UI Design

Shaping Perception - Redesigning the Sparck Website

Jamie

Jamie

Shaping Perception - Redesigning the Sparck Website

Nov 2024 - Jan 2025 | UI Designer | Sparck (BJSS)

Tools: Figma, stakeholder interviews, prototyping, moodboarding

🔗 Prototype Link: https://shorturl.at/R5MLZ

The Brief: A Website That Could Match Our Maturity

Sparck had grown. Once seen as a design agency, we had evolved into a strategic, cross-functional consultancy — helping clients innovate, build new products, and transform customer experiences. But our website hadn’t kept up. It still positioned us as a design-first studio, limiting how others saw us — both inside and outside BJSS, our parent company.

We needed a site that would reflect who we had become, align with a maturing brand, and help win more of the work we knew we could deliver.

I was given the responsibility — and full trust — to lead the design solo.

My Role: Designing the Future of a Brand in Flux

As the sole designer, I led the design vision and execution from blank canvas to final stakeholder sign-off. I collaborated with:

  • The Head of Sparck, who gathered strategic feedback from clients
  • The The Head of Growth, for direction and vision
  • The The Head of Marketing, for branding and imagery
  • A content designer, to define tone and voice

This project was about unifying a diverse set of internal voices around a single, compelling story.

sparck homepage

Process: Design in Motion

Discovery & Exploration

I began with moodboards and basic wireframes, working without fixed brand colours or even a fully defined tone of voice. I mapped the current site for reference, then worked through rounds of concept testing, colour testing, and layout options — letting stakeholders choose from variations I built out in parallel.

design process

Stakeholder Navigation

With strong, conflicting opinions from senior leadership, I had to:

  • Facilitate healthy decision-making across departments
  • Advocate for clarity and consistency
  • Stay flexible while still providing direction

I designed multiple options for key sections like the homepage hero — eight variations in some cases — so stakeholders could converge on what “felt right” through visual comparison.

Design Evolution

Halfway through, we made a major change: moving from a dark, single-accent visual theme to a white background with digital line illustrations and subtle pops of colour. This better aligned with our refined brand identity: inspiring, capable, innovative.

I worked closely with marketing to source or create imagery, added delightful interactions, and shaped a fully responsive prototype that balanced accessibility, personality, and polish.

Design Methods Used

  • Moodboarding
  • Stakeholder interviews & focus groups
  • Requirements mapping
  • A/B testing (e.g. brand colour applications)
  • Interactive prototyping
  • User-centred, iterative design
  • Design thinking & concept exploration

sparck branding

Challenges: Designing Without a Net

  • No clear direction at the start — brand positioning was still evolving
  • Strong opinions and competing priorities among senior stakeholders
  • Frequent shifts in direction (e.g. major colour scheme pivot midstream)
  • Had to design holistically: not just pages, but story, voice, tone, and how we presented ourselves as a business

The Result: A Unified Vision (That Never Went Live)

The final website was a significant leap forward:

  • Refined brand identity and tone
  • Simplified and more accessible visual structure
  • Modular content approach that spoke to diverse audiences (clients, talent, internal teams)

Every stakeholder, from internal ledership to our clients, aligned behind the new design.

But just before launch, everything changed. Sparck was absorbed into BJSS. Then BJSS was acquired by CGI. The project was shelved indefinitely.

Despite this, the work stood as a defining moment for our team — a rare case where design not only solved a problem, but crystallised a company’s identity.

What I’m Proud Of

  • Balancing competing needs across sales, marketing, accessibility, and brand
  • Holding my own in high-stakes conversations with senior stakeholders
  • Creating some of the best design work of my career, even without a public launch

🔗 Prototype Link: https://shorturl.at/R5MLZ

🔗 Project Link: https://shorturl.at/nV4lj