BACKGROUND
UK City of Culture is a competition run by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) every four years. Previous winners have included Derry/Londonderry in 2013 and Hull in 2017.
On Thursday 7 December 2017 and after beating off stiff competition from Paisley, Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea, Coventry was announced as the UK City of Culture 2021.
Starting from May 2021 for a whole year, Coventry will celebrate its great city with events, music, dance, theatre, and large-scale spectacles. As well as large scale celebrations, Coventry will show its unexpected side, with more intimate experiences and ways to get involved across every ward of the city.
SCOPE:
With an extra 2.5 million visitors anticipated to visit the city in 2021 the eyes of the world will be on Coventry and it was imperative that the Coventry City of Culture Trust website appealed to a wide user base. Working together we created a series of personas based on visitor demographics to understand user goals and motivations. From this, we could prioritise their journeys and content needed to fulfill common objectives to make sure this was the focus of the website's structure and design.
RESULTS
The web interface named ‘ScaleCal’ was built utilising Microsoft’s NET MVC platform, and the mobile app was built using Xamarin Forms. It’s developed for use on Android devices and the databases utilised Microsoft SQL Server, with the web services handling connectivity for the Android app.
The combination of digital interfaces incorporates a wide range of user-friendly features allowing users to edit and add customer data, list, view and edit all scale data, plus assign tasks and jobs for all customers. This has removed the long laborious paper-based process and the risk of data error. In addition, it’s automated procedures which is saving engineers approximately a day’s work each week and now allows calibration certificates to be supplied instantly.
“The website is an integral part of the 2021 campaign and, with Coventry having an impressive offering in the technology sector, we are proud to be showcasing the talent and expertise in the city. “The website will not only be where our audiences can book tickets for events in 2021 but also find out more about the people and stories behind the year along with registering for opportunities to take part. “We have been working to ensure that the message of City of Culture reaches the world and the website will be a crucial aspect of this – it will be the door to people looking to get involved and those looking to explore the programme to make the most out of an exciting year ahead.”
Laura McMillan OBE, Director of Operations and Legacy at Coventry City of Culture Trust
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