- UX / UI Design
- Bespoke software
Developmental Leadership Program (DLP) Website Case Study
In partnership with The University of Birmingham, we’ve developed a refreshed website, that acts as an international tool for those seeking relevant research documentation, as part of the Developmental Leadership Program (DLP an international research initiative).
What we did
The DLP focuses on the crucial role of home-grown leaderships and coalitions in forging legitimate institutions that promote developmental outcomes, such as sustainable growth and political stability. This means that the website is particularly content rich and it needed to be easy to navigate with clear sign posts for accessing different subject matter. Our bespoke Dewsign Laravel Nova CMS met the requirements needed to ensure a seamless, flexible and scalable product that would support the DLP for the long term.
The News concept
Our approach to the user experience was to mimic a similar experience you get when browsing and interacting with large scales news websites. We wanted to encourage cross pollination of content and sharing.
Our in depth analysis of Google Analytics highlighted how website traffic came from multiple resources, arriving at the site from lots of different angles and not following the same interaction path. One observation we were able to make was that individual articles were particularly well trafficked but then the drop off was quite high. Based on this, we wanted it to be super clear to users that they can continue to consume content efficiently and easily by including other relevant articles as upsells at the bottom of the page.
UX design
Easy to share
DLP are in the process of growing their social media presence, particularly focusing on Twitter and Linkedin. Our nifty highlight to share functionality, similar to popular blogging platform Medium, works a treat to encourage people to share key points from articles they are reading, which in turn will help boost traffic to the website.
A tagged approach
The website is made up of three core sections; Opinions, Publications and Projects. Each section is tagged or categorised based on subject matter or theme. Not only is the management of this content super simple using our bespoke CMS, but it is easy to consume as a user. The DLP operate across a number of different elements so the categorisation of content is key and can be easily navigated using the tags.
Image lightweight for performance speeds
A lot of DLP users are in areas where there may not have access to wi-fi so we had to make sure page loads could handle even the dreaded GPRS. We took a typographic approach to bring the site to life, ensuring it was still engaging without the need for lots of imagery that could cause slow load speeds and interrupt the experience.
All links have individual hover states and makes the website interactive in a smart and optimised way.
Easy PDF downloads
The Publications section offers users the ability to download key documentation as PDF files. For the DLP’s target users, being able to print off these files is really important. Again, our CMS systems allowed for the easy upload of documents for each publication and the website front end design display a clean and clear download call to action.
“Dewsign made the task of redesigning our website straightforward and they understood our purpose and brand. Their communication and support through all stages resulted in a site we are delighted with."
Louisa Whitehouse, Administrator and Finance Officer - Developmental Leadership Program
