“I would highly recommend Binary Vision as a technical, creative and innovative agency. They are amazing to work with.”
Sq. Ldr. Tim Barlow MBE, RAF
Royal Air Force
Binary Vision conceived and then delivered a new digital vision for the Royal Air Force, focusing on real RAF people and their stories, to project the service’s unique character and importance – to audiences new and old.
The challenge
The challenge was immense with a bloated web estate (10,000 pages, 100+ websites) running on old technology. There was a lack of digital strategy, governance or any real focus on users.
What we did (some highlights)
Binary Vision assembled and then led a world-class digital partnership of three top UK agencies (with Lagom Strategy for UX, Helpful Digital for engagement). And with a new RAF digital team at the helm, we:
- Designed and created a modern, user-focused RAF website which the service can be proud of, and is.
- Articulated, for the very first time, why we need the RAF – distilling this into six digital themes.
- Created a series of high-fidelity feature stories, breathing life into these digital themes (e.g. this Irma relief feature as an exemplar of Delivering Aid).
- Created a strategy for championing and supporting social media ‘storytellers’ from across the RAF. And by putting real RAF people (in all their diversity) at the heart of what we do, we gave the service’s digital communications an authentic and relatable voice.
- Captured new audiences, for instance with a section dedicated to ‘STEM’ learning for young adults
- Conceived and delivered bold and innovative web features, in response to research-led user need, such as 3D aircraft recognition, and interactive Red Arrows manoeuvres.
All of this was possible because we also:
- Engaged with stakeholders across the organisation to make the transition to a new unified website painless and seamless
- Created sub-sites for dozens of RAF organisations with a distributed publishing model (for instance stations can edit and update their own sub-sites).
- Built a comprehensive content model to ensure elements (e.g. stations, squadrons, aircraft…) automatically cross-link as appropriate
- Delivered the website on a robust, secure platform with an easy-to-use (free and open source) content management system.
- Trained dozens of RAF staff in using the CMS.
- Turned off over 100 legacy sites.
How it turned out: quick starts
How it turned out: quick stats
- Latest website survey: 80% satisfied or very satisfied, 89% found what they wanted
- 10,000 pages consolidated into a unified new website of under 1,000 pages
- Mobile usage up from 13.5% to 44%
- Cross-channel digital campaigns eg. launch of 3D aircraft recognition saw traffic up 400+%
One team
This is a great example of the oft-quoted ideal of ‘One team’ Agile delivery:
- Worked in user-led Agile (Kanban) sprints, ‘in the open’ so our client could help shape progress; RAF Air Media and Comms (with their users, stakeholders) are a crucial part of the delivery team
- We introduced agile to the RAF, and vice versa, with knowledge exchanged in all directions
- Passed all three (Alpha, Beta and Go live) GDS assessments, run by MOD first time, avoiding delay / extra cost
“The RAF website is our front page on the internet, and more than ever we needed to stand out. So, we had to ensure when relaunching the site we had a digital agency we could rely on. Binary vision went above and beyond when it came to this task and exceeded expectations.When working in digital you need the expertise at hand to achieve such a momentous task. Along with technical experts we needed to ensure our website was innovative, creative and original. Binary Vision’s team is an accumulation of high-class professionals you can trust, the diverse skillset they have to hand is incredible and reliable.
A few examples of their inventive thinking have resulted in some pioneering aspects to our organisation’s website; such as 3D Models of our Aircraft – which includes animation, dynamic elements and content tailored for our targeted users. We wanted to prioritise the user experience and user interface to tell the story of what the RAF does, ensuring the user can find what they need easily. Binary Vision understands this and is passionate about creating these experiences for our users.
They were very supportive with what we needed and were able to assist us in differentiating between what we want and what we need to succeed. The user research conducted is very important and every time since the initial phase we have learned something new, giving us ideas to develop the site further.
I would highly recommend Binary Vision as a technical, creative and innovative agency who are extremely supportive and understanding. They are amazing to work with and are exceptional when it comes to maintaining relationships and developing new ideas.”