Research - Local Competitors

Darren Spencer Electrical 

This is a local contractor based in Worcester. I found them through a simple search on Google. They seem to have good reviews on google which drew my attention to them and I wondered how they are so popular.

The company logo seems to be very simple but legible and it uses orange and yellow which is a very unusual colour for an electrical company. These are not colours you see in electrical installation which has made me believe these colours are used in the brand to make it stand out from other competitors in the area. I do believe this could work against the company as a lot of people would probably overlook the company van if they saw it. I will need to consider my client colours scheme carefully when I come to design it. 

This is a screenshot from the company’s website. Through a simple Google search of electricians in the area, this company is one of the first suggestions which allows you to see customer reviews.

I think one reason why this company is successful in the area is because on their website they do include videos of themselves explaining the service they provide. I believe this makes the company seem more trustworthy and allows the customer to gain an insight to the personality of the workers.

Overall I do think they could benefit visually from a re-brand, especially with a new website and possibly a new colour scheme.

Sci Management

 

I have heard of a few electrical company’s in Worcester, but this is a company I have never seen around the local area before. Their 5-star reviews led me to carry out a bit of research into this company.

This company seems to have two different logos’, one of which has a serif font and the other had a sans serif font which looks a lot more modern, this version can be seen on their website below. The logo also seems to include a major element of Wikipedia’s logo which immediately catches my attention. I cannot relate this logo to electrics. The colour scheme of this branding can work but I think the logo does need to be re-designed as I think it can make people think of Wikipedia or company’s which specialise in science. 

Their website which is seen above is simple and easy to navigate around. All, the links work on the webpages. The company includes photos of their own work. I could suggest to my clients that they do the same as I think it adds personality and reliability to the brand. Instead of including photo stock images the use photos of their own work could benefit the company greatly.

They include links on their website to their social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter. This is something I want to include on my client’s website which would boost their popularity in the area.

Fairways Electrical 

The colour scheme of this electrical company is similar to that of Darren Spencer Electrical. Although the logo is a lot more visually pleasing to look at, it does not portray electrical installation to me personally. I did ask a few of my peers who commented the same. This could be because we are conditioned to believe certain things must look a certain way from a young age. Can I as a designer break these rules while creating a successful logo and brand overall? Colour scheme is something I will be discussing in depth with my client at the design stage of my project as I think this will be a major consideration for me and client. 

After viewing this company’s website, I think it needs an update to make it look more modern and simplified to make it easier to navigate your way around it. I do not like the way how there are so many links on the left-hand side of the homepage which do not come under specific categories.

I think an improvement for this website would be to create a few more webpages so the user can find what they are looking for without the information being crammed on to the home page.

Their social media links do not work which would be frustrating for a potential client as it is not very professional and could mean loss of custom for a business.

 Although all the information you need is there, there is too much text and the layout has had little consideration and personally this would put me off contacting them if I needed their service. I think websites are very important in todays society as people rely heavily on the internet to find services rather than going out to find a business card from an advertising board. Websites are representations of the business and a poor design and layout could affect them greatly.

A.N Powell

A.N Powell specialise in carrying out a lot of industrial work as well as local electrical installations. I have seen a few of their vans around which suggest this is a more successful company in the Worcester area. They focus on green solutions to problems which this is represented in the logo. I think the colours used in the logo do represent green energy which could be a reason why they seem to be doing well. My clients have said they are potentially looking into green solutions so this could be an interesting company to contact about if their brand identity plays a part in making them successful or if there are any marketing techniques they use.

I think their website does represent what the company does in terms of green solutions. They include a grass green banner at the top of the page with some green icons towards the bottom. I think there could be improvement with this website as on the homepage above you can see there is a blue box which looks very out of place and does affect the overall look of the webpage. There are drop down links which makes navigation a lot easier and I quite like how the text colour is grey. I think this adds a modern look than using solid black text which can compromise the harmony of the layout and other designs by looking quite harsh. Another criticism I have about this website is there is too much text on some of the pages which instantly makes you loose interest in the page contents. 

Rock Power Connections 

Rock Power Connections is a company I have seen around Worcester and the surrounding area a lot. They specialise in upgrading electrical connections in business, industry and commercial properties.

Their logo is instantly recognisable when you see their van, I think it does stick in your mind when you think of electricians. Red and black are two contrasting colours which stand out making them an affective colour scheme to use for branding. These colours are seen a lot in political campaigns, but I think with the right balance of colour they can be made to look appealing to the eye in any circumstance.

