On June 8th, amongst the hubbub of the election drama, the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) held its annual Shareholder Communication Awards. Among those nominated was our client, HICL Infrastructure, who won Best Website (Individual Investment Company)!
The Shareholder Communication Awards are held to acknowledge investment companies who go above and beyond expectation when it comes to communication and aims to recognise those that stand out by using effective communication methods to keep shareholders informed. Dusted rebranded HICL and rebuilt their website with the specific goal of making communication easier and clearer. According to the AIC website, ‘The panel were impressed by the level of detail the [HICL] website provided and commended its intuitive web design [that] drew the visitor in. They felt the winning entry was modern, user-friendly, and offered lots of choice to the visitor’.
Dusted’s first interaction with HICL actually began with InfraRed. After successfully rebranding InfraRed and rebuilding their website, we spoke with HICL – to whom InfraRed is the investment advisor – about a similar request. Both brands needed to be designed so it was evident that they were part of the same ‘family’, but clearly individual businesses. The primary brief for the HICL website was to create a benefit-driven website that engaged investors and stakeholders through clear communication. The homepage, in particular, needed to deliver a large amount of content – such as data, news feeds, and publications – while still being easy to navigate and efficiently optimised.
Our web design team set objectives to create a visual identity refresh that delivered the investor benefits and information with clarity, and to boost the presence of asset-based information and investment performance. Coherence and clarity were at the front of our designers’ minds, and these were the foundation on which we built upon, designing a website that is agile and easy to update for the client. The layout of the homepage means it’s easy to absorb information on different subjects, while still being engaging and simple to navigate.
The part of the site we’re particularly proud of is the hero and case study photography, where we arranged photo shoots up and down the UK and The Netherlands for around 25 assets, including roads, railways, hospitals, and prisons.
All of us at Dusted offer our strongest congratulations to HICL for their achievement!
