EDUCO

Websites and brands for construction and nonprofits

Chicago-based EDUCO builds websites, brands and video, mostly for construction companies and nonprofit groups. It has worked for more than fifteen years, and its clients are mostly commercial construction companies and mission-driven nonprofit organizations. Its work covers branding, web design and development, video production and the written content that goes onto a site, and the agency describes its aim as building brands and websites that help clients win projects, partners and funding.

The agency presents its approach as long-term. Its websites are built to support growth over several years rather than to look good only on launch day, and it says its relationships with clients are meant to last.

Discovery work before design

Projects usually begin with a discovery process, which the agency uses to find out what a client needs from a partner. One example in its material describes a discovery workshop that led into a six-month project. Over that period the client's logos were redesigned, new content was written, a photo shoot was carried out and the website was rebuilt and tested in time for a company anniversary.

The agency's site describes its construction and nonprofit clients as organizations with complex work and national stakes, which need their message to reach people quickly and clearly.

Branding, web and video together

The agency treats branding, website and video as one job. A brand identity sets the tone, the website carries it into clear pages that show credibility, and video supports both. Video production is offered for clients who need moving images for their brand or marketing, and the agency describes it as part of the same plan.

Content strategy is part of a redesign. The agency writes the text on the site as well as planning it, so that the pages describe what the client does in language its audience understands.

Recent work in construction and education

The agency's portfolio includes website redesigns for construction firms, among them a family-owned contractor preparing for its next fifty years online, and a rebrand and web build for a legal immigration nonprofit. Earlier work includes sites for university institutes.

Teaching clients how the web works

The agency says it also teaches clients how to create web content, drawing on data about how users behave and on the technology that solves business problems. Its view is that a site's users are its most valuable resource, and that listening to them shows quickly what works and what does not before any decision about content management or customer relations systems is made.