For its new group-wide website concept, Krones was awarded the German Prize for Online Communication (#dpok) in bronze in the ‘Metal and Machines’ category. Krones head of web solutions Sabine Kolbe-Weber explains its winning process and the work behind the website.
Sabine Kolbe-Weber, Krones
Our future is digital, and it’s changing amazingly fast. In the online world, particularly, there is an ever-widening choice of display and communication options – and thus too, of course, rising levels of user demand and expectations. To enable these to be met as promptly as possible, Krones has since 2017 been using a modularised design system for all the group’s websites.
This was developed jointly with the technical service provider comspace and the design team headed by Professor Wolfgang Gauss, and was based on extensive analyses, subsuming not only interviews with clients, partners and prospects, but also usability tests by means of eye-tracking. In addition, experience maps were drawn up, the competitive environment rigorously analysed, and the existing contents meticulously evaluated.
The aim was for the corporate website www.krones.com to create a platform that meets the requirements of all website visitors – irrespective of whether they’re looking for product details, general information or career options. From these three main categories, the users navigate to the sub-pages they want with separate sub-structures, which only then are depicted there as well with the navigation function.
What’s more, external microsites can be integrated at need quite easily into the existing website, such as for particular trade fairs. www.krones.com thus offers a comprehensive range of products and services for all user target groups.
In order to assure a harmonised visual image for all the group’s companies, the design concept also integrates the websites of Krones’ subsidiaries. From a modularised template kit, the websites of KIC Krones, Syskron, Maintec, Evoguard, Milkron, HST and Krones Izumi are designed, thus representing a harmonised brand image on the web.
Every year, the German Prize for Online Communication is awarded for projects, campaigns and strategies in the field of digital communication. The jury comprises more than 50 representatives from the academic community, corporate communication and online PR. The sectoral #dpok honours the best digital communication achievements by companies in 16 different sectors.
We’re delighted that we came out top – next to global players like Liebherr and Trumpf – among the Top 3 in the ‘Metal and Machines’ category. This accolade demonstrates that with our new design concept, we have online mastered the balancing act of presenting Krones as an innovative, up-to-the-future company while at the same time giving our broad brand and product portfolio a harmonised visual image.
For creating its websites, Krones will in future be utilising a specially developed set of templates that covers all the requirements involved for displaying the contents concerned. The development work was centred around user experience and operator-friendliness.
Responsive design: the sites created from this modularised kit are responsive, and thanks to their flexible web design, automatically match their format and display mode to any particular terminal concerned.
Faster navigation: a sticky-content navigation feature, a smart-hamburger menu and a dropdown menu enable users to navigate quickly and easily to the sub-pages concerned. What’s more, filtering options in particular categories, plus a full-text search function with an auto-suggest capability facilitate navigation on the website, and promptly deliver the desired results.
Better reachability: in parallel to the relaunch, a new IT structure has also been put in place: a worldwide network with around 22,000 servers increases the range, and enables the website to be outputted through the server that is closest to the request location concerned.
Krones is a German packaging and bottling machine manufacturer.
