BRUTAL
SIMPLICITY
OF THOUGHT
M&C SAATCHI ABEL is a full-service creative agency headquartered in South Africa, part of the global M&C SAATCHI network. Known for their bold approach and their unique leadership structure, featuring partner Mike Abel, they operate with a distinct identity in the network. Their philosophy centres around Brutal Simplicity of Thought, a mantra that guides both their internal culture and their external work. The brief was both simple and ambitious: build a website that embodied the agency’s essence, sharp, refined, and magnetic to both clients and creative talent.
The Challenge
Although M&C SAATCHI ABEL’s client work was world-class, their website didn’t fully reflect their sophistication, vision, or brand positioning. There were also performance concerns around:
Conversion rates: Particularly attracting high-value new business leads.
Talent acquisition: Drawing in strong creative and strategic applicants.
Drop-off: Visitors were bouncing before engaging meaningfully with the work.
Responsiveness: The mobile experience didn’t uphold the same design integrity as desktop.
Objectives
Our core objectives were:
Showcase the brand’s creative ethos without overshadowing the work.
Create a modern, responsive experience that functioned beautifully across all devices.
Drive conversion — turning site visits into inquiries or applications.
Improve navigation and storytelling to keep users engaged and clicking deeper.
Strengthen positioning among global peers and local competitors.
APPROACH
1. Strategic Discovery
We began with internal interviews and an audit of the current site. We reviewed analytics to understand user behavior and pain points. We also analyzed competitor and network agency sites to map expectations.
Key insights:
Users wanted to see the work first.
Navigation needed to be immediate and intuitive.
The tone had to be sharp, confident, and unpretentious, just like the agency.
4. Creative Direction
We directed tone of voice, image treatments, and animation pacing to align with the brand’s philosophy. This included:
Storyboard planning for transitions and page interactions.
Ensuring the work didn’t feel over-produced or decorative.
Keeping the tone professional, but with creative tension.
2. UX & Information Architecture
We restructured the site to prioritize:
Case studies and creative output
Culture and people
New business contact points
Careers and recruitment
We mapped out acquisition funnels, ensuring users had clear paths to either engage, connect, or apply.
5. Responsive Design
& Development Guidance
Given the mobile traffic levels, mobile-first design was a priority. I worked closely with developers to ensure design fidelity across breakpoints and defined edge-case behaviors for motion, interaction, and content load.
3. Visual & Interactive Design
Embracing the agency’s minimalist values, I crafted a clean, confident design that let the work shine. Every element was stripped back to its essence. Key features included:
Bold typography with generous whitespace.
Cinematic use of motion to create depth and rhythm.
Micro-interactions to guide attention and signal interactivity.
Outcome & REFLECTION
The final website presented M&C SAATCHI ABEL as they truly are:
focused, refined, and deeply creative. Key results included:
Lower bounce rates, especially on mobile.
Improved engagement with portfolio content.
Higher-quality inquiries through the contact forms.
Increased applications via the careers section.
A cohesive experience that resonated internally and externally.
This project was a true alignment of design thinking and brand strategy. The challenge wasn’t to invent something new, but to reveal what was already great about M&C SAATCHI ABEL. By applying a lens of restraint and intention, we were able to build a digital experience that lets the agency’s work and culture speak for itself, clearly, confidently, and simply.