More senders and audiences? Here's how we solved it for Gassnova.

A hard nut to crack

It's always nice to win a bidding contest. It's a bit more fun when the actor is so exciting. Gassnova. With heavy, crowded web pages built on Sharepoint, the state enterprise had a screaming need for new communication surfaces. That's how we went forward to give it to them.

This project required many trade-offs -- it wasn't just throttling on and create a new website. First, the enterprise is run through four different areas of business. These had to appear clearly separated, and at the same time safeguard the whole that brings them together under the umbrella of Gassnova.

And when multiple hats are supposed to tell overlapping stories, it quickly becomes duplicate content. The structure had many subpages and broken links, and just as important: It was unintelligible to use for the sender. The platform was simply not a good tool for publishing and managing content. And what is knotty for the sender often becomes knotty for the receiver. All this we had to solve.

Thoughtful page structure at bottom

The first step was to start a proper cleaning job. We halved the amount of content and removed all overlap. And how do we make sure it stays clean and neat? Well, it starts with a well thought out structure. A website structure cannot be based on visibility — it must be rooted in precise analytical work. What is the user actually supposed to and want to deal with? We found out through thorough keyword and web analytics.

Then, through both workshops and ongoing dialogue, we constructed personas that represented Gassnova's various audiences. Together with the analysis work, this laid the foundation for a structure that could speak to both the middle school student and the researcher.

User experience for everyone

Making sure that widely different people feel welcome at the same party is not just an easy task. The trick is to quickly direct them to the right room. For that, we used clear and extensive internal linking -- and the language on each subpage mirrors keywords and associated personas.

Whether you stumble by, or know exactly what you are looking for, you should be able to quickly find the page that suits you. The blog is centrally located, as are the questions and answers. What people search for the most, you will also find the easiest. At the top of the website you will find the global menu, and this highlights the unifying role Gassnova has for the business areas. Each of them, in turn, directs you to a specific subpage.

Good Building Blocks

The result was a multisite with 4 different “senders” gathered under one umbrella. Clear to the user — and easy to navigate. But what about those who will manage it all? How do we ensure that they can manage to a large extent even when it comes to changing page layouts, adding elements like video, forms and FAQ etc. without having to hook on a developer every time?

We found the answer in Gutenberg. Not Johannes himself, but the WordPress plugin that bears his name. Because just like the loose letter types in Gutenberg's first printing presses, this is a flexible framework. We designed and developed a selection of element blocks based on what the customer stated they would need. A web editor can thus select from a block menu and easily add blocks to a page without us having to enter and code for them. With powerful tools — and some training and pointers from us — we free them from the costs of always having to ask for help.

This is a solution rigged to last for several years -- and which can and should be constantly developed. Just like the art of letterpress.