Brodies LLP is a top 50 UK law firm that is also expanding internationally.

Its story is rooted in Scotland during an era of Enlightenment, when leading Scots thinkers helped to shape the modern world. That story, brought up to date, also recognises and celebrates a belief that together we are capable of creating new ideas, and that in the 21st century – much as it did for those who came before us – Enlightened Thinking can resonate within Scotland and beyond.

tda! has worked with Brodies for a number of years, on projects including the design and build of its website, designing brand communications, and digital campaigns.

As Brodies’ digital partner, our brief was very simple; “Create a website that is outstanding by standing out."

Before beginning the creative process, significant research was undertaken in collaboration with the Brodies team, to look at typical audience personas. This was supplemented by analytical insights. Audience research included workshops, observation and interviews for legal specialisms. Competitive analysis looked at industry benchmarking to understand the question; “what would it take to stand out in this industry?”

To make the website stand out, we needed to use our own “Enlightened Thinking”.

We brought the Brodies brand to life, by making it a dynamic and considered element of the design.

The Brodies logo symbolises how the firm works best. It is built from lenses, with each lens unique in its own way, much like its colleagues. With its clients at the centre, as the lenses overlap and interact with one another they symbolise the creation of legal possibilities and solutions that are crisp, clear and new. The lenses are a uniquely identifiable and memorable part of Brodies’ brand.

We leant into the meaningful lens shape, letting this form part of our creative style. A mixture of media including video, infographics and animated elements combined with clean and modern layouts helped liven the brand whilst retaining simplicity and ease-of-use.

Containing thousands of pages of content, the Brodies site is full of information. Navigating such a knowledge-rich website can be a mission; however, this was one challenge we excitedly took on.
We designed and created useful interfaces to help people navigate and explore with ease.

Features such as the intelligent search, mega menu and ‘Explore our Services’ interface help visitors quickly find the content they need. Small design flourishes and animations add delight to each interaction.

Brodies is driven by Enlightened Thinking and the way knowledge shapes the world around us. tda! combined creativity with technology to allow Brodies to share their insights and stories in a number of ways.

The insights section contains articles, guides, podcasts, videos and webinars. Over 6,000 insights are all searchable and tagged by the area of expertise, by media type and by the contributor. We also created functionality to enable users to book real life events and online academies through the website.

“Unique perspectives help us to see the law through many different lenses, creating new legal possibilities and solutions for our clients”.

We wanted to showcase the people behind the firm, bringing in elements such as the “Seeing law through many lenses” video component on the homepage. This content can be updated regularly, keeping the homepage fresh, dynamic and proudly positioning people from all across the firm in a prominent place.

To deliver its strategy, Brodies wants to attract the legal world's best talent. We set out to rethink what working at Brodies meant for its colleagues and why this would be attractive to professionals and graduates alike. From research, we understood that Brodies is no ordinary law firm, and that working at Brodies is not like working elsewhere.

We identified themes such as inclusivity, diversity, and flexible working patterns, and reinvented the careers section. We wanted to showcase real people throughout the site, as the firm is only as good as the people behind it.

With this in mind, the careers section is led by a number of short “day in the life” videos that aim to tell a varied and inclusive story of working at this leading firm.