Working with FF Studio is always a delight and when they asked me to join a project at the V&A, there could be no answer but 100% yes.
We joined to help the V&A redevelop their intranet for its new era. Previously focusing on V&A Kensington with content mostly organised by team structure, the old intranet was no longer working for a growing organisation with multiple locations and more opening soon.
Microsoft was already widely used across the organisation and after some technical investigations, we decided that Sharepoint would be the best platform.
The first task was, as always, research. We ran card sorting sessions with a lot of the most-visited content plus a sprinkle of obscure tasks to help us develop a new content structure for the site.
Then there was a lot of template work. When I come to a new platform, I usually make a draft page and put every single available component on it. I'm looking to see how each component works and what it looks like, and how they fit together.
We were also implementing the new V&A Employee Brand. It hadn't really been used on web yet, so there were things to work out, but it was great to work with a lovely brand. I always want to make beautiful things.
A few rounds of research, iteration and Sharepoint wrangling later, we had a pretty good structure and suite of templates to accommodate service content, news, blog posts, events, directories and more.
All the while, the incredible Jo and some equally excellent in-house content designers were busy re-writing all the content. More like half writing and half service design; content designers are the best.
We left the project before it went live, which is always a bit of a nail-biter. But we did get some nice feedback about it
No challenges to the IA at all so far - super impressive from Sonia
All in all, a nice bit of service design and reform expressed as a Sharepoint site
All in all, it was a great project. The vibes were top tier. Lizzie and the V&A team were wonderful and FF Studio is always the best. Both have high standards and lots of ideas, and it really pushes you to do your best. Good work with good people, the best.