Nelson & Colne College Group latest website launch

Following the merger of Nelson & Colne College and Accrington & Rossendale College in November 2018 (which includes Lancashire Adult Learning, a pan-Lancashire adult community learning provider) the newly formed ‘Nelson & Colne College Group’ has created an ‘umbrella’ brand for its family of organisations, along with a number of sub-brands for various products and markets.

The Group has a clear purpose - to secure excellent academic and career pathways for all learners, delivering education and training of the highest quality.ARC_banner.png

With the launch of the new branding the Group was looking to review its family of websites whilst also creating a Group microsite platform for key stakeholders.

We worked with the College to achieve the vision of the group for the overall suite of websites. Their wishlist:

  • Creative and best practice solution 
  • Responsive and flexible service 
  • Excellent value for money 
  • Development and evaluation
  • Pro-active future service for on going maintenance

Our approach

We carried out a User Experience (UX) workshop to gather a general impression of how users interacted with the current Nelson and Colne College website, with an emphasis on identifying barriers or sticking points when trying to find certain information or completing tasks. This was to ensure the website updates met agreed key objectives for the Group as a whole. 

The outcome of the workshop informed further developments of the website, including features and content which led to creating an effective and smooth user journey for the key users. ncc_updated_devices.png

A creative implementation of the new group branding for each college was the next stage to really highlight the products and services for each user group across both campuses and an advanced course search functionality tailored to each user group.

The result

Following the successful design, development and launch of the Nelson & Colne College website we were able to then duplicate the website architecture for Accrington & Rossendale College and populate with feature rich content.

We will now be working with the Group to enhance the UX of the college websites through the integration of our bespoke module ‘Course Manager’, the ultimate college course management solution, allowing for custom display of course information, campus location, duration and fees and much more.

Thanks to Course Manager - our beautifully integrated module for busy Marketing, Admission and IT departments - the Nelson & Colne College Group will be saying goodbye to admin intense processes which are open to human error and rely heavily on people’s effective time management. Saving them both time and money. 

If you'd like to find out more about college website design contact us today and let's make progress.