Slord
Kategoria
Presentation website
Klient
SLORD
Realizácia
1 month
For SLORD, the Contact Office of the Slovak Republic for Research and Development in Brussels, we designed and developed a web portal that provides Slovak researchers and institutions with access to information on funding, support, internships, and residencies at the European level. The portal is operated by the Centre of Scientific and Technical Information of the Slovak Republic, and the project is co-financed by the European Union under the Slovakia Program. We addressed the complete design, development, integrations with external services, and multilingual support for the project.
(VÍZIA)
The goal was to create a modern and user-friendly portal that simplifies navigation for Slovak researchers regarding European funding and support opportunities. The website needed to replace an outdated page while offering a professional information tool that reflects the importance of the institution representing Slovakia on the European research stage. The portal also had to be easily manageable by the editorial team and visually consistent with other websites in the client’s portfolio.
(PROBLÉM)
Institutional websites often suffer from convoluted structures, outdated designs, and content that requires multiple clicks for users to access. For SLORD, this problem was amplified by the fact that the portal aggregates information from multiple sources and needs to present it uniformly. Administrators needed a system where content is updated both partially automatically and partially manually, without one method interfering with the other. We designed an administration environment that meets both these needs.
(NÁŠ POSTUP)
We received basic requirements from the client regarding the content and purpose of the site, wireframes, and access to the original website. Based on these materials, we developed several design proposals, which we discussed and iterated together. After the final direction was approved, we moved on to development. In addition to the website itself, we implemented automatic content retrieval from partner portals, integration with a newsletter, and multilingual support. Visually, we unified the website with the other portals within the client’s ecosystem to ensure a consistent appearance across the entire network of sites.
(POTREBY UŽÍVATEĽA)
A Slovak researcher needs to know which grant calls are currently open and how to apply. A PhD student is searching for information about internships and residencies in Brussels. An institution wants an overview of European programs relevant to its field. For each of these groups, the portal offers a direct path to answers, supported by automatically updated content from partner portals, a newsletter with news, and a clear event calendar.
(VÝZVY)
The biggest challenge was unifying the design with the other portals in the client’s ecosystem while also creating a unique visual identity for SLORD. The portal needed to look like part of a larger network of sites but still maintain its own character. Technically, custom integrations were challenging, especially the automatic fetching of content from external portals that provide data in various formats and with differing update frequencies.
(USER CENTRIC)
The portal is designed for researchers and professionals who do not have time to browse through dozens of European sites. They need one place where they can find all the essential information. Therefore, the navigation is structured according to what the user is searching for: funding, internships, events, or news. Each section is directly accessible from the homepage, and the content is displayed clearly on any device. Multilingual support ensures that the portal is equally functional for both Slovak and foreign users.
