Presenting your core facility online
This page contains advice and guidelines on how you should present your core facility on ki.se and on the core facility contact portal, iLab. The aim is both to market the services of your core facility and to contribute to the image of KI as a world-leading research organisation.
To be successful in this aim you need to always have the possible requests and perspective of your clients/users in mind. All presentations should focus on available technologies and services that is possible for the user to book, and not on for example organisation forms, collaborations, or the history of your facility.
Two websites – one presentation
The main online residency of Karolinska Institutet is the website ki.se. Presenting your core facility on ki.se will give you a boost in search engines like Google and Edge, as well as making sure that your webpage meets the requirements regarding for example security, accessibility, and usability.
iLab is an external system for booking and invoicing of core facility services provided by the science technology company Agilent. iLab has limited usability in other aspects and should not be used as your main homepage.
The information about your core facility on these two websites should combined give the client a coherent and easy-to-understand image of your services, routines, and apparatus.
You are not expected to repeat the information, but it is a good idea to use a similar short presentation at the top of both start pages. The name of the core facility should always be the same regardless of website – or situation! The two websites should also be linked to each other.
What to publish on ki.se
All core facilities with central funding from the KI Infrastructure Council should have web pages on ki.se and use the provided template for presentation of core facilities. The pages should be placed on the central research portal and are the online window of your core facility to the outside world.
The template consists of both mandatory and free of choice headlines, promos, and pages. In addition to the information below on this webpage, there are instructions in the actual template on how to present your core facility.
Local core facilities, serving for example a single department or research building, are free to use the ki.se template for core facilities. These local core facilities should, however, place their pages on a department subsite such as ki.se/labmed or alike, and not on ki.se/research.
A shortcut to presenting your core facility on ki.se
Target groups: Researchers in the capacity of prospective users, employees, and students. Funders and decision makers, and sometimes also study participants and the general public.
Form: General and inviting. Updated at least once a year.
Aim: Marketing of both your core facility and KI as a frontline research organisation.
Template: Digital profiling of core facilities
Mandatory content
- A landing page in English and single page in Swedish.
- The head of the landing page, the top menu with underlying pages, as well as bottom promos should be presented according to the template. Follow the instructions in the template.
- The headline of the landing page should be the name of your core facility – no additional information.
- The lead paragraph below the headline should be a summary of services and equipment offered by your core facility.
- The image in the head of the landing page should illustrate your core facility or research area.
- Brief lay language summaries in English and Swedish. These summaries can be placed in connection to the “about us” information, but it is also possible to place it elsewhere depending on the specific needs of your core facility.
Free of choice content
- The space in the middle of the landing page can be used to present additional information about your core facility. For example, an image gallery, success stories from your facility, news and/or calendar feed etc.
- Links to web pages describing nodes of your core facility managed by other organisations, national networks to which you belong etc.
- A full landing page in Swedish. Use the same template is in English.
- An extensive popular science presentation in English and/or Swedish. See below for further instructions.
Some further instructions and advice
- Always assume that every web page – start page and subpages alike – are the first contact the visitors have with your core facility and must therefore have self-explanatory heading, a logical structure, and links to possible related content.
- Structure your presentation so that information that is important to your users – the equipment and services that you offer – is presented briefly at the top of the page. This text will be visible in search engines and is often crucial for continued reading and interest.
- Describe your research techniques and services in a way that you don’t have to update the pages on ki.se very often.
- When targeting a lay audience, it is even more important to use nice images, both scientific illustrations and photos of your staff using the equipment. Personal contact details should preferably also be illustrated with a portrait image. The lay presentation can be expanded with video material, open lectures, and information about what to expect when visiting your facility.
- Use images of both artistic and technical high quality to give a professional first impression. KI's own photo agency Bildmakarna can take photos to a reasonable fee.
How to list your core facility on central webpages
You have finally published the webpages about your core facility on ki.se. Now, you need to make sure that users find their way to it when visiting the KI website.
