Sable&Hawkes was appointed by recommendation and delivered the site and identity over a year-long research design and development process. The site is now live at www.ccss.co.uk
As a first step, Sable&Hawkes worked closely with the CCSS team on the creative position and getting the key messaging right.
Its key objectives were to:
- Identify the equities and associations of the CCSS brand amongst the target audiences
- Understand the strengths and weaknesses of the CCSS proposition in relation to the priorities of the target audiences
- Assess attitudes to CCSS compared to the competition in and around Cambridge.
From this the team established a new creative position for the college:
CCSS
Inspiring education.
This process then fed into the the information architecture and overall design approach:
1 Design utilising a scrolling, narrative-based approach that focuses clearly on the value of the product and the experience...
2 While making it abundantly clear to visitors why they should take the action you want them to take ...
3 And then providing them with clear and simple access to the means to fulfil that action.
The visual interface was then designed to create the right ‘feel’ for CCSS – calm, friendly, premium and intelligent, with the college values built in to the message rather than overlaying it. Visual cues and compelling content were created to encourage users to scroll.
Adrian Kimpton of Sable&Hawkes says: "We deliberately chose a scrolling approach as it allowed us to engage users instantly, through visual impact and the use of core messages; it also gave us greater flexibility to use creative copy and commissioned imagery.
"This type of open layout also allowed our story to flow and as per our brief, social media sits naturally as part of and throughout the site rather than as icon ‘bolt-ons’. And to offer the best online experience for the audience, and the best solution for our clients, their brands and services this site is fully responsive; allowing a seamless experience for the user across any platform they want to view it on.
"The back end is a simple but very efficient WordPress system (by http://maltpress.co.uk) that empowers the CCSS team to create and manage website content without any technical knowledge or experience of web design or development."
About Sable&Hawkes
Sable&Hawkes are a design communications company.
We work with our clients to deliver:
Thinking.
Naming, brand positioning, competitor and communications audits, stakeholder interviews, tone of voice, creative copy writing and ongoing brand management.
+
Doing.
Brand identity, copy writing, digital media, corporate and marketing literature, direct mail, advertising, exhibitions and campaigns.
For further information contact Adrian on:
T: 01223 303708
M: 07712 270198
E: adrian@sableandhawkes.co.uk
W: www.sableandhawkes.co.uk
TW: @AdrianKimpton
21 Aylestone Road Cambridge CB4 1HF.
______________________________________