Established in 2014, NI Science Festival has become the largest celebration of its kind in Ireland, and is one of the leading science festivals in Europe. 

We got the chance to collaborate with NI Science Festival on the design and development of a brand new website – one which not only solved a lot of internal headaches, but catapults the organisation into a new era.

NI Science Festival is an incredible local organisation. They hold over 300 events every year, catering for all ages, all people, and all across Northern Ireland. Their website was a pain point for them – it was tough to manage, style-driven, and needed some TLC.

At first glance, NI Science Festival were punching above its weight – the team of 9 was delivering an annual program that stood above most of its competitors in Europe. We wanted to make sure we delivered a website that didn’t just solve their problems, but further established them as a leader and pioneer in their sector. This had to be a website which not only solved simple data management and user experience problems, but drove brand awareness and pride across NI.

We held workshops with the internal team and stakeholders on their current site; what worked, what was challenging, and what they’d love their dream outcomes to be. 

That drove the discovery phase of the project – not just fixing the issues as they existed now, but planning for the next five to ten years, where they could go, and how we can future-proof what we were going to design and build.

Taking a heavily collaborative approach, we consistently designed and workshopped our ideas with the team – they were as much a part of the studio as we were for this project. 

We brought new ideas into the project: “what if people could favourite events and make their own list?”, “could the homepage change when the festival is on, and have a year-round option when it’s off-season?”, “does a modular setup work with the different parts of each section?”.

Working with the internal team was a dream. They were engaged, driven, and fully trusted us to deliver something new and exciting. The dialogue led us down a path that made every small idea turn into something much bigger, and the end result is a website which doesn’t just solve those original problems, but dreams of a bigger tomorrow for NI Science Festival.