Choosing the right project to engage in—what to say yes to, what to politely decline—is one of the many skills we develop as we grow and carve our creative path. Knowing what will be the right choice is not always easy. Will you be happy working with this client or that team? Are they the right match - both in terms of the creative vision as well as aligning with your values? Will you be able to express yourself, challenge yourself, thrive and bring value to the table?
These are all important questions to ask before committing yourself to a new project, and the answers are not always clear and simple. But every so often, a project will come and you just know.
The Right Fit
One such occurrence happened to us—the Wix Playground team—as we were approached by London College of Communication, with an invitation to partner with them on the 2023 Talent Works program.
Talent Works is a two-week program, where 2nd year students are working in teams with a local South London community group as their client. Each year they offer a different creative communication project that would benefit the chosen charities and community groups.
For us, all this information was enough to decide it was right. Working with students? Check. Social good cause? Check. Collaborating with a leading design educational team? Check. Utilizing our skills to the maximum? Check. You can say it was a no-brainer.
Obviously, with Wix as partners, the offered design asset for the charities and community groups was of course a shiny, new, beautiful website.
The Challenge of Time
A new website? In two weeks? Yup, timeline was the major issue we had to address when embarking on this project. This meant that meticulous planning had to be in place. We were working months in advance along with the wonderful team over at LCC and the community groups, doing the research, preparing the briefs for each website, making sure we’ll have everything in place as the clock starts ticking on those two weeks and the design process begins.
The project was divided in two: the first week was to be dedicated to research, ideation, sketching and pitching to the clients; while the second week would be all about execution - building the chosen sketch on the Wix editor, going through the QA process, and delivering the final result.
All Systems Go
A bit mad to accomplish in two weeks, right? Luckily for us, the chosen students working in the program proved to be just as dedicated as us. They were assigned in advance with the community groups, and after going through an onboarding day prior to the program, when we all met on the morning of March 20th we were ready to kickstart the action.
Working with representatives from the Wix Design Team - a designer and two visual content experts - the students were supported through every step of the way. They were able to conduct online research, collect inspirations and create a moodboard, and then design up to 3 (!) optional sketches they would pitch to their community group at the end of the week. Each student was able to contribute their own personal talent and skill - some were UX students, building wireframes and suggesting a website structure; others worked on branding and illustrations; and some were in charge of additional assets such as videography and photography.
By Friday, it was amazing to see all the efforts coming together, and each group was ready with their deck, excitedly waiting to showcase their hard work for the clients. Although we knew they did a great job, it was still very emotional to see how well-received their presentations were. We even had some tears in the audience! The community groups were so grateful and overwhelmed, seeing their work manifested into a sketch representing them.
After a well-rested weekend, we reconvened at the studio for the second week, and back again to full-power mode. Now it was all about making those designs become a reality, and building them on the Wix editor, so that as we were preparing for a celebratory showcase with all the clients, they will be able to see a live, working website.
In the 2nd week we were joined by two QA wizards from the Wix Design Team. Once again, the dedicated students proved they are able to get to the finish line, and by that Friday, they were all able to deliver the finished product - a website for their community group. The showcase event made us all proud - it was such a lovely opportunity to take stock of the journey we all went through, facing many challenges together, and coming up on the other end with what we had planned to produce.
Two weeks is not a lot of time to go through this speedy process of designing a website from scratch. But with the right team and spirit, it does prove - talent works!
Here are a few glimpses into the final results of the wonderful websites that were designed during the program:
Panjshir Aid | Supporting Afghan refugees in London
Faiths Women Community UK | Empowering women and representing their voices
Voices for Autism | A support network for parents and carers of young people with Autism
Camberwell Choir School | An inclusive choir school for children
