Horizon is a research institute focussing on the 'digital economy'. They have been researching in this area since 2009 and are funded by over 40 academic and industrial partners.
Go to www.horizon.ac.uk
The Challenge
Horizon is a research institute funded by Research Councils UK, the
University of Nottingham and over other 40 academic and industrial partners.
The main objective of the new website is to raise Horizon’s profile and
promote their activity to the targeted segment of the market. This segment
includes existing sponsors and academic partners along with members of the
public.
Modernising the look and feel of the site was also of paramount importance. In addition, integrating social media more effectively throughout
the site was a requirement specified.
The Approach
Before we could begin designing the site, a full audit and
consultation with key members of the Horizon team was necessary to identify key
requirements. The audit consisted of various elements including identification
of target market, user needs and specific features.
River CMS was the ideal platform to accommodate the new
site. The advanced, highly-featured web CMS is used for 95%+ of our clients
sites - its flexibility allows it to fit in seamlessly with Horizon’s
website needs.
Features that Horizon have benefitted from include password
protected login, events management module, news module, case study module and
blog.
A social media callout was created to allow Horizon’s latest
Twitter posts to be displayed on many pages throughout the site. This encourages visitors to engage more actively with the company and build a
relationship through their Twitter page.
The Result
The new website successfully helps to promote Horizon as a dynamic,
forward-thinking and vitally important research institute.
In terms of the bank-end of the site, the intelligent and flexible CMS used
has given Horizon full control over their site as they are able to manage the
content themselves.
The front-end of the site boasts a clean, strong and modern design - this
really does showcase Horizon’s exciting research projects. Furthermore, easy
navigation and information-rich content provides the user with a smooth web
experience.
Website built using Senior's River Content Management System.