Social media can be a powerful tool (photo below) and I saw this Facebook post on a local page. The person had remembered the visual qualities of the logo and described it in a very simple way but other people instantly knew which company they were referring to. I think this proves that this is going to be a major competitor for my client as they have a strong brand identity. I will need to come up with design solutions which will compete with this company

On this social media post, I noticed two people thought that the company is called “Rick Power Connections” so I think there is a design flaw with the logo in terms of communicating the company name across to the audience. From the distance people could perceive the ‘O’ to read an ‘I’ and I think the lightning bolt in the letter could be shrunk a bit, but this could affect the design overall.

Their website includes some simple illustrators at the top of the page representing homes and electricity lines. I think illustrations can make the viewer think that there has been more time and effort put into designing a website because it adds a personal touch compared to solid vector images. This is one of the only local electrical company’s I have seen to do this so far and I think this simple graphical element is something I could consider using in my own design for my client. 

Their website includes some simple illustrators at the top of the page representing homes and electricity lines. I think illustrations can make the viewer think that there has been more time and effort put into designing a website because it adds a personal touch compared to solid vector images. This is one of the only local electrical company’s I have seen to do this so far and I think this simple graphical element is something I could consider using in my own design for my client.

The use of photography plays a big part in this website and it makes it more personal and trustworthy than the standard stock images. If my client wants me to include photography in their website, then I would have to ask them if they want a photographer to shoot photos or if they would use me based on my portfolio of photographs.

An idea I have had from looking at this website is to possibly include a ‘meet our team’ page on my client’s website.

Overall, I think this website is quite effective, but I do think there can be a lot of improvements made to the layout. Where this successful local company lacks design, I can use this against them to create an effective design for my client.

Goodridge Electrical

Goodridge Electrical have the typical blue logo you would associate with electrics. They include an image of a socket on their logo which highlights the ‘electrical’ text. I think this is the type of logo design you would expect from electricians, where symbols are used to visually aid the meaning of the company. At first glance the ‘plug’ does not look very striking and nothing stands out making it look quite dull which doesn’t appear eye catching. The use of text size and front style could be created differently, and I think enlarging the text to align with the image could greatly benefit the overall appearance.

The layout of this company’s website seems to have a very similar layout to A.N. Powell electrical. They are loyal to their blue colour scheme by including blocks of colour on various pages. I believe a lot of these companies use a generated template from the internet. It is a possibility that smaller companies such as this cannot afford to get a graphic designer to design their brand or they feel there is no need because they are already getting as steady flow of clients. 

As with other local electrical companies, this company includes photographs of their work. This adds credibility and trustworthiness to their brand and makes it more personal. As with a few other local businesses they have included links to their social media.

T T Electrical 

This is a local company to Worcester which I have not seen around before. This logo design is quite hard to read at first as it does not come across as ‘T T’ very effectively at first glance. The viewer needs to double take. I think this electrical company has experimented with the idea of wires on their logo. I do think this logo could be redesigned to make it more appealing to the viewer. The lines on the logo are different lengths and thicknesses which comes across as quite scruffy. 

This company’s website does seem to be based on a generic template. However, this does not mean that is does not communicate the company’s purpose effectively. The layout of the website is very easy to understand and to navigate your way around it. The one main negative point I will say about this website is that it contains too much text. I think a lot of people will be put off from this and perhaps find another electrician with an easier to understand website. I think specialist companies should make their websites simple and easy to understand for their potential clients as they can relate more to them and feel appreciated. I also think that the colours on the website home page should have been considered as they do clash with the background to the extent that the text does not stand out immediately when you view this page.

 I hope that I can make my clients website design stand out from the crowd of other local electricians and I do believe that the key to do this is to make it simple and easy for people to follow because Afterall, I do want people to stay on the website for as long as possible and I want them to ultimately ask BE electrical for work to be done. 

Rewired

Rewired is another local electrical company to Worcester who cover the whole Worcestershire area. Their logo is green, blue and white which is a bit different to other local electrical logos. With the colour green being in the logo it does give me the impression that this is green company who perhaps specialise in ‘green energy’ by making their work more efficient, therefore causing the client to use less energy in the long run. The colour blue in electrical companies’ logo’s does seem to be most prevalent so far in my research. 

On this company’s website they continue to use a green theme, but I have struggled to see any reason for this as it does suggest ‘green energy’ especially with the power button on their logo. Their website has a very similar layout to that of TT Electrical which leads to me to suspect that they have used a website template from online. They seem to have a lot of links on their navigation menu which lead to the same page. I think they could tidy the website up a bit to improve the overall look and feel of the site and to make it less frustrating to navigate around. The mobile version of the site is very basic, and it looks very outdated despite the website being adaptable for multi device use. Overall, I think this company could benefit from changing the colours on their website to something a bit more subtle. A monochrome background and the occasional bout of colour could improve the website greatly but still represent the brand.