13 August 2019, Texcoco, Mexico –The Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) is proud to launch the latest iteration of its website as it enters an exciting new phase of its existence.
The site now sports a landing page from which visitors can easily navigate between project and breeding resources (IBP larger offer), and core product-related contents (BMS Pro specific). The BMS Pro section has the added advantage of being connected to both the general site address (www.integratedbreeding.net) as well as to its own independent URL (www.bmspro.io) to allow for expanded possibilities in product marketing, thus facilitating different entry points to the same contents.
The IBP website has come a long way since its inception in 2010, adapting as the mission and nature of the organization evolved over the years:
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The ‘IB Portal’, as launched in 2010 |
The IBP was officially launched in 2010 as a project of the CGIAR Generation Challenge Programme (now closed), The ‘Platform’ was then meant as an online, one-stop shop portal to innovations for plant breeders.
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The Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP), as re-imagined in 2014. |
When the GCP closed in 2014, the IBP continued on as an independent non-profit initiative registered in the USA under the management of a Board of Trustees (the Global Crop Breeding Support Service – GCBSS). The website and IBP visual branding underwent a first transformation to reflect this change, attaching the IBP name to an organization with staff, working beyond its original online medium.
The IBP has since grown into a mature non-profit entity providing IT and breeding services to different types of organizations around the world. As such, a revamped website appeared as the obvious way of showcasing its achievements and offering more effectively.
“It became clear that the vast and diversified audiences we serve have different needs, and will therefore access our site for different contents, and from different entry points,” explains Valérie Boire, Communications & Knowledge Manager for the IBP. “We set out looking for a way to better balance our social mission (supporting plant breeders in developing countries), and our desire to give our donor-funded projects more visibility, with our need to upscale our marketing efforts aiming at paying clients to ensure the sustainability of our activities. Finally, the distinction between what or who is the IBP (the organization) and BMS Pro (Breeding Management System), its core product, needed to be made more explicit, all the while making sure it all remained relevant and accessible to everyone, notwithstanding their background.”
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New IBP website – now online! |
At first glance, these diverging yet intertwined objectives seemed difficult to reconcile, making it imperative to find a web design provider that would understand the vision, and have the creative chops to propose a light and fresh concept around it. This challenge was met with gusto by Design Shopp, a graphic and web design company based in Montreal (QC), Canada.
"We were very happy to take on the IBP as a client here at Design Shopp. We strongly believe in their cause, and wanted to be a part of their effort to bring sustainable agricultural practices to more remote areas, that ultimately will contribute to make food more accessible," says Chad Sadler, Account Manager at Design Shopp. Nicolas Pallier, the Designer assigned to this project, continues: "The new design is a result of a simplification challenge. How to reinforce the IBP brand through visual consistency while creating a versatile design for the content to be effectively displayed and easily accessible. We worked around various visual elements to provide a human feel, allowing the website to better connect with the communities that IBP helps across the globe."
The result is a site with a look & feel that effectively conveys the richness of its contents without being heavy; and a sense of professionalism and expertise all the while appearing bright, crisp and easy to navigate. “We are very pleased with the result,” confirms Ms Boire. “The new site allows us to deliver a much clearer message to both our stakeholders, and future clients and collaborators, in terms of what we can do for them.”
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New IBP website – Community section |
New IBP website – Product section |
On top of a revamped look & feel, the new IBP website also integrates a range of new contents and features, including:
(Re)Visit the IBP website today at www.integratedbreeding.net. Happy browsing!
The Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP) is a not-for-profit entity whose mission is to help accelerate the delivery of new crop varieties in response to a well-defined demand, in the context of an increasing need for food, and unprecedented environmental challenges. It does so by providing IT tools, crop breeding services and training to breeders, especially in developing countries, so that they may fully join in the global effort towards achieving food security. We believe that access to the right tools and opportunities will help breeders achieve more efficiency in crop improvement, and therefore have a concrete and direct impact on their specific local environments.
The IBP’s main donor for the last 10 years has been the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Phase I from 2009 to 2014; Phase II from 2014 to 2019). Funding from the Foundation to the IBP will continue through the CGIAR Excellence in Breeding Platform (EiB), to participate in the development and adoption of crop information management systems. Other major ongoing activities include working with IFAD and AfricaRice on the EBCA project (to enhance breeding capacity in Ghana, Senegal and Uganda), and the USAID Peanut Innovation Lab (to digitalize breeding programs and enhance the genetic potential in peanut production across Africa).
For more information visit: www.integratedbreeding.net
About Design Shopp
Design Shopp is a boutique web and marketing agency with over 11 years of experience building brands through web design, graphic design and marketing projects. With a head office situated in Montreal Quebec, Design Shopp has worked with over 1,000 clients and continues to grow. With its philosophy in looking further than aesthetics to meet web objectives; Design Shopp links clients’ marketing goals and corporate direction into all decisions made during a website building process. Google Certified and a Facebook Partner, Design Shopp’s full time marketing department has its finger on the pulse and applies relevant strategies to its projects. This successful approach has enabled the company to complete notable projects in diverse industries that range from governmental institutions, to corporations and not-for profit organizations. For more: information: https://designshopp.com/
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Ms. Valérie Boire
Communications Manager
Integrated Breeding Platform (IBP)
Mr. Chad Sadler
Accounts Manager
DesignShopp
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