Careers education platform and resource hub for North East Ambition
- Structured resource library tailored to multiple education audiences
- Self-service tools supporting careers guidance and decision-making
- Secure audit functionality aligned to government benchmarks
The Ambition
North East Ambition required a dedicated digital platform to support its role in improving careers education across the region. Operating as part of the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority’s wider digital estate, the platform needed to act as both a resource hub and a practical toolset for those delivering careers guidance.
The audience was inherently complex so the site needed to support careers leaders in schools, further education providers, employers contributing to skills development, and, in some cases, learners themselves. Each group required access to different types of information, often within the same session, and with varying levels of context and expertise.
The brief was to design and build a platform from the ground up that could accommodate this breadth. It needed to provide structured access to resources, surface labour market insight in a usable way, and support more hands-on interactions between educators and learners. At the same time, it had to reflect North East Ambition’s evolving identity within the Mayoral Strategic Authority, establishing a distinct visual language while remaining consistent with the wider brand.
Crucially, the platform also needed to function as a long-term, actively managed resource. That meant designing for scale, ensuring that content could grow over time without compromising clarity or usability.
What we did
Designing a platform around multiple user pathways
The core challenge was structuring a site that could serve very different user needs without fragmenting the experience.
We approached this through a combination of content architecture and self-service filtering. The resource library was designed to allow users to refine content based on audience type, career stage and thematic focus, enabling careers professionals to quickly identify materials relevant to their specific context.
This reduced reliance on linear navigation and instead allowed the platform to behave more like a toolset. Users are not guided through a single journey, but are able to construct their own path through the content based on immediate need.
Building a scalable resource library
At the heart of the platform is an extensible resource library, designed to accommodate a wide range of materials, from lesson content and guidance frameworks to labour market insight.
Given the volume and variability of content, the structure needed to remain robust under ongoing updates. We implemented a flexible taxonomy and filtering system that allows new resources to be added without disrupting existing organisation, ensuring the site remains usable as it grows.
This was supported by clear content patterns and governance guidance, enabling the North East Ambition team to manage updates independently while maintaining consistency across the platform.
Developing practical tools for careers delivery
Beyond static resources, the platform includes a number of tools designed to support real-world careers guidance activity.
The Provider Portal allows educators to work directly with learners to explore education and training pathways. By filtering options based on interests, location and preferred routes, such as apprenticeships or vocational courses, it provides a structured way to translate abstract career discussions into tangible next steps.
In parallel, interactive elements such as the Buzz Quiz introduce a more exploratory layer to the experience, helping to engage younger audiences in a format that aligns more closely with familiar digital behaviours.
Together, these tools extend the platform beyond information provision, enabling it to support active guidance and decision-making.
Delivering secure audit and reporting functionality
One of the more technically complex components is the Audit Tool, a secure, login-protected feature used by schools to assess their performance against national careers education benchmarks.
The tool allows users to input evidence, track progress and generate structured outputs in the form of downloadable reports. These outputs can then be used for internal evaluation or external inspection, including Ofsted processes.
From a development perspective, this required a balance between usability and data structure. The interface needed to be straightforward for non-technical users, while the underlying system had to support consistent data capture and reliable report generation.
Establishing a distinct but aligned visual identity
Alongside the functional build, we worked closely with the North East Ambition team to develop a visual identity that could sit within the Mayoral Strategic Authority brand while maintaining its own character.
This resulted in a flexible graphic system built around modular iconography and layered visual elements, allowing different sections of the site to signal their purpose without introducing complexity. The approach supports a wide range of content types and audiences, while maintaining a consistent overall aesthetic.
The visual language plays a practical role as well as a branding one, helping users quickly orient themselves within a content-rich environment.
Results
View live site
The North East Ambition platform provides a structured, scalable digital environment for careers education across the region.
By combining a flexible resource library with practical tools and secure functionality, it supports both the strategic and operational aspects of careers delivery. Educators can access and apply resources more efficiently, schools can evidence their performance more effectively, and the wider ecosystem of employers and providers can engage more directly with the process.
The platform continues to evolve as part of an ongoing programme of work, with its architecture designed to accommodate new content, tools and priorities over time.
Related Projects
Start a Project
Would you like to do a project like this with us?
Results
Sort by:
Type:
From {{ group.title }}
Sorry, there are no results to show
