For The Aarhus School Of Architecture, Ziik Helps Make Sense Of New Surroundings

About the company

The Aarhus School of Architecture is one of Denmark’s two schools of architecture. It has a student population of approximately 700 and a staff of around 130. Until recently, the school’s activities were spread around 9-12 different addresses and locations in Aarhus. But at the start of the fall semester of 2021, the school finally moved all students and staff into their brand-new building in the heart of Aarhus.

Challenges before Ziik

“We didn’t have an Intranet before, and we needed a way to make documents, general information, and communication from the school’s management more visible and more easily accessible. We also wanted to start a dialogue between students, staff, and management, and to encourage knowledge-sharing. We tried using the school’s LMS (learning management system), but it was too rigidly divided into silos – years, classes, staff, and so on – and communicating across silos wasn’t possible. That’s why we started looking for an Intranet, or a new platform for internal communication,” explains Communication Consultant Signe Janderup.

Requirements for a new solution

“It was important that our new platform was app-based and mobile, as mobile is really where all the students are. And because we are a very visually oriented institution, it was important that it was aesthetically pleasing and simple.”

Results

Visually pleasing

“The user interface and graphic identity are kept really simple, with icons that are easy to interpret. It is sufficiently toned down so that no one can have any issues with it. They’ve done away with all unnecessary noise and clutter. In fact, it’s a graphic line that’s slightly reminiscent of the school’s. Being a school of architecture, we are very visually oriented, and we’ve had problems in the past where people would refuse to use an IT platform because it was too ugly. User-friendliness has to be top-notch, and things have to look nice.”

Groups and guides

“We only began using Ziik recently, so there’s a lot we still haven’t decided on or tried out. But one thing that is extremely useful for us while we’re moving into a new-built, brand new school is setting up groups with information about the process. You know, ‘The internet isn’t working, but it’s being looked into’ - those kinds of things. We do all of that on Ziik.”

Stability

“We already rely on Ziik a lot to get important information to students and staff, so it’s really good that it’s a stable platform.”

New school handbook

“We used to go to work and study at 9 or 12 different addresses in town. Now we’ve all moved in together, everyone needs help finding their way around and using the new school. So we’ve created a handbook for that, with everything you need to know. Like, where do you find spare light-bulbs, how do you get access, and so on. It also has a map of the school.”