Learn Lugano: the celebration of academic excellence and personal growth
Client: Lugano Living Lab, Città di Lugano
Industry: Education
3
Involved universities
+40k
Extracted web pages for bot training
1
single website for all needs
The brand was built in response to the city of Lugano’s commitment to the universities in its area. The aim is to create an online platform for university students that will meet three main needs: to make all useful information available to current and prospective students in one place, to showcase the universities and enhance their communications, and to promote Lugano as an attractive university destination.
This new platform gives the student center stage, with opportunities from the university world — such as skills building for the future and the international network offered by the universities — and those from the city of Lugano. The latter include social life, the multicultural aspect, leisure facilities, the study areas available, and the efficient services provided by Switzerland and Ticino.
Brand System & Identity
Frontify Brand Management Platform
Website development
Advanced Chatbot
Kit-of-Parts
What we did
We listened to the customer’s specific requirements and used our method to launch a full-scale creative process aimed at designing and developing a new brand and the entire brand system.
We then optimized this new visual identity to create a website built in WordPress and perfectly aligned with the mission and values of the fledgling brand.
We also trained and developed an advanced generative AI chatbot which, by scraping and then storing information from the websites of the University of Italian Switzerland (USI), the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), and Franklin University, is now able to give elaborate answers to students’ questions and the website’s users in general.
Naming: Learn Lugano, a brand is born
Bearing in mind the original goals, our branding team came up with the name “Learn Lugano”. They chose an English name on purpose to express the desire to attract an international audience.
This name also highlights the link between academic studies and the city of Lugano.
The claim: Discover your nature
We came up with a claim that “speaks” directly to the student in a welcoming, positive way: Discover your nature.
“Discover your nature” was created by incorporating the two key elements that distinguish Lugano as a university destination:
- the multifaceted academic world
- the landscape and nature offered by the Lugano area
The claim we came up with can be interpreted in two ways: on the one hand, it encourages students to explore their true nature and fulfill their potential through education and the university experience; on the other, it paints a picture of natural beauty, helping students connect with their surroundings on an emotional level.
This phrase captures the desire for personal growth and intellectual exploration, highlighting the link between personal development and the academic setting.
The two words in the name Learn Lugano invite students to discover the Lugano area with its myriad scenic spots, and to explore its academic character while nurturing their own talents and interests relating to their chosen course of studies.
Logo: where nature and learning come together
The logo’s hallmark features are closely linked to the two keystones of our value proposition:
- The academic world is symbolized by the book, as a metaphor for the importance of education and knowledge.
- The nature and landscape aspect is represented by the iconic Monte San Salvatore, the symbol of the city of Lugano.
These two elements were fused together and embellished with the outline of the lake and the mountains in the distance, giving rise to the Learn Lugano logo.
This combination creates visual harmony that reflects the academic pathway, a journey towards intellectual and personal growth in a setting where the naturally beautiful landscape significantly enhances students’ quality of life.
Last but not least, the brand’s red hue represents Switzerland, bringing to mind our country’s distinctive features.
The new website: all the information in one place
In 2021 to 2022, the City of Lugano conducted a study in collaboration with Deloitte, enhanced by field projects involving students from the local universities. The analysis delved into the dynamics of the major university cities and included workshops and sessions with the rectors. This study brought to light a number of strategic reflections that laid the foundations for developing the Learn Lugano website.
Drawing on the information gathered in the abovementioned study, our team structured the entire website using WordPress.
Thirty forms were designed and created for use in series, to facilitate page creation. By alternating these forms, we were able to generate solutions to satisfy the customer’s every last need.
We also rolled out dynamic and filterable maps for a better user experience, and integrated an events calendar using API, with data pulled directly from the Lugano Events website, giving users instant and up-to-date access to activities taking place in the city.
Hi there, I’m Lucy. How can I help you?
Since Learn Lugano serves as an “aggregator” of information sourced from various portals about living and studying in Lugano, we thought it would be handy to offer visitors a conversational interface that would enable them to search for and access available information more efficiently.
We created Lucy, an advanced generative AI chatbot, to meet this need.
Lucy not only gives direct responses by engaging users in natural conversation, but she also offers direct links to relevant pages on Learn Lugano and other portals, such as USI, Ticino Turismo, SUPSI, Franklin, and Lugano.ch. This is done on the basis of the pertinence of the question asked to the content of the pages, thus improving the user experience and making it easier to access relevant information.
The chatbot we created is based on the OpenAI GPT-4 model, with API integration, and uses the retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) mechanism. The very first step of this method involves retrieving relevant content. This content is then fed into the generative model. This approach helps the system answer users’ questions more accurately and pertinently.
It was essential to perform a preliminary web scraping process in this phase, which consisted in extracting content from the HTML pages of the various portals for inclusion in the chatbot.
During the development process, we also drafted guidelines for Lucy’s answers using so-called “system prompts”. This document sets out the assistant’s role and the situations in which she can help.
The final product is therefore an integral tool within the website that can offer an alternative to conventional website navigation by means of a fluent and natural conversational interface. This allowed us to eliminate the need to navigate between various predefined pages and categories to find the desired information, streamlining the user experience enormously as a result.
"Through the integration of useful information for students and the adoption of innovative technologies such as the generative AI-based chatbot Lucy, we are shaping a future in which the academic experience and the natural beauty of Lugano blend harmoniously, providing a unique and internationally challenging environment for study and personal growth"
Robert Bregy / City secretary, Città di Lugano
