How do you successfully transform the brand of a well-established engineering firm? Gard Communications recently wrapped up such a metamorphosis for BHEGroup, formerly Balzhiser & Hubbard Engineers. The 60-year-old Eugene/Portland firm was ready to shed its skin and emerge as a new entity, while retaining ties to its history. Their story was showcased in Eugene’s The Register-Guard, “Looking ahead, rather than behind, Eugene engineering firm changes name.”
We started by guiding Balzhiser & Hubbard through a renaming process that resulted in BHEGroup. The new name honors the past and holds onto their brand equity, but also gives a glimpse into how they work with each other – as a tight-knit, highly collaborative team.
Gard then designed the BHEGroup logo, adding a descriptor to clearly and quickly inform potential clients that they offer a broad suite of services. The clean, modern design reflects the outside-the-box thinking of the team. Its latest showing is front-and-center on the new offices of BHEGroup.
Next we completely redesigned and rebuilt the BHEGroup website to be modern, responsive, and easy for BHE staff to keep updated. BHE didn’t just want an online brochure, they wanted a site that acted as a tool within their evolving business development plans.
BHE executes big projects in industry sectors such as education, healthcare and public administration. The firm is responsible for the integrity of large and complex structures and utilities that touch the lives (and potentially impact the safety) of thousands of people every day. The new website was designed to better communicate the scope, scale and impact of BHE’s work.
It was important to allow visitors to sort projects by industry sector and by service area with equal ease. Taxonomies were established to allow for significant cross-referencing within the site, to enhance user experience. For example, awards listings link to specific projects. Service area pages link to relevant examples. Within project detail pages, various filters can be clicked on to return to the project listing pre-sorted by that filter.
In late 2015, BHE officially launched its new identity and website, and enters 2016 as an established firm with a past and a future. Gard is proud to be a part of this firm’s significant evolution and growth.