Overview
When I first encountered Maloney Legal’s website, I recognized a dedicated legal practice with extensive expertise in estate planning, probate, and real estate law across Florida. However, the digital presence wasn’t effectively communicating the firm’s professionalism or facilitating seamless client engagement. The original website featured an unintuitive navigation structure and lacked visual hierarchy—common issues for specialized service providers whose expertise lies outside digital design.
Problem Statement
After conducting a thorough analysis, I identified three critical areas for improvement:
- Information Architecture: Services were not presented in a captivating manner, making it challenging for users to quickly identify the services they needed. This created friction in the user journey and making it difficult for potential clients.
- Visual Hierarchy & Engagement: The website lacked clear visual cues to guide users through important information, with inconsistent styling and an overuse of white space losing the visitors attention.
- Responsive Experience: The mobile experience was compromised, with such little content and navigation elements that were difficult to access on smaller screens—a significant issue when 70% of searches begin on mobile devices.
Design Solution
Information Architecture Restructuring
I reorganized the content architecture around client problems. Creating clearly labeled sections like “Wills & Trusts” with plain-language descriptions. I forgoed the use of navigation system and simplified the page into four main categories: Estate Planning, Probate Services, Real Estate Law, and About—detailing specific services.
Visual Design Evolution
For the visual redesign, I implemented:
- A sophisticated color palette incorporating navy blue and gold tones to convey trust and expertise, while maintaining sufficient contrast ratios (4.5:1 minimum) for accessibility
- A typographic system to convey tradition and expertise with a clean sans-serif (Open Sans) for body text to enhance readability
- Strategic white space to create breathing room between content sections, improving scan-ability and comprehension
- Visual hierarchy using size, weight, and color contrast to guide users through the most important information first
Responsive Implementation
I developed a responsive framework that:
- Prioritizes critical information on mobile screens
- Ensures touch targets meet accessibility standards (minimum 44×44 pixels)
- Maintains legible text sizes without requiring zoom (minimum 16px body text)
Expected Outcomes
The redesigned Maloney Legal website delivers measurable improvements:
- Enhanced User Engagement: Clear calls-to-action and intuitive layout to reduce bounce rates and increase time-on-site
- Highlight Personal Experience: Showcasing the lawyers personal experience and background to bring a sense of trust and credibility
- Improved Client Acquisition: Simplified information architecture helps potential clients quickly determine if Maloney Legal can address their specific needs
- Strengthened Brand Perception: Professional visual design elements elevate the perceived quality of legal services
- Expanded Reach: Fully responsive implementation ensures a consistent experience across all devices, particularly important for users in stressful legal situations who may be searching for help from various devices
This redesign transforms the Maloney Legal website from a basic information repository into a strategic client acquisition tool that effectively represents the firm’s expertise while meeting the needs of clients navigating complex legal situations.