League of Friends, Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath

League of Friends PRH – web design Sussex

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The Brief

League of Friends for the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath identified a number of issues with their website – from its look, branding, messages, functionality, visibility to potential supporters, through to being able to manage the site. They needed a new website fast from a web design Sussex agency!

The specific issues they wanted fixed were:

Having been created on a DIY website platform, there was very little information on each page – not very helpful for visitors nor taking advantage of the opportunity to build a connection with them.
The user experience was fairly abrasive due to the colour choices, that made it feel overwhelming and harsh, which goes against the very ethos of the League of Friends.
There were also multiple fonts and styles used across the site, which meant there was no clear hierarchy to messaging, navigation or rhythm to the site.
There was no clear direction of where the visitor to the website should go and what they should / could do on the website.
A number of the URLs were not SEO-friendly and could actually be hindering its visibility.
The League of Friends were unable to update the content of the website themselves so couldn’t add events, café deals and reviews to it.

Besides the fixes, a key element of the brief was to improve the messaging about the charity itself. To share more information about what they do, evidence its authenticity and build a rapport with the community they serve through their work for the hospital.

There was a lot for our web design Sussex agency to do, but we were confident we could create a great website that truly showcased the fabulous efforts of the League of Friends for the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath.

What we did

One of the first things we worked on was a brand refresh. While the League of Friends logo is a prominent yellow and purple, the team have more recently branded their leaflets and marketing with base white, greys and a particular dusky pink. This was incorporated into the new site’s design. It also helped solve some of the harsh colour situations that were detrimental to the user experience.

To prevent too much clashing with colours in images, the palette leans mostly on their new brand pink colour, with the further use of a base white and a couple of dusky greys to indicate different sections. The purple and yellow in the logo have been gently calmed to match this more sophisticated and elegant palette.

The site itself has been rebuilt in WordPress, to give the League of Friends both full control over their own website and give them the flexibility and functionality to portray themselves in the best way possible to potential supporters. As an experienced web design Sussex agency, we choose to work in WordPress because of its professional functionality, flexibility, and ease of ongoing management for our clients.

Some of the key features we included were a:

Clearer structure to the website as well as clear ‘More info’ buttons and links to aid navigation.
Replacing the “Donate” button with “Get Involved”. The team felt strongly that they are as grateful for the donation of time and assistance – through volunteering – as they are of donations.
Order by phone capability (click to call on mobile) and a contact form for the Coffee Shop
Multi-recipient contact form so users can contact departments directly.
An event list added with links to be able to purchase tickets.
Consistent typography that assists users in being able to scan read a page while understanding the key messages.
The logo features flower petals and has a warm feeling to it, and this was brought into the design with the use of rounded corners
The use of people in the images is to build rapport and convey the real purpose of the League of Friends’ hard work, which is not to simply obtain funds and buy equipment, but to provide an improved hospital experience for both the staff and the patients in that community.
We have installed SEO plugins for WordPress with attention given to the SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions of each page, which helps Google understand the nature of the page, whilst displaying the page professionally in listings.
Careful consideration was given to the on-page SEO aspects, such as heading structure. This ensures that Google can understand the content of the page and rank it appropriately, whilst also assisting Accessibility Readers.

Results & Impact for the client

The website now visually represents the League of Friends charity from its feeling of warmth, the outcome of their work via the images and the full breadth of how you can support them (financial and in-kind). The League of Friends team were passionate about using their mantra line of “We make it better” and that now comes across to visitors of the website.

The team are now able to actively manage their own website. WordPress is user-friendly but we’ve also trained them on how to use it, upload content and handle simple tasks in the backend. The empowerment that gives them cannot be understated!

The new League of Friends website helps users find the information they are looking for, which will increase engagement and connection with the charity as well as enable the charity to be more useful to the people who need them. Simple aspects such as the multi-contact forms mean that users get in touch with the right person straight away, and avoids the team at the League of Friends from having to check and forward on form requests themselves. A win-win!

Need a web design Sussex agency to help your charity or small business better represent itself online and be found?
Call us on 01444 810530

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