What should an innovation centre website show?

Put current projects, case studies and practical examples at the centre of an innovation centre website so visitors can assess capabilities through the work itself. Maersk faced a specific perception gap: many audiences knew its ships and containers but were unaware of its technology-enabled, digital supply chain capabilities. Stakeholder interviews conducted by The Frameworks confirmed that the Maersk Innovation Center had little to no exposure, despite the parent company's established reputation.

The Frameworks used customer and audience empathy research and user experience mapping to shape a digital experience centred on projects, case studies and examples. The approach was designed to show Maersk's creativity, speed and track record of getting innovations to market. For an innovation centre, the practical lesson is to establish what audiences already know, identify the capabilities they cannot see, and select work that makes those capabilities tangible.

Make capability areas easy to explore by giving visitors clear routes into the innovation centre's work. For the Maersk Innovation Center launch, The Frameworks designed an interactive landing page spotlighting five areas: autonomous vehicles and drones; computer vision; machine learning and predictive data analytics; education; and robotics. Each area was animated to convey its concept through motion and help visitors navigate intuitively.

The Frameworks also developed a "blueprint for innovation" concept, drawing on the centre's role as an incubator for new ideas. Its illustration style took cues from the sharp edges of the Maersk star and the blocky presence of the logotype, creating a distinct identity within the existing brand guidelines. The useful principle is to make the scope of innovation visible through navigation and visual explanation, while keeping the centre recognisably connected to its parent organisation.