Our work with the University of Portsmouth
Our team have worked in partnership with The University of Portsmouth (UoP) since early 2022. We have worked on a number of projects alongside the UoP team in order to develop their website and support the University’s brand.
Our partnership with UoP has involved multiple streams of work across their digital estate. Prior to the microsite project, we worked with UoP on a like-for-like site rebuild into Drupal, offering improved editor experience. Our team have also worked closely with the University on the redesign of the postgraduate application pathway.
The London microsite project specifically focuses on the University of Portsmouth’s new London campus. UoP London offers career centred courses, focussing on real world learning and industry connections, which delivers top opportunities for both students and the community.
We are proud to announce that the University of Portsmouth London microsite was successfully launched on the 17th of April thanks to the collaborative effort between the teams at UoP and Zoocha.
What is the purpose of the Microsite?
With the London campus being UoP's newest addition, a specific site for the university had not yet been built, and was therefore lacking the public profile and online presence that it required to thrive. We therefore collaborated with the UoP to focus directly on this offering.
Zoocha’s contribution
In order to operate effectively alongside the main UoP site while giving the new campus a distinct space, Zoocha developed a sub-menu in the microsite that would take the user to the core UoP site (as well as the myPort student portal). The configuration of this menu ensures that, no matter what changes are made to these platforms, the toolbar will deliver the user to the correct core UoP platform. This remains consistent with the custom course search functionality, directing the user back to the core UoP site when a course is selected on the microsite, and offering a more coherent user experience.
Our Zoocha team set up a Drupal Thunder Distribution for the microsite. This distribution comes with specific pre-selected modules and configuration (such as ready-made paragraphs), and a custom admin theme. The Thunder system allows for an environment that makes it easy to install, deploy and add new functionality, making it the perfect choice for this project.
When it came to the overall design of the site, we were keen to keep in line with the main University of Portsmouth site, and therefore maintained consistent styling and branding. We included a grid component, using a custom blend of the layout paragraphs and layout builder modules, which allowed a clear interface for the installation of multiple cards, in multiple layouts, as well as text and images. A mobile friendly responsive layout and design was implemented throughout, due to the large number of UoP users coming from mobile devices.
What do we have in store for the future with the University of Portsmouth?
Since the successful launch of the London microsite, the reins have been handed over to Northchild, an international education group, who are the university's professional services delivery partner for the London campus. They will be ensuring the smooth maintenance of the microsite henceforward.
Zoocha will be moving on to work with UoP on their wider microsites project, which will allow a systematic step forward in creating future microsites. We will once again be using the Drupal Thunder distribution in order to drive efficiency in development. This will act as a template for UoP so that they will be able to rapidly create future microsites, saving both time and costs. We look forward to seeing how the microsites projects will aid the University of Portsmouth in growing their brand and reaching their goals.