The new Jacobs.com

Challenge

After 70+ years as a trusted partner in construction, Jacobs’ business had successfully transformed. While the company had visually evolved much of its presence, one of its most visible touchpoints, its website had not. Jacobs wanted a digital experience that went beyond destination to stand for the brand—one that would strengthen relationships between the organization and their core audiences and be an asset for the business.

Insight

Our previous work on their rebrand gave us unique insight into who Jacobs is today and the vast importance of their people. Understanding that, we turned to employees to understand and define the role the website needed to play. We spoke to over 330 employees across six regions and four continents to uncover new opportunities for the website to build a more meaningful client experience. Combining these internal needs with user interviews and insights, it became clear to our Experience team that Jacobs didn’t need a website. They needed a digital extension of the Jacobs team.

Answer

Together with the Jacobs team, we envisioned a new website that was more than just a place to find information but a tool to build stronger relationships with employees and clients. To get there, we translated this vision into three clear UX principles–human, accessible and customizable–which became the foundation for all features and functions. We found ways to elevate the people of Jacobs through new approaches to content. We built accessibility tools into the website to make it accessible to all, and we created navigation that users–without logging in–could personalize and make their own.

Delivering on Jacobs’ brand promise of “Challenging today. Reinventing tomorrow.” was at the heart of our project goal. From day one, we set out to challenge the conventions and assumptions of websites today and design a purposeful digital experience that reinvents tomorrow. Additionally, the site is set up to continue delivering on this promise for a long time.

The new Jacobs.com is the first website of its kind to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI) search to its fullest capacity. This website learns as more people use it, and our AI search engine applies this accumulated knowledge and serves content back in a bespoke way for each user.