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Hi I’m Chris, Digital Art Director at , a digital agency currently working with .

This project evolved from the winning pitch at the  Agencies, buisnesses and and individuals from the creative industry were openly invited by Ö÷²¥´óÐã News and Ö÷²¥´óÐã News Labs through the Connected Studio programme to answer a brief: engage young Scots in the referendum.

It’s a subject that as a company were very keen to get involved with; Realise itself started out in Scotland, so we had a lot of passionate views on what we could do.

We were briefed in the morning, along with around 25 other teams and left to develop our idea for a 2 minute pitch that afternoon. We began by highlighting the main problem as we saw it: learning about politics can seem daunting, difficult, boring or even irrelevant, especially to the younger audience.

Our solution is a curated hub of Ö÷²¥´óÐã Referendum content that uses questions as an entry point to deeper content. Learning is progressive, with engaging questions posted each day to allow the user to absorb over time. It’s based around sharable visual content, on an interface, which works as a mobile first site but functions as well as an app.

We quickly wireframed the idea and pitched it to the judges in front of a packed room, including a Ö÷²¥´óÐã camera rig – nerve-racking to say the least!

At that stage it wasn’t perfect, but the core idea resonated with the judges and we were invited back to develop it at a further two Connected Studio Build Studios. After these (and anther two pitches in front of the cameras), we found out that our idea had been selected. It felt like winning the X-Factor!

With a few suggestions on the table we eventuality decided on a name: Referend-erm? It is perfect for a platform that is an informative, interactive space for 16-19 year olds where no question is too big, small or ‘stupid’ to ask.

The site was then commissioned as a pilot as continued to develop the concept, adding new features like allowing the user to not only answer our questions but also to submit their own. The standalone pilot is built using Wordpress, PHP and MySQL software, consisting of two mobile interfaces.

It’s supported by a strong social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, which we are using to drive traffic with each of the daily questions that we share in the run up to the vote.

Combining these elements, Referend-rem? will hopefully prove a useful experiment in how to reach and engage this younger demographic.

You can view the finished interface here

Getting it out there

We wanted to explore different avenues of promotion and take the idea out into the world. To do this we created a branded Photo Booth which has already visited Ö÷²¥´óÐã Radio 1’s Academy in Glasgow. Users can step inside and ask the questions which matter to them about the Referendum. .

It’s a project that we are immensely proud of, and one which has developed significantly from our original amswer to the challenge set out before us. Being a company with Scottish roots, everyone here at Realise is really excited to play our small part in what is such a historical event.

If you have any questions about how we built the Referend-erm? site please leave a comment.

Chris Rush is Digital Art Director at Realise