Designwerke & MMR
Overview
Live Site
mmr.caClient Since
November 2022
Designwerke is a design firm that helps its clients create communications that shape a clear message and maximize impact. One of their clients, Martin Merry & Reid, is a Toronto insurance broker built on a mission to serve the local community. With a combined history of 85+ years of experience, they work closely with clients to clearly understand exactly what risks need covering.
Designwerke partnered with Hop Studios to handle web development and maintenance for their clients, backing up their design services with our technical expertise.
Services Provided
Located in downtown Toronto, Martin Merry & Reid Insurance (MMR) provides commercial, personal, and life insurance to clients across Southern Ontario. Established over a century ago, it is important that their website reflects the trust and reliability that they are known for by their clients. Through the ongoing partnership between communications design firm Designwerke and web design company Hop Studios, we handled an ExpressionEngine CMS upgrade for MMR along with new website functionality. This collaborative approach will keep the site secure and ready for what the business needs next.
The site was still running on ExpressionEngine 5, so it was due for a CMS upgrade. The comprehensive ExpressionEngine upgrade took the website from EE5 to EE7, the first major version upgrade in five years. We used the opportunity to modernize performance and add new functionality, including a new page and a set of downloadable PDF forms. Alongside the CMS upgrade, we updated or replaced several third-party add-ons (Low Alphabet, Low Reorder, SEO Lite, Snaptcha, and Structure) and built a custom string manipulation add-on to take over the outdated Name Wrangler. Everything was developed and tested on a secure staging environment first, so the live site was never at risk during the process.
Working from Designwerke’s mockups and design direction, we built a new Enhanced Accident Benefits page for the Resources section of the MMR website. The responsive page template delivers a consistent experience across desktop and mobile devices, while an interactive accordion makes the FAQs easy to scan. On the back end, we set up a dedicated ExpressionEngine channel with a single entry, so the admin team can manage the content without getting bogged down in the CMS. Visitors can jump straight to the resources they need through hyperlinked downloadable PDF documents.
We gave the Downloadable Forms page the same treatment, featuring accordion navigation to organize everything into clear sections, and added twelve new forms to the Resources section. These enhancements made the forms easier to find for site visitors and easier to manage for MMR’s team, who can now edit or add resources through a straightforward back-end interface.
The ExpressionEngine upgrade left MMR with a site that’s modern and secure from the ground up: improved performance, enhanced website functionality, refreshed add-ons, and a foundation that can support what comes next. The new resource features and tools make it easier for visitors to find what they need, and the custom-built templates simplify content management for the admin team. The website’s in good shape to keep serving MMR’s community as the organization grows for years to come.
