tags, we have ensured that search engines know how to index the language versions correctly and display the correct language version when you visit the Normal website from a Norwegian, Swedish or German IP address, for example.

Why is too little time sometimes an advantage?

When working with Normal, time constraints were the deciding factor in ending up with a site that delivered exactly what it needed to in a simple and user-friendly way - and on time!

Was it easy? No, it certainly wasn't, because we had to constantly push "brilliant" ideas to the side and focus on MVP - Minimum Viable Product, which translates to something like "the least viable product".

In our experience - and this case is no exception - all parties involved in the collaboration need to make a number of choices that make the product much more simple and user-friendly for the end users. In this case, it had to be simple and manageable for Normal's employees to work with on their own, and it had to be a good digital experience for customers to visit the website.

When we at Illumi develop based on an MVP principle, we force ourselves to focus on the customer's requirements and the end user's overall experience and not our own nerdy solutions that we ourselves love so much. Our and our customers' 'darlings' are added on an ongoing basis if it makes sense at all and doesn't just add to the cost of the development task.

We prioritised a proper handover of the new site

At Illumi, we like to see our projects through to the end, and we only 'unleash' customers when we are sure they have the necessary insight to succeed with the new platform. Although time was short, we prioritised a workshop for Normal's key employees where we trained them to create new content on their own and to be responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of the site's content. After the workshop, they were pretty much self-sufficient.

Illumi is great at execution. They are quick to move and understand the task, and they are quick to get things set up and delivered.

Søren Mølgaard Sivebæk, Head of IT at Normal