Design to Deliver: creating a seamless open call application pathway across multiple websites
We worked with Connected Places Catapult, Digital Catapult, and Satellite Applications Catapult to design and implement the application pathway for Design to Deliver, a funding programme that supports SMEs tackling nature-positive challenges.
Our task was to create a branded, consistent flow across three Catapult websites, ensuring clarity for applicants and coherence for programme delivery.
Context and challenge
Design to Deliver is a cross-Catapult initiative funded by Innovate UK, providing up to £50,000 for SMEs developing solutions that regenerate nature.
Each Catapult ran its own programme challenge:
Connected Places Catapult: collective stewardship of urban nature.
Digital Catapult: helping citizens make informed choices for nature-positive behaviours.
Satellite Applications Catapult: using space-enabled data to drive environmental impact.
While the programme was unified in ambition, applications were all submitted through the Connected Places Catapult site. This made it critical that the workflow across each Catapult’s site was consistent, otherwise, applicants risked getting lost, confused, or dropping out before reaching the application stage.
The challenge was to:
- Create a joined-up journey across three websites that ended in one application hub.
- Build recognisable branding for Design to Deliver while respecting each Catapult’s identity.
- Reduce friction so SMEs could move smoothly from reading about challenges to submitting an application.
Our approach
We designed and implemented the open call application pathway that ran across 3 sites.
Key elements:
User journey mapping: clear workflows from challenge summaries through to the central application hub, minimising risk of drop-offs.
Branded graphics: consistent visuals rolled out across all three Catapult sites.
Programme page: a central-branded hub, stripped back for campaign clarity.
Opportunity pages: aligned layouts across Connected Places Catapult, Digital Catapult, and Satellite Applications Catapult sites, with local branding and a unified design language.
Application hub: a branded registration page integrated with the Catapult’s innovation management platform, providing secure data capture and back-end workflow management.
Event pages: webinar and support pages with consistent branding to help guide applicants.
Impact
The new pathway transformed the experience for applicants and programme owners alike:
Greater brand clarity: The Design to Deliver brand and design provided continuity across three different Catapult sites.
Better applicant experience: SMEs could focus on their proposals, not navigating inconsistent processes.
Reduced drop-offs: with a consistent workflow guiding SMEs to the Connected Places Catapult application hub.
Improved efficiency: applications managed seamlessly through the Catapult’s innovation management platform.
By creating a single, unified pathway, we helped turn a complex, multi-partner open call into a clear, accessible experience that supported innovators from first click to application submission.
Get in touch to see how we can design application pathways that guide users seamlessly from first click to submission, reducing friction and drop-offs.