A grand day out; launching Aardman.com
true are thrilled to announce the launch of the new website for Aardman
In June 2021, true were appointed as the chosen digital partner to world-renowned animation studio Aardman based on our impressive user research and UX considerations, along with our creative and technical skills.
Our team are lifelong fans of the Aardman catalogue, with films and animated shorts including Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run. Following their new brand launch, Aardman needed a new B2B website that would speak to a broad range of industries, catering to very different user needs.
Working with Aardman was a dream come true for our team, so we knew this website would be something special to help deliver on all of their challenges.
As a B2B website, it was imperative that the new site acted as a lead generation tool, showcased Aardman’s impressive work and encouraged a range of audiences to get in contact about the various offerings including distribution, live events and character licensing.
There were two key elements in approaching the structure of the new website we had to consider; putting the real people who work for Aardman front and centre, whilst also incorporating the 'wonk' of the Aardman brand that they are known for. The wonk refers to Aardman’s signature ‘out-of-the-box’ style which is still rooted in meaning.
As an employee-owned business, it was important that we consider the requirements of all their stakeholders. We worked with several departments in the form of a steering group to ensure that we delivered a new website that would work for everybody.
This project included a wide range of the services we offer at true including user research, strategy & planning, UX and website design, front end development, Umbraco headless development, testing / QA, SEO and content planning.
The creative concepts we presented early on to Aardman hit the brief and only minor tweaks and improvements were made throughout the design phase. The previous iteration of the Aardman website lacked the navigational structure to make it easy for their various audiences to find what they needed so that was a huge focus for us in terms of UX and design.
The new experience design, user interactions, site journey and animations are now alive and full of their beloved characters. The front-end element of the project has drastically improved the user experience with the site and made it much easier for users to find the right person to contact about your chosen enquiry.
The website is built with Umbraco in a headless manner, meaning that components and ‘widgets’ can be reused across not just this site, but a whole range of other websites as well, managed from 1 centralised content management system. Now we have laid strong foundations, we are in the process of working closely with Aardman to ensure that the disparate websites in their estate can be consolidated into one digital ecosystem which will save them time, administration effort and money.
“It’s the dream brief right? Reflect what Aardman do through a digital experience; Playfulness, excellence in craft, bucket loads of joy and a great big dollop of individuality and wonk. Given the influence Aardman has had on all our lives, the true team wanted to pour our hearts into creating a rich experience but without compromising performance. A platform that genuinely isn’t just a website but a celebration of everything Aardman do”
Nick Horne, Creative Director true
Aardman x true IG Live
