Mondex manufactures top-quality electric and wood-fired sauna heaters as well as stone radiators. All Mondex products bear the Key Flag Symbol, signifying high-quality Finnish craftsmanship. The design, production, and assembly of these products take place at their own factory in Ylivieska, Northern Ostrobothnia, where over 100 professionals work on Mondex products and contract sheet metal manufacturing under the umbrella of Ylivieska-based Premec Oy, a subsidiary of the internationally operating Darekon Oy Ltd, which employs several hundred people.
“Our new website fully meets our expectations and needs. The design is more modern, the site is much clearer and more user-friendly. We can now communicate the essence of the Mondex brand more strongly and impressively online!”
Petri Hulkkonen, Sales and Marketing Manager, Mondex
The need for a website overhaul arose when Mondex realized that the old website had become technologically outdated and required a more contemporary look. Additionally, the aim was for the website to emphasize the core values of Mondex, encapsulated in the words Finland, design and quality. Mondex aims to be part of the evolving modern Finnish sauna culture in the future, and the new website is one way to convey these values and stories more impressively online.
The website also exhibited a lack of simplicity, which hindered user experience. Therefore, a clearer and more user-friendly website was desired. Particularly, there was a need to simplify the header and navigation, as the menu structure was perceived as confusing. The structure of the homepage was also refined to guide users to find the necessary information and functions more quickly and smoothly.
The project began with an analysis of the existing website, followed by the development of a new layout, structure, and content. The client’s wishes and thoughts were at the heart of the website overhaul throughout the project. Mondex’s website was modernized in several ways, making small changes to the font usage and color palette while maintaining brand recognition but infusing a more modern touch. Additionally, a few new shades and colors were introduced to prevent the site from being too monotonous and better align with customer preferences for a more colorful appearance.
The website was refreshed by removing excess black elements and adding whitespace to create a more open feel, reducing the sense of congestion. The website’s visual imagery was also lightened, incorporating more and larger images to diversify the visual content and avoid excessive grayness, given that most products are gray sauna heaters. When designing the site’s structure, the emphasis was on simplicity and user-friendliness. The main goal was to ensure that users could find the necessary information, products, and spare parts effortlessly, leading to a simplification of the header and navigation with this objective in mind. Additionally, the layout of the homepage was optimized to guide users more effectively towards essential content. This improves the site’s usability and helps users find the necessary information and functions quickly.
The website was built using the latest version of the WordPress content management system and the WooCommerce plugin for the online store. The project utilized Roots Bedrock and Roots Sage, which facilitated the start-up and management of the website.
Roots Bedrock is a WordPress platform that simplifies dependency management (e.g., plugins, themes) and is controlled via Composer. Composer is an open-source software widely used in the PHP community and other programming environments, such as WordPress and Drupal. Roots Sage, on the other hand, is a WordPress theme from which we have created our own customized version at Hurja, which we use for all our custom websites for clients. The basic version of Sage has almost nothing ready-made, so every part of the site, such as all the background system’s special functions, has to be built from scratch. Our version includes the necessary basic features, such as the site structure (including the header, content area, and footer), and a few other fixed features that are needed on almost all sites.
Mondex’s website utilized a variety of content blocks, such as accordions and featured areas, tailored to meet the specific needs of each page. Accordions were extensively used to present information on various topics concisely and conveniently, allowing content to be opened and closed as needed. The featured areas, on the other hand, effectively highlighted essential information and images. The site also incorporated subtle movements and animations, adding elegant dynamics to the website.
Mondex’s new website also included a set of notable features on the sauna heater and stone radiator pages, enhancing the user experience. Archive and category views featured filtering functions that allowed for quick and effortless product discovery. On the individual sauna heater page, information could be filtered based on the model and color, facilitating the selection process. The new added features make the site informative and user-friendly, while effectively promoting the products. The site’s sauna heater selector functionality also underwent customization and optimization.
With a total of five language versions on the site, the implementation of translation-related automations ensured that certain information was automatically synchronized across different language versions. These automatic processes synchronize certain information, such as sauna heater models, color options, product images, and technical details, across different language versions. For instance, if a new sauna heater is added to the site, the information only needs to be entered for the Finnish version, and it will automatically update on all other language versions. This reduces manual work and facilitates content management. As an additional service, web analytics installation with conversion points was performed for both the main site and the online store for Mondex’s ongoing tracking needs.
Mondex’s website was overhauled to meet modern standards and customer needs and to communicate the right spirit. The site is more modern and provides a smoother user experience. Content can also be easily modified and managed. Additionally, the site is now technologically up to date, bringing many advantages. The site is better protected against malware and other cybersecurity threats, and it loads faster, supporting both site maintenance and improving its search engine friendliness.
We also take care of Mondex’s ongoing technical maintenance. Through our WordPress maintenance service, we keep the website and installed plugins up to date. Maintaining separate development and production environments ensures smooth ongoing development to match Mondex’s evolving needs. Quick site changes are also easily implemented as we already have access to site management.
We can also find a suitable solution for you when you need impressive and functional websites or expertise in other online communication services, so feel free to contact us!