From brand to ecosystem for the Politecnico di Milano

The strategy adopted for the project saw a close collaboration between designers, developers and stakeholders to ensure consistency between the designed experience and the developed experience. Detailed roadmaps were created, and quality assurance sessions and regular meetings were held to ensure that the user experience was maintained undistorted throughout the development process, from concept to code.

A “design-to-code” approach that together with Vidiemme has made it possible to design and develop templates directly in TYPO3, facilitating rapid prototyping, the implementation of new design solutions, ensuring compatibility with current and future technology standards.

The new visual identity of the Politecnico di Milano was conceived to be generative and flexible, able to adapt to various contexts and touchpoints. The main objective was to create a visual system that can maintain an aesthetic and communicative coherence on all platforms, enhancing the different souls of the university, without ever being excessively self-similar.

The visual identity is centred around the concept “Technology for humanity”, which combines technological progress with a focus on the human aspect. The circle, a core element of Politecnico's logo, symbolizes connection and inclusion, while the grid serves as a visual metaphor for order and a scientific approach; together, they form the unifying elements of the university's entire visual identity.

The use of a distinctive colour palette and contemporary typefaces further strengthens the visual identity, creating a unified image that expresses the core values of the university.

Inclusive design is a key element of the project. From research to design, we focused on the perceptions, behaviours, needs and expectations of different categories of users.

The focus groups involved 24 participants in three phases. The first session included 8 students, such as prospective students, international mobility students, and postgraduate students. The second session involved 8 staff members, including PhD students, researchers, professors, and administrative technical staff. Finally, the third session brought together 8 external participants, including controlled entities, affiliated companies, consortia, alumni, partner companies, and the press.

Every digital touchpoint is designed to be accessible and to ensure that the needs of each group are considered and integrated into the final design and then validated in two usability test sessions.

It was essential to adopt a visual and communicative language that is representative of diversity, therefore we identified guidelines and created a Brandbook to promote an authentic and respectful representation of all identities.

The images used were carefully selected to avoid perpetuating stereotypes and to realistically represent the diversity of the Politecnico community.

The Tone of Voice (TOV) is designed to speak effectively to a diverse population while maintaining an institutional and representative level.

To ensure that communication is inclusive not only in visual content but also in the messages conveyed, language rules were established in the Brandbook to avoid sexism, discrimination on the basis of identity and gender, discrimination on the basis of culture and religion, ableism, ageism, and discrimination on the basis of ethnicity and socio-economic status.

The Politecnico di Milano website is the main touchpoint for students, teachers, researchers and external partners. Thanks to optimised navigation and content personalisation, the website is now the reference point for the entire digital ecosystem of the university to access information and learn about all available services.

One of the key innovations of the new website is the implementation of an architecture designed to manage the extreme complexity of Schools, departments, events and initiatives.

A label system now allows for precise and detailed content classification, making it easier for users to find exactly what they are looking for, whether it relates to academic events, seminars, workshops or other Politecnico initiatives.

A design library was developed to provide clear guidelines, examples of practical applications, colour-coding, templates and reusable components to facilitate the work of designers and developers.

In addition, the library is designed to be easily upgradeable so that the best design practices and new guidelines can be integrated without undue effort, facilitating collaboration between different teams and ensuring that everyone adheres to the same quality standards.

The design took into consideration assistive technologies and accessibility standards to ensure that every user, no matter their ability, can navigate and interact with the website without barriers.

The communication strategy of the Politecnico di Milano has been renewed in collaboration with Open Knowledge to ensure a strong and consistent presence on social media platforms, involve students and promote the activities and values of the university.

The strategy includes specific actions of lead generation and the adoption of a dedicated communication style to reach the desired targets. Social media analysis also helped to identify the most effective channels and develop targeted content for each platform, integrating advanced analysis tools to monitor the effectiveness of communication campaigns and make continuous improvements based on the collected data.