Energy Centre Design

BACKGROUND: As registered designer for the University of Sheffield, opportunities arise to work on linked projects supported by the UK Government’s Department for Business. This web project was for a 21 million pound Translation Energy Research Centre, part of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District. The new centre – currently funded by the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), provides regional SMEs and global companies access to advanced low-carbon energy testing facilities.

BRIEF: I was approached by the marketing team from the Translational Energy Centre to design and develop a new website for them. The design had to adhere to strict brand guidelines and provide full editing access/control to non-trained staff members.

Rather than jumping straight in and producing full page visuals, I begin with a smaller section, usually the homepage introduction. This provides a feel for the style that could be used across the site. This stage of the process is unlimited and I’m happy to produce as many concepts as are necessary until you’re happy with the design direction. Taking smaller steps and getting your feedback from an early stage is crucial to making sure you get a website that fully meets your expectations.

The next phase of designing the site is turning the initial concept into a full page visual. A full design service includes analysis of a previous website, crucial to determining the placement and order of content and buttons on the page. The homepage is developed in stages giving you a chance to add your feedback. Each of the stages below shows how the design is modified and progressed to the final product.

The images below show the final live site on two device widths. The website is built responsively, i.e. it moves and adapts depending on the width of the device/screen viewing the site. The coding for this project and my others is always completely bespoke conforming to the latest 2021/2022 guidelines. No wasted code from pre-built themes or templates is loaded, causing site bloating and hindering search rankings.

Once a site is developed it will be tested and optimised to ensure it loads quickly and can be indexed by search engines. Websites can be analysed and scored by third party providers. The score helps indicate the quality of the build and if its ranking position will be penalised.

GOOGLE PAGE INSIGHT: 88/100
GT METRIX: 93/100