Our first step was to understand how the information was currently being found. Analytics from Natspec’s website were a very useful tool to find out how families were searching for particular SEN colleges. We used this vital information as the basis of our plan for the new directory.

So what changes did we make? 
Most often, people searched by region, or by name. This led to us bring in tabbed regional sections to the pages, identified by colour throughout the directory. Every college is then listed alphabetically by name within its region and has its own page of information.

We also identified some information common to all the colleges; Type of provision, number of students, age range, course dates and course length. A suite of icons was created to represent this information visually.

Finally we looked at the size of the directory. We felt it would benefit from feeling more like a handbook and also be more portable and easier to carry. Reducing the size from A4 to A5 was a fairly simple, but effective change.

The new-look directory has had very positive feedback and we are very pleased with the final result too.

“They look fantastic! I can see that a huge amount of work has gone into making them. They are bright, engaging, easy to navigate and beautifully concise.”
Natspec Member College