VPLP Design’s new website, available in French and English, went live on 22 September. This completely revised version, produced in collaboration with Tip & Shaft, the copywriting studio which also puts together VPLP’s quarterly newsletter, was absolutely necessary. “Today, VPLP Design comprises three distinct business divisions,” says Simon Watin, the firm’s chairman. “Until recently, racing and cruising were developing together. We then decided to enter a new market, the maritime industry, and it appeared to us that the website should reflect these different divisions.”
The home page of vplp.fr now features three links to the firm’s principal divisions, and an additional link to the special projects developed by VPLP. Each division features a detailed and illustrated presentation of the firm’s many projects. In total there are more than a hundred data sheets, the earliest being Gérard Lambert (1983), the first boat designed by Marc Van Peteghem and Vincent Lauriot Prévost.
The browsing experience has been designed so visitors can easily switch divisions, thus allowing them to gain a real appreciation of the diversity and complementarity of VPLP’s activities. “Many folks only know about one part of our business,” says Jeremy Bertaud, the firm’s office manager in charge of bringing the new website to fruition. “For example, some have heard about the Canopée without knowing that we’re also active in the racing world. Alternatively, others are well aware of our IMOCAs but have no idea that we also design cruising boats for mass production. There was a real need to offer visitors a comprehensive view of our business today and highlight VPLP’s capacity for working on very different projects.”
Organizing VPLP Design into divisions has also led to a greater diversity of profiles within the firm, the complexity of the projects undertaken requiring the recruitment of new competencies. Once again, the new website reflects this diversity through the presentation of the people who work for VPLP Design, grouped together by profession (engineering, management, design, modelling, naval architecture).
“When we started out thirty-five years ago, we weren’t designing boats like we do today,” says VPLP cofounder Vincent Lauriot-Prévost. “We were foremost naval architects and then we gradually started to work regularly with other competencies. For example, we were the first to hire digital modellers. Today, we are a company of architects, engineers and designers. This allows us to develop a global approach because all the competencies we have assembled within the firm can be deployed on all the projects we work on. We offer our customers a comprehensive service, and the website now reflects this.”
Last but not least, VPLP Design wanted to do justice to the wealth of news generated by the firm by displaying it in a dedicated section of the website and on the landing page. “We’re shining a light on news because we want the public to realize that we’re a dynamic firm where a lot happens. For example, we systematically highlight our latest projects,” says Jeremy Bertaud.
