IDEASFACTORY West Midlands
Problem
How do you get a brand new website, full of articles, interviews, multimedia content and games launched in just 60 days?
Brief
The online incarnation of Channel 4's *IDEAS*FACTORY initiative is all about career advice for young people looking to break into the creative industries. It is packed with advice, e-learning modules, video interviews and articles. In 2002 *IDEAS*FACTORY started to develop websites for regional hubs which would feature the same type of content, but with a regional focus. The West Midlands was the first regional website marked for development, so as well as being the first online it would also set a marker for the other sites across the UK.
Made Media was delighted to win the contract to develop the West Midlands website, particularly as the company was just one month old at the time. The brief included designing the website, building the pages using cutting edge XHTML and CSS technologies and developing all of the content from scratch, to include articles, interviews, video, flash modules and an events diary.
Solution
- A West Midlands sub-brand was developed, and a house style designed around it using local photography.
- Made employed freelance writer Andy Conway to write articles and interview local creatives. Man in the know "David Hayden":http://www.dabra.com was commissioned to research local happenings and put together an events diary.
- Video interviews were edited in-house and converted to streaming media. The Flash e-learning modules were researched and developed in house.
- The Website, over 200 pages worth, was designed and rolled out using advanced XHTML and CSS.
Outcome
- The website was launched on-time, on budget and full of interesting, original features.
- The XHTML and CSS templates developed for the West Midlands site became used as the foundation for all other regional hubs
- The website was held up within an internal Channel 4 website developer's meeting as a paragon of accessibility.
- Made Media switched from considering XHTML/CSS layouts an interesting but difficult technique, to using them as the foundation of all future websites.
