We’re excited to begin talking about a project we’re currently working on here at Connect. In the Autumn, we were tasked with designing and developing a brand new site for the Alliance Homes Group.
The Alliance Homes Group is a charitable society and social enterprise working in the West of England. Their primary purpose is to provide social housing and support services within the local community. The Group work in partnership with a range of agencies to tackle poverty, social and financial exclusion by breaking cycles of behaviour that can prevent individuals from reaching their potential.
The Group is faced with a challenge that many organisations must address in 2015 – a demographic that is, to varying degrees, inexperienced with technology as a communicative tool. A large percentage of the Group’s residents are over the age of 60 – an age bracket of comparatively slower digital uptake.
The Group’s current website has been in place since 2010, acting as a one-stop-shop for resident information. However, limited scope, functionality and a lack of user awareness is stopping the Group from achieving its digital goals, and with an aim of having 50% of tenants engaging digitally by 2018, a change is needed. That’s where Connect come in!
Our job is to deliver a platform that naturally encourages residents to shift from traditional engagement methods, such as telephone or letter, to email, private messaging and social media posting.
With card sorting exercises, persona creation and user group training planned, we believe we can help ease residents of all ages into the Group’s new digital-first approach with a platform that will work flawlessly every single time.
Over the coming months, Connect will be hard at work on:
- A responsive Alliance Homes Group website that provides a rich user experience across a range of devices
- A refreshed visual design treatment – representing Alliance Home’s core brand and purposes
- A flexible, adaptable CMS solution that aligns growth with extensibility
- A CMS that is accessible and standards compliant, with a back-end that is user friendly and allows staff to easily manage content – fostering an appetite for publishing more relevant content
- A platform with seamless social integration
- Reporting tools and analytics to measure delivery outputs and outcomes
From the moment the reimagined platform goes live in the first half of 2016, residents will be able to explore via any connected device, including their desktop, mobile device or tablet. Our approach for Alliance Home’s redesign is to offer the best of both worlds; combining forward facing task-driven navigation with emotional design techniques in order to produce a platform that is visually appealing to the user, effectively engaging and memorable enough to encourage lasting digital relationships that will allow the Alliance Homes Group to succeed in their transition.
The new website and its surrounding feature set will give the Group the opportunity to expand and forge a successful digital path, with additional tools and experiences stemming from the initial development.
This is just the beginning for the Alliance Homes Group’s digital journey, and we can’t wait to get started.
For more information about the Alliance Homes Group, visit their website.
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