The problem at this stage
In specialist engineering, trust and reliability matter. Technical buyers and procurement teams compare suppliers side by side before they pick up the phone. Before I could design anything for that audience, I needed to see what they see when they compare.
What I did
Before the kickoff meeting, I audited competitor websites: large manufacturers, direct rivals and companies in neighbouring areas of specialist engineering. I looked at each homepage through three lenses:
- Colour. Which colours each company leads with, and which are left unused.
- Claims. What each company says about itself, and whether there is evidence behind it.
- Imagery. Real photography, renders or stock, and what each choice says about the business.
Everything went into one table, so the patterns showed up at a glance rather than site by site.
What it changed
The audit turned a blank page into a few sharp questions for the kickoff. Instead of asking the client "what do you want your brand to say?", I could ask why their customers choose them over named alternatives, and what evidence we could put in front of a sceptical technical buyer.
In a market where many companies use the same words, the brand that shows its evidence is the one people trust.