I know I’m a little late on critiquing the launch of OVO’s new website, which debuted a few weeks ago, but I don’t mind if you don’t! If you haven’t heard, Phoenix-born OVO has expanded and opened an office in Portland, Oregon. Congrats to them! So it’s fitting that they’re new client base should be introduced to them through a new web interface.

At first look on the homepage, OVO just looks… classy. The portfolio slideshow present on most of the pages showcases some wonderful images of their work and is a great dynamic element on their site. Each case study I read has an appropriate amount of content and concisely explains their designs. It’s nice to hear the reasoning behind their solutions when you don’t get to see photos of the process. While I enjoy seeing how identities and collateral are made, it’s just as fun to read about it.

What I really appreciate are the tags to the right of their case studies under the “Services Rendered” heading. It’s an easy way to see what they did for each company and the tags link to pages that fully compare the services they offer. Most potential clients wouldn’t know the difference between “visual identity” and “brand management,” so it’s nice to know that OVO took unfamiliarity into consideration.

One of my only critiques of the website is that it’s kind of… faceless. I understand that it may not be OVO’s M.O., as their site is pretty tranquil, clean, and portfolio-focused, but their philosophy stresses that they build relationships with their clients. Some clients would like to know a little something more about the personality of the company, partners or employees if they’re going to ally with them. Clearly this hasn’t been very detrimental to OVO because they’re flourishing and opening a new office… but I wonder if adding a more accessible page about the team dynamic could make OVO more emotionally engaging to potential clients. It took me a little while, but I finally found a couple photos of Kyle and Ryan (the principal partners) on the website — I was being pretty intentional in my search, though. If I were a potential client I’d appreciate having something telling of the team dynamic, or at least Ryan and Kyle’s bios, more accessible. They almost seem hidden. But I’m thinking this is an area of preference. Do you think that having photos of the partners more accessible could actually be considered pretentious?

Moving on, I really enjoy the lovely floating footer at the bottom of the browser. It’s available as you peruse the entire website, so you can sign up for the OVO newsletter or get their contact info without having to backtrack to the “contact us” page. Nice touch!

All in all, I think the new website is a great upgrade from the previous iteration. It’s an elegant, content-rich solution. What do you think of the new OVO site? Feel free to post your critiques in the comment section below. Start the discussion!