A New On-brand Website for Edinburgh Global: the University of Edinburgh’s Content-rich Resource

Global Reach

Edinburgh Global, as part of the University of Edinburgh, provides a range of valued services to prospective and existing students as well as staff. From assistance with applications, to visa advice and opportunities to study abroad, the reach of the team is truly global.

Different Audiences

With diverse audiences, come different content groupings, access to different tools and different user outcomes following a visit to the Edinburgh Global website.

Website Design

Edinburgh Global came to us seeking a distinct and exciting website design that would align to their overall strategy, convey their brand positioning and sit comfortably alongside the University’s parent website.

Launch the new Edinburgh Global office – transition from International Office.

The key underpin to the project was to set a clear direction, steering a path from International to Global, and bringing that to life with an exciting look and feel with clear, bold messaging and imagery.

Personalised Content

A key requirement of the project was to deliver a site that allows audiences to filter content according to preference, required tools and support or level of engagement. Again, delivering this access needed to be supported through a consistent image strategy, clear messaging and engaging content.

Drupal Full-Stack Website Development

The Edinburgh Global team wished to manage the day to day running of the site and have full control over the content. So, as important as the best user experience was the ability to manage and edit within the Drupal CMS.

Social Curation

Integrating a range of social media accounts within the site was a priority, in order to provide an overview of all relevant content curated from across the University and partner organisation’s accounts.

Tell Dynamic Stories

Edinburgh Global wanted to tell dynamic stories through its website. Engaging users with bold imagery, interesting infographics and UX, while avoiding a text-heavy approach.

Delivering a Tailored Experience

We created a content filter that appears when users first arrive at the site. This gives them the opportunity to specify if they are staff, students or an applicant / visitor. Once selected, the site then presents relevant content, providing a personalised and streamlined experience and enhancing the user journey.

Making Content King

Splitting content into separate blocks of content (or ‘cards’) supports Edinburgh Global to create content-rich pages in Drupal, with each card shareable on social media. This client-centric approach to the CMS build also allows them to move elements around the page and restrict blocks to audience groups. Layout control at a very precise level.

Maximising Engagement

By integrating a social curation platform within the site, it’s easy to source topical posts and media from a range of social channels. This also provides the capability to run social campaigns that invite user-generated content. Social content can then be combined with the ‘cards’ functionality, providing richer content for each audience group.

Providing Answers to Staff and Students

We created a bespoke algorithmic tool to guide staff through the process of setting up a Partnership. At each stage a user answers questions and receives relevant guidance on setting up a Partnership based on their own specific circumstances.

Students are also catered for through a custom Help module built using the ZenDesk API. This code-based approach allowed us to completely change the look of the help tool and separate it from the standard chat widget. The Edinburgh Global team can now include it in a ‘card’, restrict it to student users and place it anywhere on any page.

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