The Jewellery Quarter is growing quickly. With the rapid development of new residential blocks, thousands of new residents are expected to move into the area each year. But until now there hasn’t been a clear onramp to life her.
People arrive, collect their keys, and are left to piece things together through scattered social media posts, word of mouth, Google searches, and trial and error. Useful information exists, but it is fragmented. Community life exists, but it is not always easy to find. For many people, especially those new to Birmingham or new to the Quarter, settling in can feel far more confusing and disconnected than it should.
This website was created to change that as part of the Finding Your Way Project. The project focused on building a simple, trusted, welcoming digital starting point for residents: a place where people could discover what is happening locally, find useful guides, explore community opportunities, and begin to feel part of the area from day one.Approximatley £8000 was spent on content writers, £2,000 on web development and £1,000 on logo and graphic design making the final output incredible value for money.
This project was designed first and foremost for residents, especially new residents.
The team identified three key user groups that shaped the direction of the work:
These user types helped frame the real challenge. The website did not just need to provide information. It needed to help people move more quickly from arrival to belonging.
To make sure the project reflected real life in the Jewellery Quarter, the work began with research and engagement.
A resident survey was distributed across the Quarter through digital promotion on WhatsAPp groups and local partners. In total, the project received just under 100 survey responses, from a range of residents, giving the team a strong base of insight into how people currently find information, what they struggle with, and what they most want from a local website.
The results were collated into tables and diagrams and shared with designers, content creators and web developers who worked together to create a resident-led blueprint for how the website should work, what it should contain, and how it could support a stronger sense of community.
The research and workshop process was designed to produce three practical outputs.
The first was a joint communications strategy, helping the JQ Neighbourhood Forum and Jewellery Quarter BID take a more joined-up approach to resident communications, with clearer roles, channels, tone, and workflow.
The second was a content plan for the website, identifying the kinds of guides, stories, local information, and features residents most wanted to see, and helping shape what content should be created first.
The third was a website features specification, translating local needs into practical digital functions, from events and signposting to search, sign-up journeys, and ways to report issues or get involved.
These outputs created the foundation for the website itself: not just as a collection of pages, but as a structured digital welcome system for the area.
The technical approach to the project was shaped by a practical goal: to create a platform that could be easily managed, expanded, and improved over time without requiring heavy ongoing input from designers or web developers. The Chair of the Neighbourhood Forum is a Solution Architect, and this helped inform the choice of a stack that balanced ease of use with long-term flexibility. The project used Webflow for website and CMS management, giving the team a user-friendly way to manage pages, content, and future updates. n8n was chosen as an integration and logic layer, making it possible to connect systems, automate workflows, and introduce AI-supported processes over time. Mailchimp was selected as the marketing platform, providing a straightforward way to manage newsletters, announcements, and audience communications. Together, this stack created a strong foundation for a site that is not only live today, but can continue to evolve as the Forum’s digital needs grow.
This project was delivered through collaboration.
The JQ Neighbourhood Forum led the wider vision and resident focus for the work. Glass was engaged for web design, helping shape the site into a clear and usable digital experience. Quartermasters supported the research, workshops, and strategic outputs that informed the build. The Jewellery Quarter BID played an important role in connecting the project to the wider local ecosystem, including integration of local events into the site so residents can more easily discover what is happening nearby.
This combination of community leadership, strategic thinking, design input, and local partnership helped ensure the final website was both practical and rooted in the life of the Quarter.
The outcome of this project is the website you are using now.
It has been designed to act as a trusted entry point into local life: helping residents discover events, guides, opportunities to volunteer, neighbourhood news, and the people and organisations shaping the area.
More than that, it is part of a bigger goal. The website is intended to help turn newcomers into connected residents, and connected residents into active custodians of the Jewellery Quarter.
That is what Finding Your Way is really about: making it easier not just to live here, but to belong here.
