Both client and agency knew that involving as many people as possible in the design project would make the process of change easier.
Because the website was changing dramatically and a large number of NS&I staff were affected, it was important to streamline the information flow between NS&I and Lloyd Northover, says Sue Simpson, Head of Brand for NS&I. ‘We brought in a dedicated project manager who was neither a creative nor a writer, to manage a diverse team from across our business,’ she explains. ‘This wasn’t just about creating great online design, it was about ensuring it was totally robust in terms of service delivery. It was critical that the back office fulfillment side of our web activity was totally integrated with the new design to be completely effective and 100% secure.’
Lloyd Northover, meanwhile, created an infrastructure within which all those people involved could access work in development at any time via a dedicated extranet.
‘Our preference is for the creative development to be a closely collaborative process with the client to jointly formulate and refine strategies,’ Hudspeth explains. ‘We worked closely together with comments fed back via the extranet, phone or email.’
Simpson quickly signed off the fundamental design principles - which were dictated by NS&I’s re-branding - and the new information architecture. Lloyd Northover then began creating new templates for the site. The next stage, however, was the most complex: finalising page content, links between different pages, and the respective importance that should be given to different financial products.
