City of Tielt: from rebranding to a multisite platform
Client: City of Tielt
Links: tielt.be · Visit Tielt · CC Gildhof
Go-live: June 2026
Sector: Local government
Tielt is a city in the province of West Flanders with around 30,000 inhabitants and an important regional role as a centre for services, trade and education.
The city has a rich history as a medieval trading centre, still reflected today in its historic heritage and market square.
Tielt combines this urban role with green, gently rolling surroundings and a vibrant cultural and recreational offering. This makes it a characteristically dynamic provincial town in West Flanders.
The challenge
For the City of Tielt, this was more than a conventional website redesign. The city opted for a complete rebranding of its digital presence and brought in communications agency Karakters and Paddle to deliver it. At the same time, Tielt migrated from LCP’s Icordis CMS to the Paddle CMS Platform. The challenge lay in combining a new visual identity, a CMS migration and the rollout of three websites: a main site for municipal services, an inspiring tourism website and an expressive site for the cultural centre, each with its own role and visual identity. With a fixed launch deadline, branding, technology and content development also had to come together within a particularly tight schedule.
The approach
Paddle took responsibility for the project’s digital foundations. We analysed the existing website, developed a new navigation structure and translated it into clear wireframes as the basis for the user experience. Karakters developed the new visual identity and graphic design, after which Paddle implemented the design across the three websites, respecting each site’s distinct visual identity.
Developing the branding took longer than originally planned. The graphic design for the main site was only ready for implementation in early April; the designs for Visit Tielt and CC Gildhof followed even later. As the Paddle CMS Platform had already been developed, the communications team was nevertheless able to start building the content earlier. This kept the fixed launch date achievable. However, the remaining time for content entry and checking was limited: for the tourism website and the cultural centre’s site, it was reduced to just a few days. The priority before launch was therefore to complete the key pages, with the city continuing to add content in phases afterwards.
The result
The result is a cohesive digital presence that brings together strategy, branding and usability. The City of Tielt gained three websites, each with its own character, but centrally managed on one powerful, scalable platform. The main site supports municipal services, the tourism website showcases the city’s attractions in an inspiring way, and the cultural centre’s website has an expressive visual identity. Thanks to the phased approach, all three sites could be launched on time, while the city continues to build on the content after launch.
Modules and integrations: IPDC, UiTdatabank, Mijn Burgerprofiel, payments via POM, Topdesk, Verenigingsloket, search with filters, web forms, opening hours, news, activities, meeting minutes, a street map with points of interest, pop-ups, redirects, RSS and subsite management. Together, they form a forward-looking digital ecosystem ready for further growth.
Want to know more?
Curious how your organisation, like the City of Tielt, can build a strong digital ecosystem more quickly and efficiently? Contact Paddle and discover the possibilities.