Interface Launches New Digital Spec Tools

Interface

, the world’s largest supplier of carpet tile, has unveiled a redesigned website for its American audience, offering a new way for designers to source and specify flooring from the company’s expansive product line. Speaking of the site’s mission, Mandy Nolen, director of interactive marketing, says the design process began with audience research to thoroughly understand the specification process. “Designers often move from abstract ideas to specific products and vice versa,” says Nolen. “So, we set out to design an experience that complements this process.”

Most manufacturers only allow customers to search and filter using words, with a few pictures to push their latest offering, explains Nolen. The Interface site provides a visual browsing experience that, based on extensive customer research, better parallels how designers think. “The homepage experience lets users discover, collect, organize and save inspirational images to create mood boards and design floors from what inspires them,” continues Nolen. “The images draw from Interface’s deep product reservoir, hopefully allowing the user to discover both new and older products that can be used in new ways.”

The new

Boards

page allows designers to search through a selection of mood and inspiration boards to identify visual concepts and themes, as well as pull from an archive of inspirational images to make their own boards. There is also a new

Floors

tool, which allows designers to search through “inspired floors” or design their own floors on a multi-tile template, or from scratch. With these tools, Interface Americas is making design and concept the preliminary step before direct product sourcing, a new approach that directly targets the needs of designers.