Project stages included:
Meetings and discovery work
We kicked off the ‘Foster for Medway’ sub-branding project with a series of meetings to narrow down the scope and find out what the service was thinking.
The Digital team carried out research. This included:
- analytical research on our current site
- competitor research, such as what other local councils and independent fostering agencies were doing online.
Meanwhile, the Fostering team carried out in-person research with a working group of foster carers.
This working group provided comments and feedback about the current and missing website information.
Once all research had been carried out, the teams met again to discuss:
- who the key audiences were
- what content we had already
- what content was missing
- what ‘branding’ the service had and wanted.
A plan was put in place to move the project on.
Content creation
The Digital team met with a handful of social workers to write ‘user stories’.
User stories describe a user and the reason why they need to use the service that you’re building.
The Fostering team then wrote the missing content and refreshed their current content.
Once the content was finished, it was given to the Digital team in Word document format. We then proof-read the documents, shaped them and drafted them as webpages.
We also began looking at the design aspect of the webpages.
Design and build
We aimed to achieve a friendly, bright, youthful and less corporate aesthetic with the design. This is carried through the entire Foster for Medway section of the site.
We used bright pinks, greens and purples that are also incorporated in the new ‘Foster for Medway’ logo. The Communications team designed this logo.
Images of children and families were sourced that emphasise happiness and support, along with a modern full-width interactive video talking about the positive impact of fostering.
Towards the top of the page are 3 navigation columns containing the most important webpages. These have been divided up into areas:
- what you need to know
- fostering in Medway
- the fostering process
- other services.
This also allows less scrolling from a user perspective. Text heavy pages were also broken up with bold bright headings so the user can skip irrelevant information and find what they’re looking for quickly.
Common web elements, such as accordions, supplements and ‘call to action’ buttons, have also been styled to fit the branding.
Go-live
A final meeting took place to go over the newly designed webpages.
A go-live date was then put in place and final preparations were made before launching to the public.
“Many thanks to each of you for working with me to deliver this project.” Fostering team