Building a Digital Gateway for Greater North Kent Partnership
We have recently launched a new website for Greater North Kent (GNK). GNK is a strategic collaboration between six partner authorities: Dartford, Gravesham, Medway, Maidstone, Swale and Kent County Council.
GNK required a website to help raise awareness about the partnership and promote its work.
The brief
GNK enlisted our help to design and build a straightforward website that would serve as a hub of information about North Kent and the Greater North Kent partnership. We aimed to achieve two key objectives:
Information Hub: The website would be the go-to source for valuable insights into GNK’s purpose, priorities, and work programs. Visitors could explore their impact on crucial aspects like skills, health, culture, infrastructure, and climate.
Dynamic Publishing Platform: The website needed a dedicated platform for publishing reports, articles, news items, and opinion pieces so that GNK could keep stakeholders and the public well-informed about their latest developments and initiatives.
What we did
The website development project progressed through three distinct phases:
1. Discovery: In this exciting phase, we worked closely with GNK to discuss and agree on the scope and user needs. We paid attention to their likes and dislikes, ensuring the website’s look and feel reflected their vision.
2. Alpha: Our alpha phase involved creating sample content and images, designing wireframes for key pages, and ensuring usability and accessibility standards were met.
3. Beta and Live: Through user testing and gaining valuable feedback, we fine-tuned the website before it was ready for launch. As a final touch, we provided GNK with a comprehensive website management document and training on content management.
Inclusivity and Accessibility for All
We understand the importance of catering to a diverse audience in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, and disability. The website was designed to be fully responsive and accessible for all users, ensuring that everyone could easily access and engage with the content. Our user-centred approach, coupled with extensive user research and testing, allowed us to design a layout and use language and wording that resonated with the target audience.
A Gateway to Greater Engagement
With a new Greater North Kent website, GNK is now equipped to effectively engage its target audiences, foster collaborations, and raise awareness about their initiatives.
SDS have been happy to work on this project from inception to launch and continue to support GNK with maintenance and hosting.
