Parallax is proud to announce an all-new website and a remodelled digital brand for Town Centre Securities. Known for creating outstanding mixed-use developments in Leeds, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow, TCS pride themselves on sustainability, quality and innovation“TCS are a long-standing client of ours,” explains account manager Jack Sails. “Over the years we’ve worked closely with them on number of exciting digital projects for the Merrion Centre and CitiPark. When the time came to update their online identity, we were a natural fit.”
Above all else, the main goal for the website was to educate investors on everything TCS do, instilling trust in the company’s operations and aspirations for the future. The website was also required to offer financial analysis and general summaries of the assets in their portfolio, as well as attracting new tenants to their properties.
When it came to the overall design and branding, we had to respect the heritage of TCS and the high standards they strive for. “The client wanted a logo with longevity that was versatile enough to work across all mediums – print, digital, signage, and so on,” explained our head of design, Phil Millward. “For the website, we settled on a clean UI with intricate typography work and a strict grid layout. By combining masking effects taken from elements of the logo, we gave the imagery its own unique identity. It serves the brand really well.”
A virtual window into their multi-faceted business, the new website needed to launch their new corporate identity and design style. “We really wanted to improve the overall user experience,” Jack continued. “With so much new data at people’s fingertips, we needed to provide faster access to the key portfolio information, as well as a quick route to help and support.”
From a development standpoint, we ensured the site’s functionality was every bit as smooth and elegant as the quality of the design. We added in a few notable features, including a live stock price ticker to keep shareholders informed and an animated hero section incorporating drone footage. We’re also looking to add offline functionality in the near future. “By using service workers, the website will be available for viewing even when there’s no internet connection available,” explains front end developer Sam Beevors. “It’ll make the site more like a progressive web app.”
It was also the first website we built using the new version of Jira, our go-to project management tool for website builds. “The new Jira provides a much cleaner interface that allows for better communication between staff and efficient delivery of features,” said backend developer George Baker. “In particular, the Kanban board provides a great overview of the current status of each project. It proved itself invaluable for the TCS site.”
In the short time since launch, we’ve already seen organic traffic grow by 73%. Better organised content has led to an 83% improvement on bounce rate and sent the average time on site skywards to over four minutes per session. We’ve also improved mobile page speed ranking from 57 to 84 – this shows a significant improvement on loading times that makes the experience of visiting the site on handheld devices much better.
The feedback from the client has been excellent. “Overall, they were really pleased,” said Jack. “They loved the sleek new branding and the overall look and feel of the site, especially what we were able to achieve with the video on the homepage.” This kind of reception reinforces our ongoing relationship with TCS – we’re already looking forward to our next project with them.