Recent Projects
Client
La Trobe University
Overview
August were engaged by La Trobe University to create a mobile platform to help prospective students stay on top of all events and information session times at the 2011 Open Day.
It was to be easily accessible on a variety of mobile devices (iPhone, Android, Blackberry etc), and be something the university could direct mobile users to from their regular Open Day website. It also needed to drive traffic via the extension of two mini native apps developed especially for iPhone and Android in order to source traffic from users searching in places such as iTunes for information on La Trobe.
It was important the platform provide a system to track user feedback both online and offline if the prospective students’ mobile device was out of mobile range (highlighted as a potential risk given the layout of the La Trobe University Melbourne (Bundoora) campus.
We were thrilled this project won the Education category in the 2011 Australian Mobile Awards.
Bringing it together
Working with La Trobe University’s Internal Teams (Marketing & ICT)
- It was important La Trobe’s existing Online Events Information System could fully integrate with the mobile site we developed, to help avoid re-inventing the wheel and unnecessary additional costs. This was also important to avoid double-entry of events and information session information by administration and web staff.
- Working closely with the La Trobe ICT team we successfully created the relevant API extension to allow this data to freely pass back and forth between our mobile site and their Events system, avoiding the need for any re-entering of data.
- August built a mobile site in order to be accessible across multiple mobile platforms. This provided maximum coverage for minimum spend and yet incorporated an innovative use of newer technology such as HTML5, local storage and offline cache in partnership with jQuery Mobile technology.
- Offline cache allowed the web app to still be accessible on mobile devices where coverage may drop out. This, alongside local storage of API search results meant the site would always be accessible to users who had viewed the site at least once.
- Mini native apps were also built for Android, iPhone and iPad featuring an interactive map and easy to access links to the Sessions Information mobile site.
- Tracking was installed on the mobile platform to enable easy assessment of the usage of the site across different devices, and to determine the most popular sessions and faculty activities.
Design
- The design was clear and simple, developed especially for users in a hurry when moving around the campus on Open Day.
- The refined “Faculty” search ensured the drop down filter was clearly definable, and the keyword driven search functionality was easy to interact with and clearly displayed relevant search results.
- A flexible layout was designed to work seamlessly from mobile to tablet devices, which responded well to various screen sizes and resolutions.
- A feedback mechanism with a familiar star rating device – enabled users to simply drag their finger over the appropriate star rating, as well as a free text comments area to allow further expansion.
- All branding elements marry back into the overall 2011 Open Day theme, which was bright and engaging.
Promotion
The mobile platform was promoted via social media integration with La Trobe’s existing social networks.
Over 14,000 Facebook Fans and 3,000 Twitter followers were sent links to the Open Day mobile site prior to the day as part of supported planning and promotional activities conducted by La Trobe.
The 2011 Open Day Event Information Mobile Site was also featured on their high traffic Open Day website, created by La Trobe to promote the various Open Days at their various campuses.
