The Programme
The InternShip was a programme run in the summer of 2011 to give authentic studio-side experience to talented web design graduates, by putting them to work on an enaging real world client project.
To facilitate the nature of the programme, Fresh Made Media ran a province wide competition, asking local NI charities to apply for the opportunity have the graduate InternShip team develop a new site for them, under the guardianship and production values of Fresh Made Media.
The winning charity was the 'Integrated Education Fund' (IEF), whose application outlined their vision of of creating a standalone campaign site, to support the cause of educational reform and integrated education in Northern Ireland. We immediately resonated with their cause and ideas, and so the team set to work thinking how we could leverage the web to help the campaign.
The Project
The Integrated Education Fund aims to make integration, not separation, the norm in Northern Ireland's education system.
The Fund supports the continued growth of integrated school places and encourages all schools to provide their pupils with the opportunity to engage meaningfully with children from different cultural and religious backgrounds.
Unlike many applicants, IEF didn't apply to the charity programme for developing their own website, but instead to create a standalone campaign site to promote educational reform. The campaign needed to harness the power of public support, as well as from civic leaders, celebrities and high profile persons around the province. We all instinctively felt this was a project we could add value to whilst employing a wide range of skills to deliver.
The team met with IEF to discuss their requirements, and a varying range of ideas were generated. We all agreed however that capturing public support, representing that support visually and providing a forum for discussion on the Open Letter were critical components of the intended solution.
Over the course of about 8 weeks, the team met with IEF several times, prepared design mockups, generated mood boards and created a definitive strategy for the website. Part of the early phase of this period involved a brand development exercise, during which the 'working title' of the campaign was replaced with the definitive 'One School of Thought' concept. This was carried out in conjunction with brand design specialists, Hurson.
With the strategy, structure and branding in place, the project moved quickly through the design iterations to create a working prototype of the site. As we shared this with the client and listened to feedback, the product was further refined to suit the campaign. The team were working to a launch deadline of 7th September 2011 - and everything had to be ready and working well ahead of time.
The Team
Working within Fresh Made Media to deliver the 'One School of Thought' from inception to completion, were two very talented recent graduates from the University of Ulster's Interactive Multimedia Design course.
We of course provided steering, strategy and direction where needed, but the majority of the great work done on this project was down to the skills and hardwork of the guys who gave their time so willingly to deliver a project for a great cause.
Tim McKinstry is a talented web designer with a flair for illustration and creative thought. Tim worked as creative lead on this project, employing his skills across a broad range of disciplines including strategy, planning, design and markup. He mapped out the site structure, organised the content placement, produced the design concept and then marked everything up in clean, accessible markup.
Simon Fraser is a gifted developer with an excellent grasp of modern web development and programming practices. Simon created the infrastructure which facilitates the often complex site features, and overcame all the associated technical hurdles posed by the creative specification. He also added the site into Fresh Made Made Media's Grapevine CMS product, to be easily managed by the client.
The Outcome
One School Of Thought launched on 7th September 2011 with substancial media coverage from the local press, tv and radio.
The campaign is aimed at promoting reform of NI's education system, to address rising economical pressures and ongoing segregation of children of differing faiths, amongst other things.
The key aspects we focused on in this project were the promotion and support of the 'Open Letter' to Stormont ministers, as well as the capturing of support of the public to the concerns of the letter and the campaign in general. This was facilitated on the site using feedback forms, online video and public discussion facilities.
All of this is easily managed and maintined in-house at IEF using our Grapevine CMS product. They can authorise comments, add new signatories, update all the content and switch on/off a variety of statistical and social media options as the campaign progresses.
To see the results for yourself, visit www.oneschoolofthought.org.uk
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