Reinvigorating a Time-honored Brand: Pratt & Whitney
How can a fresh website design empower an aerospace giant to reposition itself?
For over 90 years, Pratt & Whitney has helped shape aerospace history as a leader and innovator. But their web presence fell short of reflecting their true stature and reputation in the industry. On the digital front, Pratt & Whitney needed to catch up to their competitors, who had more sophisticated websites.
With experience building responsive websites and a deep knowledge of strategic branding, messaging, and design, ThoughtForm was able to redesign Pratt & Whitney’s website to make it a natural extension of their brand—presenting Pratt & Whitney as the industry leader they are.
Who did we help?
Founded in Hartford, Connecticut in 1925 by Frederick Rentschler, Pratt & Whitney is a leader in aerospace design and manufacturing. It is one of four United Technologies Corporation subsidiaries.
Pratt & Whitney’s first aircraft engine, the 410-horsepower Wasp, transformed the aviation industry. Today, with new passenger aircraft engines like the PurePower® PW1000G, the company continues to lead change. Pratt & Whitney also manufactures gas turbines for industrial applications and power generation.
“ThoughtForm truly listened to us in order to understand every facet of our business, then managed to translate what they heard into a sleek, modern website that represents who Pratt & Whitney really is.”
What did we do?
Analyzed the current and desired states for Pratt & Whitney’s website, then blazed a trail to get there.
Early on, ThoughtForm learned that Pratt & Whitney used their website for a wide range of purposes. The Pratt & Whitney site needed to put forth a strong brand impression, describe (but not overtly sell) their products, disseminate information to the press, and present aviation history and innovation to aviation buffs.
ThoughtForm was challenged to create a website that ticked all of these boxes, but still felt cohesive, streamlined, and on-brand.
The natural starting point for the project was to audit Pratt & Whitney’s current site. Digging into features like content structure and navigation revealed a list of areas that needed the most attention. ThoughtForm then confirmed that our priorities were aligned with Pratt & Whitney’s so we could hit the ground running.
Streamlined the site’s architecture and design to reflect Pratt & Whitney’s reputation for excellence.
With the results of this audit serving as the foundation for the project, ThoughtForm began an iterative process of schematic development. We created a sitemap and wireframes, ensuring that the new website would have an easy-to-navigate structure for the user. The rule of thumb: it shouldn’t take more than two “clicks” to get to any item.
Once the site’s architecture was re-defined, ThoughtForm focused on its visual design. The new Pratt & Whitney website needed to be contemporary, clean, and bold, with a refined color palette. It also needed to have a responsive design, functioning equally well on desktop and mobile devices.
A library of visual assets, such as icons that signaled different sections of the media center, extended the graphic feel of the website.
Collaborated with Pratt & Whitney to bring the website from vision to reality.
Securing design approval from key Pratt & Whitney stakeholders was a critical piece of the site development process. To facilitate reviews, ThoughtForm used an agile design process, developing the site in a series of sprints. For each sprint review, ThoughtForm created a private staging site so that Pratt & Whitney team members could provide feedback on the design’s functionality and appearance.
These reviews informed future design iterations, helping ThoughtForm to refine the prototypes into a completed website that was ready to be deployed.
The Pratt & Whitney website is currently hard-coded, with the intent to migrate it to a content management system (CMS) for easier updates and maintenance in the future. ThoughtForm and Pratt & Whitney continue to plan for the resources needed to maintain a CMS.
What did we create?
Summary of website audit
ThoughtForm summarized an eight-point audit of the existing site in a document that was then used to guide the discussion about recommended changes with Pratt & Whitney.
Sitemap and wireframes
ThoughtForm and Pratt & Whitney collaborated to define a streamlined yet robust content architecture for the new website. Once approved, a sitemap laid the groundwork for a number of wireframe design options.
Completed website with custom visuals
Through a series of sprints, ThoughtForm arrived at the new site’s final design, which incorporated custom visual features, photo treatments, and icons to further align the site to Pratt & Whitney’s project goals.
The Results
Through the course of this brand understanding and redefinition process, Thoughtform:
Completed audit of current site’s purpose, users, design, and brand image to identify opportunities for reinvention.
Worked with Pratt & Whitney to streamline the site’s content architecture and navigation, improving the user experience.
Created a more contemporary, design-centric visual style for the site and ensured its scalability across devices.
Provided best practices for content development, photography selection, and site maintenance that aligned with Pratt & Whitney protocols.
Researched and developed special feature sections for site, such as a media center, tailored to the site’s wide-ranging purposes.
Assisted in site launch and ongoing maintenance.