fireworks over Edinburgh castle

Edinburgh Inspiring Capital

An outstanding website to promote Edinburgh as a world-class city in which to live, invest, study and visit.

'Edinburgh Inspiring Capital' was launched in May 2005 as the official Brand for Edinburgh City Region.

The Brief:
To develop a world class website to promote the city of Edinburgh through the Edinburgh Inspiring Capital brand.  This is a consumer portal, created to showcase Edinburgh City Region as a destination in which to live, invest, visit and study and to signpost a range of target audiences to all the information they may need if considering a move to the city.

The Solution:
Due to its consumer focus the project undertook a rigourous User Interface Design phase in consultation with the Edinburgh Inspiring Capital team, steering group members and potential users of the website.  This phase included a card-sorting exercise with the brand team to determine the most logical and intuitive navigation structure to house the complex and vast volumes of information planned for the site.  This navigation structure, along with the wires frames for the page layouts, went through extensive usability testing with users before moving to the build phase of the project. 

While the development of the site progressed using the Immediacy Content Management System Innovation Digital also worked with the Brand team on their content strategy, establishing the type of content (images, quotes, copy) that was required, as well as providing basic Search Engine Optimisation services ahead of the launch of the new website. 

The results:
The Edinburgh Inspiring Capital website was launched in February 2008 and responses from both stakeholders and users has been overwhelmingly positive.  The site provides a comprehensive, current and visually appealing introduction to Edinburgh while directing its many user audiences to numerous sources of relevant information.

Developed with a number of partners from across the public and private sector, the new innovative Edinburgh Inspiring Capital website is designed to attract talent, trade and tourism to the region. The unique project has been undertaken with our web development partners, Innovation Digital, who have mirrored our passion, dedication and commitment to this project and have succeeded in delivering a world class website.
Marie Knock, Communications Manager (Marketing), Edinburgh Inspiring Capital