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Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America (MEAA) is a Tier 1 supplier to the automotive industry that specializes in mobility solutions such as autonomous-ready connected infotainment and ADAS solutions, high-definition displays, and more. Headquartered in southeast Michigan and with five satellite offices throughout the US, MEAA is an affiliate company of global powerhouse brand Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Crafting a distinctive, relevant brand presence, identity, and voice as an automotive supplier has proved challenging for many in the marketplace; achieving that while staying true to an expansive corporate brand adds an extra layer to the challenge. MEAA sought NewFoundry’s expertise in brand identity development to solve its positioning and messaging puzzle, then bring the new strategy to life with a new brand system showcased first as an all-new flagship website.

Inspired by stakeholder interviews and other findings from our discovery process, we sought to craft a positioning statement and messaging strategy that pays homage to Mitsubishi Electric’s 100-year history of innovation in electrical and electronic products and systems. After exploring and vetting several possible directions, we landed on a headline and supporting copy concept that would serve to inspire the bold, new brand system created by our design team.

We are innovation, electrified.

Electronic products are our past and our future. In fact, we’ve been igniting the automotive industry for 100 years. And with the arrival of the modern mobility age, we’re just getting started. From advanced automotive technology to the highest quality components and user-centered solutions, we were made for this. We are Mitsubishi Electric. We are innovation, electrified.

Working closely with stakeholders at MEAA, our strategists and UX designers established discrete goals, user personas, and user stories to drive the design of the new website. Over the course of several weekly design and engineering sprints, the new website came together as the dynamic, engaging experience that all of us envisioned from the start.

The result is a website that flawlessly showcases the evolving world of innovations at MEAA, captures the attention of automotive manufacturers, partners, and content creators, and serves as a crucial conduit for lead generation and talent acquisition.

Experience MEAA’s bold new stance for yourself at https://www.meaa-mea.com/.

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Working with the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber, NewFoundry conceived of, designed, and developed NEEDEE, a mobile application that connects people involved with the creative scene in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and the surrounding area.

Users of the app can easily explore events, locales associated with the arts, and discover creative people from a multitude of disciplines.

Are you interested in commissioning a mural for that big blank canvas on the side of your building? Check out the People section of the app to find visual artists, see images of their work, and ways to get in touch.

Are you a musician looking for a venue for your next performance? Drill down into the Locales section of the app to find the perfect spot along with all of the contact information you need to make it happen.

Are traveling to the area for business and interested in finding an event to check out in your free time? Filter the Events listings by type, dates, distance, type of audience, and more to find just the right experience to make your trip memorable.

NEEDEE is available for download now in the App Store and Google Play.

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NuStep designs, develops and manufactures recumbent cross trainers that have become a mainstay in healthcare, wellness and fitness environments. Building on the success of our previous collaboration on the T6 cross trainer, NuStep sought NewFoundry’s help to design the user interface for its new UE8 upper body ergometer.

As an exerciser, one of the goals of using the upper body ergometer is to apply equal effort with each arm as it moves the handholds on the machine away from the body in a circular motion (similar to the action of forward-pedaling a bicycle with the legs). Our designers created a perspective view of the circular motion and added additional layers of information to provide an intuitive exerciser view. The screen displays exercise insights that are easily digestible at a glance and can be toggled to a more detailed view for clinicians. This thoughtful UI makes it easy for exercisers to evaluate their performance and make adjustments to avoid injury and maximize results while equipping busy clinicians with the information they need to be most helpful and effective in their work with each patient.

Like the NuStep T6, the UE8 includes a Pace Partner feature, which acts as a “virtual coach” to help the user exercise at the correct pace to meet the goals of the exercise session. Our designers extended the look and feel of the virtual landscape and track environment established as part of the T6 UX design to create a playful new island paddling theme. The result is a fresh, fun, and engaging UE8 user experience.

In addition to designing experiences specific to UE8, our designers are working with NuStep to create a new cross-platform workflow to help exercisers get started on their workout. In the past, a clinical NuStep exerciser was typically assigned a workout to complete based on an exercise stat, such as exercising a certain number of minutes at an effort required to burn a certain number of watts. In the future, exercisers will have the option to be led through the steps of choosing a goal before being presented with several workout options that are all programmatically designed to help the exerciser meet the goal. This new functionality puts the user at the center of the experience and provides a sense of agency through the offering of choice and control. The expected result is greater emotional investment in completing the workout to the best of the exerciser’s ability and ultimately leading to a healthier life. The workout choice functionality is planned for rollout across all NuStep machines as part of future product cycle upgrade plans.

Learn more about the NuStep UE8 here.

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SaveOn is a leading provider of print and digital coupons and marketing solutions for businesses in a growing number of markets across the United States. Having acquired a number of smaller competitors and formed a strategic partnership with a leading media and marketing services company, SaveOn set its sights on accelerating market expansion, sales, and revenue growth. SaveOn also wanted to roll out a new logo and positioning statement, “Live Life for Less”, across its various touch points.

