“Developing this future-proof, complex headless website as a Progressive Web Application (PWA) required extensive comms and colab with the EG team. We deployed a single codebase across multiple platforms, the website and iOS/Android apps. The BID login feature works as an additional member website which allows business owners to post jobs, news, events and update their company profiles.”
Arps Patel
Head of client services, Silverback®
Discover
Discover
Experience Guildford are the BID (Business Improvement District) for Guildford, they exist to support retail, hospitality and professional service businesses in the centre of Guildford. It’s a bit like their marketing department to make Guildford the destination for people to visit. Their vision is to keep Guildford safe, clean and welcoming.
EG approached Silverback® for a new future-proof platform for their website and app, including a refresh of their existing identity. The new technology enables locals and tourists to explore all of the businesses, offers and upcoming events, whilst also working as a gated-content hub for all of the businesses to access. The technology used to achieve this is a React front-end build with a headless CMS, Strapi. This allows all of the content to be held in one location and to be displayed wherever required through React – for this project a website and an app.
Design
As part of the identity refresh and messaging strategy, we post-rationalised the ‘eg’ logo to be used as ‘for example’ enabling an animated list to highlight everything that Guildford has to offer, paired alongside video clips, this concept has the legs to explain a lot at a glance whilst also being able to focus in to different categories when required, for example hospitality. Through the design of the platform, we categorised the existing brand’s accent colours to their own separate categories, which has helped with the UX and is effective alongside the new photography. As Guildford has such an eclectic community, the choice of font for the word ‘Guildford’ in the hero graphic we feel works universally.
Develop
To help the new site be recognised as Guildford, we carried out a photoshoot of Guildford at a range of locations, businesses and the surrounding landscape across the town/city centre. We wanted to capture the diverse range of businesses, architecture, people and even scenery – all of the nooks and crannies! On the shoot we took hundreds of stills, loads of footage and some amazing drone footage.
The website contains a directory of information on all businesses in Guildford, including their opening hours and location, it also has a section for up to date offers in the area. Through the development of the site the four sections are highlighted in the header with the use of icons and bright contrasting colours. To further optimise usability and ease, the platform has also been developed in to an app.
Deliver
Other than the public website/app, we created a ‘BID Hub’ for all of the business owners to use. It’s a place they can go to find any information out about the Guildford BID, find the latest news, events and to download any useful stuff. Also in the BID Hub, every business has access to the CMS to update their business page, post events, jobs and offers.
The EG platform has been advertised though printed collateral, showcased around Guildford. The recent website launch was a huge success, we hope that the platform helps inform tourists and locals on the beautiful city. We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Experience Guildford, to lift their identity and get Guildford back on the map!
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