Design Challenge and Design Ideas

The Fjord trends is an annual publication, aimed primarily at C-level prospective clients, that looks at what’s ahead for the future of business, technology and design. We were tasked with creating the campaign that included the design and production of various web and print outputs.

In tandem with this campaign, Fjord had just completed an identity refresh – for which it was decided that this would serve as the first public touch-point. With only 7 weeks from start to finish, the pressure was on.

While incorporating the new identity was key, we also wanted to create something that would stand on its own. Early on, we identified a clear sense of *tension* as a meta-theme in the early content. This was reflected in the sense of anxiety with how people are feeling about surveillance, transparency and ethics in digital products and services today. Embodying this became the foundation for the identity.

How the brief was fulfilled

# Brief:
With an ambitious time-frame and production list that spanned multiple digital channels, we explored how we might create an identity that would have enough flexibility and range to cover the various static, dynamic and social outputs.

**Deliverables:**
1. *Content* – timely and topical.
2. *Website* – dynamic, engaging, media-rich.
3. *Identity* – a unified look and feel for all print and digital content.
4. *Social media* – rich and engaging.
5. *Presentations* – For use at client events & conferences.
6. *Book* – Printed report for events and client engagements.

# Our Approach
From the outset – we wanted to build for engagement. We wanted to remove barriers for people to consume and share the content. We considered dynamic social outputs early in order to ensure that this campaign would create impactful engagement globally. The design is very much a living system is designed to react with and engage the viewer.

Usability and accessibility were key as it was a reading experience at it’s core. We incorporated web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.0 AA) to ensure we delivered on this. We designed for a wide range of device types to ensure that content (text, animations and media) worked smoothly and didn’t disrupt the flow. Quick navigation was a core principal – ensuring the reader could quickly find relevant content.

In order to meet the ambitious deadlines – working as a tightly integrated team was essential. While the core design and development team sat together in Dublin, we also collaborated with colleagues in New York and London via daily check-ins to ensure we stayed on track. We managed to deliver on time. It was a truly multi-disciplinary team effort where everyone brought their best to the table.

Highlights of the website included the following the integration of sharing from any point in the site, embedded audio to listen to content, feedback to allow readers to say how they feel (and see what others thought) and ongoing updates that allowed the admin team to easily add new content and evidence over time.

# Impact
https://trends.fjordnet.com
This campaign was considered the most successful launch to date by a number of different metrics including the following:
* Unique visitors over first 2 months were up 205% )relative to the same period in the previous year).
* Overall views up 159% (for same period).