The two key objectives in the creative brief were to create a look and feel which is on-brand, and to position this division of the RYA in a dynamic manner to a more youthful audience. We used typically British blues and reds and paid attention to specific brand techniques such as the blue dividing strip with red highlight. Our approach to design is forward looking, providing a basis for the main RYA website redesign due later this year.
By introducing a large, hard hitting background to the design we gave a contemporary ‘splash’ theme that sets a modern and youthful style to this SharePoint portal site, and which the client loved instantly, but which was not too abstract as befitting of the organisation’s authoritative status. Red highlights are used to draw attention to particular zones, and provide visual interest.
The real focus on this work was one of Information Architecture and Usability. This Olympic Sailing portal was built on SharePoint 2007 web content management, and we worked closely with the Editorial team and SharePoint specialists at the RYA to establish the content and technical requirements, turning a rough content plan into a well considered site plan. This project was an excellent example of collaborative working between us and the RYA. Items of particular note include making effective use of SharePoint's standard controls to accelerate the implementation of the functionality, and a 'tableless' portal style that worked well even within SharePoint's edit mode.
