Challenge
Nestlé Waters new corporate website had to help the brand decouple itself from the mother company while speaking to various audiences and offering a delightful experience.
Solution
Built on a traditional architecture, the new website employs design patterns that encourage exploration of the brand and its heritage, while addressing the needs of diverse audience segments. The design also draws inspiration from other leading players in the industry.
Review
With some idea of the content the website would have to house, I began by taking a look at the corporate websites of other big players in the water and premium beverage space.
What other brands are doing
I focused the competitor and comparator review on the following aspects: target audience, narrative, engagement and sitemap.
Content review
While the client was still deciding on final content, they provided indicative examples, giving me a sense of what the site would need to house and which modules and components would be needed.
Recommend
To ensure all audiences were catered for, both the sitemap and design patterns follow well-established mental models. The home and navbar designs ensure instant familiarity, a clear content hierarchy establishes a narrative that introduces the new brand to the world.
Sitemap
The information architecture was designed for easy navigation and long-term scalability. Tree testing showed no major issues with the sitemap, but since the IA was never signed off, the wireframes were based on an educated guess — informed by client needs and established patterns.
Deliverables
Wireframes were annotated with references to existing design system components. Since the new brand was still in development, annotations focused mainly on intent, behaviour, and content parameters — with token references making things easier for developers to interpret.