A Strong Brand Held Back by a Weak Site
When I started working with Manus Products, their site was cluttered, outdated, and surprisingly hard to navigate — especially for a company that creates high-performance sealants and adhesives used across major industries. The product information was buried, the structure was unclear, and the visual design didn't reflect the innovation or professionalism of the brand.
Their digital presence wasn’t just lagging — it was limiting.
Getting Creative with Insights
Because I didn’t have direct access to customers for interviews, I leaned on competitor research and internal conversations. I asked the Manus team strategic questions to surface pain points, learn how their customers think, and uncover where the current site fell short.
That gave me the foundation I needed to move forward with user-centered design decisions — even without firsthand user quotes.
Getting Creative with Insights
Because I didn’t have direct access to customers for interviews, I leaned on competitor research and internal conversations. I asked the Manus team strategic questions to surface pain points, learn how their customers think, and uncover where the current site fell short.
That gave me the foundation I needed to move forward with user-centered design decisions — even without firsthand user quotes.
Getting Creative with Insights
Because I didn’t have direct access to customers for interviews, I leaned on competitor research and internal conversations. I asked the Manus team strategic questions to surface pain points, learn how their customers think, and uncover where the current site fell short.
That gave me the foundation I needed to move forward with user-centered design decisions — even without firsthand user quotes.
Rebuilding the Structure
I started with low-fidelity wireframes to map out key sections and user flows. One of the biggest challenges was the Information Architecture — Manus has a large number of products with technical data, and customers need to find what they’re looking for quickly. I worked closely with development to plan out how content would be surfaced logically and intuitively.
But clean navigation only goes so far without clear visuals. Many products had no usable product photography, so I stepped in — photoshopping product images from scratch using supplied packaging references. The goal was consistency, accuracy, and giving each product a visual identity users could connect with.
I also designed a new Technical Datasheet template — clean, branded, and easy to scan — to replace outdated PDFs and improve the customer experience from download to print. These assets not only elevated the site visually but added real value for dealers, customers, and internal teams.
Once the structure and assets were in place, I moved into high-fidelity UI — applying modern design heuristics and principles — and presented the system to the Manus team. Once approved, we were ready to build.
Development & CMS Implementation
The site was built using the KNVEY CMS platform. My role in development focused on quality assurance, CSS refinement for pixel-perfect design, and migrating large amounts of content from the previous website into the new structure.
I worked closely with the dev team to make sure what we launched matched the designs — not just visually, but experientially.
I also created instructional documentation to handoff to the Manus team so that they could make changes to their products within their new CMS.
Development & CMS Implementation
The site was built using the KNVEY CMS platform. My role in development focused on quality assurance, CSS refinement for pixel-perfect design, and migrating large amounts of content from the previous website into the new structure.
I worked closely with the dev team to make sure what we launched matched the designs — not just visually, but experientially.
I also created instructional documentation to handoff to the Manus team so that they could make changes to their products within their new CMS.
Development & CMS Implementation
The site was built using the KNVEY CMS platform. My role in development focused on quality assurance, CSS refinement for pixel-perfect design, and migrating large amounts of content from the previous website into the new structure.
I worked closely with the dev team to make sure what we launched matched the designs — not just visually, but experientially.
I also created instructional documentation to handoff to the Manus team so that they could make changes to their products within their new CMS.
