Evolving throughout the years to become one of the leading service suppliers in the UK rail market, DWS worked with Koobr to commission a new website that better reflected their growing status and well-established reputation in the industry.

Creating a new website with roots firmly in railway heritage

Formed in 2007, after having acquiring one of the UK’s last remaining wagon-building firms, DWS is today recognised as one of UK’s leading specialists in wagon repair and maintenance — winning numerous industry awards, supporting fleet owners and freight operating companies from their multiple outstations nationwide.

Without a current website under the DWS banner (operating instead under the acquired firm’s existing website), it was decided that the company needed a new website to not only reaffirm the impressive reputation they had since established but also bring their marketing and professional online presence spectacularly up to date.

From the very beginning of the process, it was important that the new website felt like it belonged completely to DWS, having not had a website of their own prior. The team at Koobr worked closely alongside key members in the company to establish how it needed to look and feel, taking everything from commercial objectives to brand identity into careful consideration. This was very much a collaborative effort, with both parties bringing ideas and viewpoints to the table.

Once the site structure was established, elements from the company’s existing brand identity were selected to help bring together a fresh yet instantly recognisable aesthetic across the entire website. Content was then created and key messaging in line with the brand style was also crafted, working seamlessly alongside the visual elements to enhance communications in an engaging and professional manner.

Exceptional usability

One of the most important aspects of the new site was the custom coded interactive map. From the outset, DWS wanted a website that not only reflected the brand’s nationwide coverage but also gave visitors an easy way to identify and locate the company’s numerous outstations throughout the UK.

In order to achieve this, a display map containing each of the outstations, according to the geographical location, was designed in tandem with the website to ensure visual consistency. This was then custom coded for total interactivity; enabling users to select an outstation on the map and immediately access the corresponding geographical data from Google.

Everything was designed and developed with responsiveness in mind, ensuring flawless functionality across all types of devices (desktop, mobile, tablet), on all types of screen qualities and sizes. The new site was also built to ensure it can be accessed optimally on all browsers.

Content management was also included to ensure DWS staff could easily add, manage and edit content on their website — keeping their marketing efforts up to date with the changing needs of their business and their customers.

Thinking about a new website?

Get in touch to find out more.