In pursuit of these goals, SaveOn sought NewFoundry’s help to redesign its flagship digital coupon site, SaveOn.com. The large volume of existing assets and content would need to be retained, accounted for, and repurposed in the new design in order to eliminate any impact on SaveOn’s content team and its customer base of merchant advertisers. In addition to redesigning and engineering the front-end, the project required revamping the backend infrastructure to increase the site’s stability and cybersecurity.

As an outcome of our discovery process, we identified the driving forces of the redesign. We established that the new digital experience must provide more value to SaveOn’s customer base of businesses; streamline the digital coupon redemption workflow for both businesses and shoppers; deliver a better shopper experience on desktop, tablet, and mobile devices; and increase signups and memberships for SaveOn.

Our team of strategists, designers, and engineers worked together to flesh out the user experience and provide the end-to-end engineering to bring the new SaveOn.com to life.

Key project outcomes include:

1. Extending SaveOn’s new logo to create a complete visual language used to design the look and feel of the user interface including icons, color palette, content styling, photography style, photography treatment, containers, and separators.
2. Designing shopper workflows for searching, filtering, saving, and redeeming coupons based on keywords, categories, and geo-location; signing up for membership; creating a user profile; entering contests and more. This included designing a unique experience for signed-in member users.
3. Restructuring existing content and designing a dedicated area of the website to more effectively showcase the SaveOn value proposition to its target audience of businesses and make it easier for new customers to get started with SaveOn.
4. Converting the legacy codebase to a modern engineering architecture while preserving database data, administrative tools, and external application integrations.
5. Auditing the site performance to identify and implement significant improvement measures while reducing SaveOn’s cloud service costs.
6. Rearchitecting the cloud infrastructure to follow best practices for security and performance while identifying and removing unused resources, further reducing SaveOn’s cloud service costs.
7. Improving search engine optimization (SEO) throughout the entire site, making it easier for new shoppers and businesses to find SaveOn and enabling SaveOn to grow its membership and sales revenue.

The resulting website and backend infrastructure is enabling SaveOn to deliver greater value to its merchant and shopper stakeholders and create a fresh impression of the SaveOn brand – all while increasing performance and security at lower operating costs. In addition to providing an outstanding experience for website visitors today, SaveOn is now positioned to execute on a broader digital vision.

Experience the all-new SaveOn website for yourself at SaveOn.com.

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The University of Michigan, with faculty serving as director and co-director of the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative, was driven to find new ways to set patients up for success and lasting health.

Following on the success of the Weigh the Odds Outcomes Calculator, Michigan Medicine and the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative sought NewFoundry’s design and engineering expertise to develop the My Weight Loss Journey app.

My Weight Loss Journey helps realize optimal outcomes at every stage in the patient care lifecycle.

1. Pre-operative: The app educates the patient with helpful resources and testimonials regarding what to expect from the surgical procedure.
2. Patient post-operative: The app prompts the the patient to complete a survey at timed intervals to help shape positive postoperative behavior.
3. Physician post-operative: The app guides physicians on topics to discuss with the patient at follow-up appointments.

Engineered for availability on both iOS and Android devices, My Weight Loss Journey utilizes HIPAA-compliant backend data storage, retrieval, and analysis APIs running in AWS using state-of-the art infrastructure and security controls.

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Catholic Social Services of Washtenaw County (CSSW) is a member agency of the Diocese of Lansing Catholic Charities. As part of carrying out its mission, CSSW established an initiative called “Ahead of the Curve Washtenaw” to aid caregivers of older adults by providing accessible, highly targeted resources to enable proactive planning and preparation for future care needs.

CSSW sought NewFoundry’s help to implement the first phase of this initiative, comprised of three technology innovations integrated together in one web destination:

1. Senior Resource Directory – a web-accessible database of county-wide resources, presented in a format that makes it easy for caregivers to search and filter results by location, eligibility, and more.
2. Caregiver Assessment Tool – a web application that helps caregivers uncover risk factors, anticipate needs, and find health and social services referrals tailored to their specific situation.
3. Caregiver Training Program – a web portal through which caregivers may access a multimedia-format curriculum of evidence-based training on a variety of senior-care topics.

NewFoundry strategists, designers, and engineers collaborated with students from the University of Michigan School of Information and the Ahead of the Curve Washtenaw team on this project, which included user research conducted as part of the UMSI students’ coursework. Using the research as an input, NewFoundry fleshed out the user experience, designed the user interface, and provided the end-to-end engineering that brought the suite of caregiver resources to life. Special consideration was given to ensure the interface delivers an excellent experience for a wide range of ages and abilities using handheld, tablet, and desktop devices.

Caregivers of older adults in Washtenaw County and beyond now have three critical, never-before available resources at their fingertips, enabling high-quality care, proactive decision-making, and better outcomes. Ahead of the Curve Washtenaw is supported by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. For more information, visit getaheadwashtenaw.org.

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