Just Peace The Hague

Think in possibilities: be creative

Like most companies, our capacity during the summertime is limited. All holidays were booked at this point. We do love a challenge though, we also prefer long-term relationships, and this project would fit us like a glove. If you are willing to be creative and are prepared to let go of your preferred ideal working method, a lot will become possible.

In this case, we proposed a short but very intense kick-off/investigation trajectory, during which we would decide what features would be absolutely essential for an MVP (Minimal Viable Product). After that, we would start both designing and building the website at the same time. The rest would have to wait.

One thing was absolutely vital to make this possible though: we needed full availability from the customers' team, especially during those first few weeks. And that is exactly what we got from them: their full commitment.

What is Just Peace the Hague?

For most foreign visitors, the city of The Hague is synonymous with international peace and justice. If you visit The Hague, the Peace Palace is an absolute must-see. But what if you ask the citizens of The Hague about the highlights of their hometown? They might come up with Haagse Harry (comic character), ADO (football club), the biggest open-air market in Europe, "Stad achter de Duinen" (song, the unofficial anthem of The Hague), or "city of rock" (The Hague is the home town of quite a few famous bands/artists). But "City of Justice and Peace" will probably not be the first thing that comes to mind. Quite a discrepancy, isn't it?

That's what Just Peace The Hague wants to establish: it is a partnership between the Municipality of The Hague and The Hague Humanity Hub, working together to make the idea of an International City of Peace and Justice more tangible to its residents, entrepreneurs, and organizations.

Decision: what needs to be in the MVP?

Just Peace is a public-facing program, co-created together with contributing organizations working in the field of peace and justice. The contributors organize events throughout the entire year, although the majority of the events this year took place during the Just Peace month. An event can be anything, from a movie to a public debate, a lecture or workshop, but also the "Walk of Peace" through the city of The Hague.

So, what are the bare necessities? Above all, it should be clear right away what Just Peace is about. A programme overview and a more detailed description of each event is also required. And let's not forget those contributors! Take a look at the website, and you'll be surprised how many well-known international organisations chose to settle in The Hague, because of its unique position as "the city of peace and justice".

New "feel good" design

A new design was a major wish from the customer. Luckily, the corporate identity had been designed by someone we have been working with before, so we knew they would be able to provide us with design elements in a format we could use right away. When you are on a tight schedule, this can make a huge difference. Of course it is possible to make a design quickly, even in a day if really necessary. It will probably suffice, look nice and work adequately.

The thing is, will it "feel good" as well? Especially when you are creating a design for a non-profit organisation (or otherwise non-commercial), being able to identify with the look and feel might be significantly more important for them. Employees tend to be truly committed to their jobs, they often specifically chose to work for an organisation that contributes to a better or more beautiful world.

That's why we decided to take even extra time for the design. No need to settle for less: by being flexible in our workflow, we were able to make this happen.

Gathering information: thinking ahead

Just like the design: of course you can have a website online quickly if you really have to. Just stick to the standard functionalities and you'll have it up and running in no time. You can always improve or rebuild at a later stage, right? We believe that would be a waste of money, though. Especially considering the fact that this customer specifically asked for a more sustainable website, a long-term partnership and expressed the wish to add more functionality at a later stage.

Get it right the first time

We've said it before, we'll say it again: a solid base is built to last. That's why we prefer to put extra time in a thorough investigation of the wishes and requirements, both long term and short term, in order to get it right the first time. That is not something we can do on our own, though. It requires availability and commitment of the customer as well. In this case, their team totally committed to it. That's when building a website turns into a true team effort. Just the way we like it.

And now that the MVP is online, we can take our time, add new functionalities, do more finetuning. All without having to worry for a second whether those new ideas would fit into the basic structure or not.

Full service

We are not afraid to get our hands dirty. It is not our job to mess around with the Wi-Fi connection, but if that's what it takes to make things work, we'll do it. In this case, the old Just Peace The Hague website went offline, while we did not even get started on the new one. Not very convenient just a couple of months before the start of the main event. All they had was a data dump.

Even though we do not work with WordPress, we arranged a server, set up a basic temporary WordPress website and used the styling and data from the dump to make it work again. That's full service according to Two Kings. It only took a couple of hours to help our customer out. To us, that's a no-brainer.

"Working with the Two Kings team is a great experience: they are flexible, experts in their field, and also genuinely lovely people!"
Just Peace The Hague

This is the reason we offer our customers a full package: hosting, support, maintenance and ongoing development. It's much more convenient for them to have one contact for everything. No matter the issue, one phone call and we'll take care of the rest.

Why we love this project

• Based in The Hague: it fits our preferred way of working as a team, together with our customers. Planning a meeting is a lot easier when it takes just a 10 minute bicycle ride to get there. A significant amount of the new requests we receive even specifically mention the preference for local partners. Win-win situation as far as we're concerned!
• A customer with a mission makes us want to go the extra mile even more. It's a joy working with people who are equally passionate about their job, as simple as that.
  
• Long term relationship/cooperation: we prefer to do more than merely executing requests from a customer. We like to get truly involved, give advice, use our creativity and our expertise to get the best possible result. Which is exactly what The Hague Humanity Hub asked for.
  

So, here's to The Hague Humanity Hub and the Just Peace project: cheers and welcome on board! Let's make a lot more beautiful things together.