Case Study: Relativity Space’s Website
Ready, Set, Launch!
Relativity Space is an orbital launch company based in Los Angeles, California. Relativity is creating the first autonomous rocket factory and launch service. They plan to make rockets faster and cheaper than anyone else by building every part of a rocket with their giant 3D printers. Their technology builds towards their long term vision of scaling and sustaining an interplanetary society.
To comply with my non-disclosure agreement, I have omitted confidential information in this case study. This case study is my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of Momentus Software or Relativity Space.
The Challenge
Our goal for the project was to create the company website that stands out from the industry and reflect the Relativity brand.
My Role
WEB DESIGNER & DEVELOPER
I led the design and development of the Relativity site. I set up the information architecture, created wireframes and turned it into hi-fi prototypes before development. I also designed custom illustrations and icons, worked on SEO, image editing, QA and testing, and set up analytics and social sharing.
PROJECT MANAGER
I managed all client communication during the project and ensured the project milestones would be met according to the project timeline.
The Process
The site design and development was done part-time for 6 weeks.
Kickoff
There were two key focuses when we got started:
- Figuring out what the look and feel of the brand was
- Creating the site’s content, identifying the site structure, and configuring the layouts of the pages
Content Configuration
The content on the site was designed to be easily digestible and flow well without feeling like it’s information overload. We had used Google Drive and Google Docs to collaborate and include all the content (text, images, video) we wanted to incorporate on the site.
From Mockups to Development
After going through what we wanted to include, I created mockups of various layouts on paper and then designed screens on Adobe XD. Once we decided which direction the site should go, I developed the site.
At the end of each week, I took screenshots of all screens and used Marvel to annotate, and discuss ideas and tweaks. Every week, I developed an iteration of the site that would fix the previous version’s flaws and bugs as well as address the feedback from the client.
Basecamp 3 was used to keep track of my to-dos as well as the project timeline and scheduling.
Branding
There wasn’t yet a brand guide to follow, so we created one as we went through the development of the project. We had worked together to outline the company’s tagline, brand, fonts, colors, and icons.
Did you know when a rocket’s engine ignites the fire’s color is pink, purple, and blue?
This was a cool fun fact that we wanted to incorporate on the site. The use of the gradient was to represent the ignition. The gradient on the site is based on this idea, and for those who didn’t make the connection to the rocket ignition, they’d likely think it’s the colors of the galaxy.
However, when we were looking for a primary color, the shades of the ignition weren’t it.
The primary brand color to represent Relativity should match their team and their mission well, so it should be bold, bright, and ambitious. After some market research, trials, and suggestions, we came up with Interdimensional Blue (#2500e0).
The Relativity brand is iconoclast, ambitious, efficient, colorful, futuristic, and artistic. The Interdimensional Blue and the entire site were to reflect this.
Site Design Decisions
We didn’t want to create the standard primarily black, Darth Vader look of every other rocket/space site in the industry. Instead we wanted to change it up and focus on creating a light theme and a bright look and feel to it. We chose rounded pill buttons so that we match the circles of the company icon. We also chose to create line art illustrations to emphasize that this is a technical company.
From the content management system we chose to the nitty gritty details, everything can be justified.
Houston, We Have A Launch! 🚀
The Relativity Space website launched on October 18, to coincide with their feature on Bloomberg Businessweek.
Reflections
I didn’t deliver just a site, but an experience for the users who view the site and share it across social media. Relativity now has a website that is just as amazing as the actual work that they do, which is building a rocket using only 3D printers.
We did great work and I’m extremely proud of how it went. This was a cool project to work on, I’m grateful for the opportunity to have gotten to work on it and to collaborate with such amazing people. The design team at Momentus were supportive and working with Tim (Relativity’s CEO) was a blast (pun absolutely intended)!
Wishing the team at Relativity the very best of luck! Onwards and upwards!
Check out the Relativity Space site at relativityspace.com! 🚀
Momentus is an innovation lab based in Vancouver, Canada. I joined Momentus as a UX Designer in 2017.
I often write about my latest adventures in design and travel on Twitter.
