The Brief

To create a website for leading UK entertainment magazine that doesn't poach stories from the printed version.

Our Solution

Splendid had been working with Emap on a number of digital projects so were the first people that the heat team turned to when it came to designing and developing there new website. Heat had never been online before so it was crucial we get it right. Oh and we only had 11 weeks to design, build and launch the site in time for Big Brother 8. So no pressure then!
So with a tight deadline it was crucial that what we designed, we designed right. So we used a rapid prototyping process to define the Heatworld concept with the editorial team before we went into production. The concept of the site is based around the blog format and majors heavily on video supported by tagged content to connect celebrities and stories. We also approached the design (both interaction and visual) in a modular way so that we could affect any changes post launch with a minimum of fuss.

We followed our proven user centred design and development process over 11 weeks and included the following activities.

• Research and heuristic reviews of competitor sites as well as interviews and stakeholders such as the commercial and editorial team at Heat
• Rapid interaction design and prototyping of the concept and interface
• Visual design with a focus on creating a flexible interface that could grow with the site
• Technical development of the site on the Microsoft .Net 2.0 platform using SQL 2005 with a full modular content management system
• Full UAT and load testing from the hosting partner with very positive results

Heatworld.com launched on May 22, 2007, all on time and in time for Big Brother and the inevitable flood of stories. Since then we have undertaken numerous upgrades to the site including adding Heat Radio, A news archive and a full visual design refresh based on user testing post launch. The launch was a great success with 500,000 unique users per month within a few weeks and all advert inventory being sold out in advance.

We chose Splendid because they completely understood our ambitions to create a groundbreaking online presence in keeping with heat's iconic cultural status. Splendid's process from initial concept to wire-framing to design was intensive and carefully managed, whilst allowing some fluidity for creative changes. We hit a very ambitious launch date so all credit to them. They're nice guys as well.

Rebekah Billingsley Digital Business Director, Emap

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