University of Bristol

'Bristol Ready' - Helping new students prepare for university life in Bristol

Eight films, seven infographics and one app that helps new students find their feet

When arriving at university for the first time there is a lot of information to hold in your head at once. How do you get around the city? What should you bring? When are my fees due and how do I pay them? What jobs are available? Where do you go if you're struggling - either personally or academically?

The University of Bristol found a great way to answer all of that and many more pressing questions any new students may have newly arriving to the university. 'Bristol Ready' is a new app issued to every incoming first year before they set foot on campus. But whilst the app was built and functioning well what was needed was content with enough warmth and clarity to make students want to open it. They came to us to make it.

The Brief

Bristol Ready covered subjects that are genuinely important but even on an easy to use app some information can be easy to miss. The University wanted some of the important themes and critical information brought to life - and they wanted it to reach every student, not just the ones who could watch a video with sound on.

Two things shaped everything we made:

It had to sound like students, not like the University. Advice about halls and money and asking for help lands differently depending on who's giving it.

It had to work for everyone. Accessibility was critical.

The films

We produced nine films for the app. Three were shot on location across the University's campus - the buildings, walkways and study spaces students would be moving through within weeks. Five were made in our Bristol studio on bespoke sets built for the project, giving us complete control of look, sound and turnaround across a large slate.

Every film was presented by current University of Bristol students and every film was delivered in multiple versions; clean, subtitled and audio described, so that no student was handed a lesser experience:

Seven infographics, two outputs for each.

Alongside the films we designed seven complex infographics, condensing detailed practical information into something a student can absorb at a glance.

Each was built to live in two places at once: optimised for phone display inside the app, and produced as a print-ready poster version for halls, departments and student spaces.

We used AI-assisted design tools as part of this process, giving us the range to explore and iterate visual approaches at a speed that would otherwise have been out of reach on a set of this size and complexity, with every output art-directed and finished by our design team.

The explainer

A well-built app still needs someone to open the door. We produced a dedicated explainer film using bespoke motion graphics showing students how Bristol Ready works and how to get the most from it - reducing the number of students who download it, glance at it once and never return.

Further design work

The response to the app content led to a second phase of design work, refreshing the University's existing printed material and student handouts so the whole suite spoke with one voice.

The centrepiece was a pocket-sized student 'passport' - a physical summary of all seven infographics plus additional practical information, small enough to carry and use in the moment a student actually needs it.