Air quality is a growing concern for residents. In Oxfordshire, a survey found that 91% of people were concerned about air quality, with nearly half saying they were always concerned. Councils needed a way to share data and advice in a format that residents could understand and trust.
Ricardo asked Chicken to design a website that would bring this information to life on a small budget and within a tight timeframe.
Our approach
We began with Oxfordshire Air Quality. Working from real draft content, we ran design workshops with stakeholders and explored how residents would use the site.
- We provided pages for long reports to be turned into bite-sized, scannable content.
- We created a bright, bold design language that stood out from typical local authority websites.
- We made the homepage revolve around the interactive air quality map, reflecting its importance to users.
- We used quick iterations and simple HTML prototypes so everyone could see progress and give feedback in real time.
From this, we developed a template that could be reused. The same framework has since been adapted for:
This approach kept design costs low while ensuring each site reflected its local identity.
The results
- Oxfordshire Air Quality was praised by the editor of Air Quality News: “I had a play on the Oxfordshire AQ website and am really impressed!”
- The design received positive feedback from residents and council teams.
- South Tyneside and Ealing were able to launch new air quality websites quickly by reusing the Oxfordshire template.
Our reflection
We’re proud of these designs. They show that with limited resources, you can still deliver websites that feel engaging, accessible, and user-friendly. For a small studio like Chicken, they’re also an important part of our design portfolio, a little more glam than a local council site.
But we’re also clear about our values. Building standalone websites like this isn’t the most sustainable way forward. Each site duplicates effort and content, and often lacks the user research needed to genuinely change behaviour.
We believe the sector is better served by creating open-source solutions that councils can share, adapt, and improve together. That way, investment goes further, duplication is avoided, and services are built on solid evidence of what works. This wasn't possible with this work because of the way the funding for these projects was given. There's a bigger thought-leadership piece on this, but others have put it better. See Platformland by Richard Pope