The Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh

Summary

The Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh (RCSED) and dotcraft formed a partnership in the summer of 2024 and RCSED look to bring their website up-to-date and become a more engaging experience for users. RCSED holds content in multiple places and part of the discovery process was understanding how we could bring content into the site and make it accessible for his users.

As an experienced development house and Umbraco partner dotcraft provided an established fit for RCSEd's requirements.

Getting Appointed

As part of the pitch process we soon understood RCSED's requirements and also how they would wish to work throughout the project and collaborate with the dotcraft team. There was a clear need to control the current content on the site, whilst also making information accessible and presentable to visitors of the site. 

With dotcrafts experience of building websites within Umbraco, we were able to Scope out requirements for the new website and make sure that the CMS controls would match the needs of the college users. Making sure the website CMS was current and easily manageable was a key factor in meeting deliverables.

By the end of the process I think we were both excited to get the website project up and running.

Recent Highlights

Part of a brand refresh

Part of our RCSED's journey was to update their branding. This involved a new set of brand guidelines which would be incorporated into the new website and subsequent assets. The Royal College leaned into updating the colour palette, fonts, logos and iconography; which helped to inject a fresh new feel to the website. The design process consisted of complimenting the new branding and how to utilize the styling to match the development look and feel of the site.  

The design and build approach of the new website means the branding can continue to flourish across multiple departments of the college and be updated as and when needed with minimal fuss.

Our Process

From the initial pitch process we like to get an understanding of who are clients are what they do and what's important to them. We also like to get a feel for how we would work together and expectations from the different team members, we were quick to agree on what felt like a good chemistry and understanding of the direction the project needed to go. As we looked to keep things off, we proceeded with the discovery period in which we like to map out the requirements for the website, key dates, key information, and how the project cycle would run. Once we had all the elements of the project and its delivery on the table, we were able to start to piece together our approach and begin the initial steps.

Throughout the project we overlaped the design and development process as we feel this is imperative to make sure everyone is on the same page and understanding what we are trying to achieve with each task. We also incorporated a couple of user testing milestones which allowed us to adapt and pivot where neededinside areas of the website build.

A portion of the project involved a content migration piece which required a detailed understanding of where the information would be sent to and from and how this would be managed what's into the new website. The previous website was using older versions of Umbraco, so part of the steps was to elevate the content to the new platform and allow the user to have more manageable fields in the CMS, providing flexible updates at fingertips.

Collaboration throughout the project between the dotcraft and the RCSED team has been constant and we have worked to our ethos of being an extension to our client's teams. Close collaboration has allowed us to manage expectations, adapt throughout the project, and reduce any risks.

Ahead of launch we carried out a thorough launch plan and accountability of tasks to ensure that there was a smooth go-live day and everyone understood their roles.

Outcomes

• Shiny new website has reduced the noise and confusion for users visiting the website.
• Powerful and easy-to-use CMS for the RCSEd's Marketing teams.
• A host of components at RCSEd's for content to be kept fresh and relevant.
• Increase in accessibility and performance scores of the websites efficiency. 

If you're looking to make some updates to your website, feel it's time to review your digital shop window - consider getting in touch 
info@dotcraft.agency