- In all overviews of core facilities on the ki.se website use the full name of your core facility and not an abbreviation.
- Your core facility should be listed on both the central A-Z page and the geographical overview on ki.se.
- Your core facility should also be listed on at least one page in the thematical overview. If applicable, your facility may also be listed on a second page in the thematical overview.
- In addition to the full name of your core facility, use the same brief presentation as in the start of the facility’s webpage. Focus on the techniques and services you offer. Information about collaborative partners and further links is better suited on the actual webpage, to which there will be a link from the thematical overview.
- If it is possible to book your core facility services via iLab, this information should be added to the presentation in one sentence.
General on web publishing at KI
What to publish in iLab
Most core facilities with central funding from the KI Infrastructure Council have an account and pages in iLab. The purpose of using iLab is to manage booking of services and apparatus, and invoicing.
To get an idea about how to present your core facility in iLab, please view the provided template on that platform. The top menu in iLab is default, but there is still room for some individual editing.
To help your client recognise your core facility regardless of channel or web system, it is important that you use the same name and similar illustrations and description of your services. Think about it in human terms: it is difficult to recognise a person if he or she changes name, hairdo, and general appearance all the time.
A shortcut to presenting you core facility in iLab
Target groups: Actual users, both internal and external researchers.
Form: Detailed and relevant for researchers at work. Updated promptly.
Aim: Effective use of equipment and services by as many paying researchers as possible.
Template: Digital profiling of core facilities
Mandatory content
- Use the same name and brief presentation of your core facility in iLab as on ki.se.
- Adapt the top image from your core facility start page on ki.se to fit the format of iLab.
- Your start page in iLab should include the following information: our offer; location and opening hours; resources and links; contacts. View the example page to get an idea.
- Link back to your webpage on ki.se.
Free of choice content
- A map of how to get to your corefacility and details about local transportation etc.
- Images of apparatus and equipment used/offered by your core facility.
- Information about core facilities that you collaborate with and links to their web pages.
- Temporary operating information, for example special opening hours during holidays or running disruptions.
Some further instructions
- As the purpose of iLab is to book services and apparatus and to manage invoicing, this is not the place for group images of your team, historical presentation of your techniques or alike.
- Try to imagine what kind of information your users need to make informed decisions and be successful in their projects
- Subheadings level 2 (h2) should be the colour plum, if possible. Other subheadings further down in the hierarchy (h3 and h4) as well as text paragraphs should be the colour black.
- Links should be the colour plum and hyperlinked, if possible.
Graphic example:
Advice for core facilities with certain security requirements
If your core facility offers services in areas such as animal research, high biosafety level or radiation, you may need to take this into account when you plan your online presentations. Suggestion on how to improve security:
- Ask the IT department for a group/function email address.
- Publish contact details to members of your staff as well as visiting address behind a locked webpage requiring a login.
- Avoid communication about your core facility through open channels such as social media.
What about logotypes and external webpages?
On principal, a core facility at KI should always follow the university’s brand guidelines and is not allowed to have a logotype or graphical profile of its own. Exceptions to this rule can be made if the core facility is part of a larger regional or national infrastructure. However, uploading other logotypes or profile colours to the template of ki.se is not possible.
Advantages of using the KI logo and profile
- Your core facility visibly becomes part of a world renown medical university. KI is a strong brand in Sweden and internationally.
- To establish your own brand is both time consuming and costs at lot of money. By joining the KI brand, you can focus on your main task – providing excellent core facility services.
How to handle multiple web pages
Core facilities managed by KI are advised to only have webpages on ki.se and in iLab. However, if your core facility is managed in collaboration with another organisation or a part of a regional or national infrastructure, you may be required to have several web pages.
If this is the case, it is important to link together your webpages in such a way that your users are not confused and are provided the relevant information about your services without having to leave the KI domain.
Graphic rules and brand guidelines