Sector(s)
YMCA of the North had been searching for a solution to create a more sophisticated visitor journey across their premises. The challenge was that their buildings were considerable in size and appeared to be a maze for the first-time visitor. Five Jars was asked to digitalize the offline experience and introduce an innovative approach of displaying dynamic information to the visitor.
About the project
New territories ahead
YMCA of the North desired to install a digital signage solution to indicate at each room what event is taking place as well as information screens across the buildings to give an easy-to-use and intuitive overview of the entire premise, rooms, and events. Digital signage has just recently emerged, and the application was limited to organisations willing and able to pay the high recurring fees for the necessary software solutions. Understanding the challenge ahead, Five Jars started to review the current hardware and software solutions as well as to decide on how to build our own digital signage software based on Open Y. It’s the first time for the YMCA and Five Jars to embark on a digital signage journey – and the first time such a project was based on Open Y.
Innovation as differentiation
One may wonder why YMCA of the North sought a digital signage solution. The answer is plain and simple - convenience. Their premises are big and may as well consist of several buildings and multiple events can take place at the same time. Therefore, they required to have at all time staff available to guide lost visitors onto the right path. Besides causing higher staff expenses, this circumstance created a negative visitor experience during the very first moments of their visit. Therefore, innovation was required to make things right.
Dynamic content display with ease
Employing a digital signage solution across floors and buildings is simple. However, creating a software solution which enables dynamic content to be displayed correctly, is not. Bookings may come in at any time and the displays must update dynamically to represent the changed circumstances. Moreover, the new software must integrate seamlessly with the rest of their environment to create an intuitive solution. Therefore, Five Jars based the entire digital signage solution on Open Y to ensure the highest possible compatibility with the existing environment. Further, we integrated third-party applications via API to guarantee a versatile range of functionality of the final solution.
Five Jars went a step further and based the digital signage design on the YMCA website to foster recognition. We know that corporate identity is of great importance across user journeys both in the online and offline world. Therefore, Five Jars has developed a solution which not only helps YMCA of the North to innovate but which also feels like YMCA of the North to the visitor.
5+ screen types
supported
∞unlimited number of displays
For the YMCA of the North and beyond
Five Jars evaluated the available hardware and created a sophisticated software solution which incorporates the design of YMCA online presences. In addition, we created the project in a reproducible manner to foster the implementation of the software – beyond YMCA of the North. Together with the client, Five Jars published the entire code on GitHub for the world to use. The limitation to use digital signage lays truly in the past and the future looks a bit more digital.
We demonstrated what curiosity, user-centricity and collective purpose can achieve when combined. Five Jars inspired not only the YMCA of the North but the entire movement – and beyond.
Why Drupal was chosen
Open-source. In contrast to closed-source solutions like Sitecore, Drupal is open-source and has no licensing fees. By migrating to Drupal, we were able to cut a significant amount of client’s expenses.
Nonprofit community. Hundreds of nonprofits around the world already use Drupal. Using it enables nonprofits to take advantage of the already existing ecosystem of solutions and save time on development.
Good content management experience. Drupal is a digital experience platform that empowers everyone to participate in creating intuitive and easy-to-use websites.
Technical Specifications
Drupal version:
Key modules/theme/distribution used:
