About us
The Finnish branding site Virtual Finland had been serving its audience since 2009. Even though it reached millions of readers, shifts in technology and global change necessitated renewal. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was in search of a partner that could grasp the Finnish national brand and present it in a modern, appealing manner.
The assignment included a complete redesign of the site's user experience. Special emphasis was given to the mobile user experience and on the other hand, taking into account varying quality of source materials, especially images. Not all existing content could be replaced; over 1,000 current content pages had to be integrated into the new site.
The fundamental idea was to establish an online presence for Finland that would stand proud beside any other country – the goal was simply to create the world's best country website.
The pillars of the implementation were visual appeal, Finnish identity, navigability, and device independence. The design of the new site focused particularly on the mobile user experience and the website's visual appearance. The ambition for the new site, called ThisisFINLAND, was not only to highlight Finland's beauties but to showcase Finland and Finnishness in its entirety, including its rough and humorous sides. The site was envisioned as a unique country branding media with its social media channels.
After numerous design rounds, the implementation leaned towards a straightforward navigation and, on the other hand, gave users the opportunity to navigate based on topics using tags. In the design, an emphasis was placed on striking images and tag use, with varying graphical highlights. The topic-based navigation means the site appears unique for each of the world's three billion internet users.
The website tells of Finland, its characteristics, Finnish phenomena, and people with a journalistic touch. Finland's image entails international dialogue and collective solution-seeking. Finnish people, companies, and organizations are keen to share about Finland, both when asked and unsolicited, always with the typical Finnish open-mindedness: Things you should and shouldn’t know. It isn't a traditionally polished glossy website; it offers a lively, gritty, and humorously presented collection of information about Finland.
Avidly was responsible for the site's design, UX and user interface. Special attention was paid to the site's visual appeal, ease of navigation, and content browsing through tags. The site was realized in seven languages and also includes real-time content.
After the new finland.fi was launched to the public, the website broke all its previous visitor records. Every month, the site has been visited by at least 168,000 unique visitors. Social media share buttons have boosted the site's visibility and interactivity.