Freeman

Freeman is a global leader in event management and brand experiences, known for delivering innovative solutions that help businesses create meaningful connections with their audiences. Their expertise spans live, virtual, and hybrid events, supporting clients in crafting impactful moments.

Freeman engaged WebDevStudios to redesign and rebuild their website to enhance functionality, streamline content management, and deliver a modern, user-friendly experience.

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Freeman.com Website Rebuild

WebDevStudios partnered with Freeman to complete a website transformation, addressing critical pain points such as inconsistent design, slow site performance, and a fragmented content creation process. Leveraging the power of WordPress, the project introduced a custom Block Theme, improved accessibility, and streamlined content workflows. The result is a visually cohesive, high-performing, and easily manageable website that aligns with Freeman’s goals of innovation and excellence in digital communication.

The revamped Freeman website is a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation. With its modern design, robust functionality, and user-friendly interface, the site positions Freeman to effectively engage its audience, manage content effortlessly, and continue delivering exceptional experiences.

Freeman.com WordPress Website Redesign - WebDevStudios

Transition from Classic WordPress to a Modern Block Theme

To modernize Freeman’s website, WebDevStudios developed a custom WordPress Block Theme, based on our block theme framework: WDS-BT, to allow the Freeman editorial team the ability to adopt a more modern approach by leveraging the WordPress block and site editor, which gives them a more visual and seamless way of creating landing pages and content throughout their website. This new architecture replaces their reliance on Advanced Custom Fields, offering:

Consistency and Flexibility: Custom content patterns were created, enabling Freeman’s team to build visually consistent pages while maintaining the flexibility to implement unique designs as needed.
Simplified Content Management: The WordPress Block Editor ensures a user-friendly experience, empowering the editorial team to manage and update content effortlessly.

“We are absolutely loving the new site!! The process was very well organized. The whole thing, from end to end. ‘Great Job’ doesn’t seem like near enough praise, but great freaking job!”

– Lou Tufillaro, Freeman

Freeman WordPress Website full page layout patterns using the block editor

Landing Page Builder

The functionality of the website was further enhanced with bespoke features and design elements. Custom blocks, such as a Carousel Block and Call-to-Action Patterns, were integrated to enrich the user experience. Redesigned headers, footers, and global styles were implemented to maintain visual harmony and elevate the aesthetic appeal across the site.

We included approximately 5-6 landing page templates for other variations to handle their unique content needs. The templates we created for them are all WYSIWYG and visual editing so their team can see what they are creating as they create it. No coding is involved, and they can be confident that the pages they are creating are consistent with their branding and design system without needing advanced design skills or coding knowledge.

With these templates, the Freeman editorial team can create unique and modern landing pages for the website within minutes, something that used to take them weeks to accomplish.

Information Architecture and Data Migration

The project involved an extensive data migration effort to preserve and optimize Freeman’s content. All essential data from the previous system was retained and restructured to fit WordPress core blocks, while unused and orphaned data were eliminated to improve site performance and ensure a cleaner database.

To enhance organization and usability, WebDevStudios developed specialized post types and taxonomies. Features like Case Studies and Resources were implemented to categorize and display content effectively. Resource Collections archive pages were also introduced, providing an intuitive navigation experience for users to discover relevant content quickly.

Freeman Website data migration - WebDevStudios

High Fidelity Design Mockups

Custom Website Redesign

The challenge our team faced in creating the redesign of the new Freeman website is that we needed to stay as close to the existing branding and design as possible, while at the same time, giving the website a modern facelift, as well as ensuring that the new design incorporated a comprehensive design system that is compatible with modern WordPress implementations for the block and site editor.

We began working with their team to re-envision the style guide and design elements for the design system for Freeman in order to establish consistency in design across all elements such as typography, color palette, and interface items with a focus on accessibility and clean usability. Mobile responsiveness was, of course, a priority as well, in order to ensure consistent browsing experiences across multiple devices.