Project overview
Northfield Plumbing & Heating is a fictional local trade business used for an independent design exploration. I developed a visual direction around a clear service offer, local relevance and a straightforward enquiry route. The concept combines a responsive homepage with a proposed service-page structure and an assisted enquiry workflow.
The challenge
The design brief starts with a homeowner who needs help but may not know the name of the service. The website needs to answer a few immediate questions: does this business cover my area, can it help with my problem, and what happens after I get in touch? The design also needs to help a small operator receive enough information to assess a request without repeatedly asking for missing details.
Audience and assumptions
The assumed audience is homeowners and landlords in Leeds and West Yorkshire, often browsing on a phone. Some visitors know the service they need; others can only describe a symptom. These are working assumptions for this concept, not findings from interviews or live analytics. They informed the content order and would need validation with prospective users.
Design approach
I placed the service area, a plain-language offer and a primary enquiry action in the opening screen. The three service previews give visitors a second way into the site. A restrained forest-green palette and domestic imagery make the presentation feel local and approachable. The desktop and mobile compositions share the same priorities, with the main action easy to find in both.
Scope and responsibility
The scope shown here covers visual direction, homepage composition, interface copy and the proposed enquiry experience. The portfolio mockup and AI-generated hero image are design artifacts. A live website, search optimisation work, connected automation and usability testing are not part of the completed work shown here.
Visual direction
Imagery, colour and type
Typography: Inter for headings, body and controls: one clean, highly readable family that keeps the interface direct.
Design decisions
Key decisions
Use a request before a booking
“Request a visit” describes the action honestly when no live calendar is connected. The proposed confirmation tells visitors that their enquiry has been received and that availability still needs to be checked. It avoids presenting an enquiry as a confirmed appointment.
Give services a clear place in the hierarchy
Boiler servicing, plumbing repairs and heating support appear directly below the hero. Each preview has an image, a short explanation and a route to more detail. Proposed service pages would repeat the enquiry action and explain what information the business needs.
Make local relevance useful
The hero names Leeds and West Yorkshire. The proposed site structure includes an Areas page and service pages with relevant coverage information. This is a content structure for local discovery; it is not a claim of rankings, traffic or completed SEO work.
Keep automation within a clear boundary
The proposed assistant acknowledges receipt and organises the visitor’s description. It does not diagnose a fault, quote a price, confirm availability or promise an arrival time. The operator reviews requests and handles questions the assistant cannot answer.
Proposed journey
From first visit to next step
- 1Choose a service
- 2Describe the job and postcode
- 3Provide contact details
- 4Review and send
- 5See “Enquiry received”
- 6Wait for human confirmation
Includes an editable summary before sending and an error state that preserves completed fields. These screens are planned, not yet designed.
Concept outcome
The concept establishes a consistent desktop and mobile direction and a clearer proposed route from service discovery to enquiry. There are no measured conversion, response-time or search-ranking results. The next step is to prototype the enquiry flow and test whether people understand its status and can complete it without assistance.
Reflection
The key design decision is to separate interest, enquiry and confirmed availability. That distinction keeps the interface useful while avoiding promises the underlying service cannot yet fulfil.
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