TL;DR
We designed a modern website for Cambridgeshire Police Federation, allowing members to browse helpful resources and gain key information.
Project Overview
Cambridgeshire Police Federation needed a new website, as their current Joomla site was outdated and hard to navigate. What’s more, the website had numerous out of date content which no longer needed to be presented to users.
We created a new site using world renowned CMS WordPress, making it easier for users to navigate the front end of the website, and admins navigate the backend to add and change content.
Who are Cambridgeshire Police Federation?
Similar to Staffordshire Police Federation and Nottinghamshire Police Federation, Cambridgeshire Police Federation represent officers and staff in the local constabulary, providing resources including legal advice, health retreats and welfare caravan stays.
Cambridgeshire Police Federation frequently update their website with timely news and exclusive offers for serving officers, which we have been assisting with through a Support & Maintenance agreement since designing their first website launched in 2014.
Project Brief
The original Cambridgeshire Police Federation website was built on Joomla, however both the client and Ballyhoo believed that it was time for a new website with a sleek UI using the more user-friendly WordPress.
The client also wished to streamline their content, while making certain resources such as member offers and welfare resources more prominent.
With over a third of traffic now coming from mobile devices, and steadily increasing, it was important that the site was fully responsive.
Our Proposal
Working closely with Cambridgeshire, and drawing on our long experience of working with them and other Federations, we built a proposal for the following:
- Content audit and planning;
- Custom website using CRM software WordPress;
- Bespoke design and development of custom Federation reps and member blocks;
- Resources without user registration required;
- Modern design with latest technologies;
- Secure platform.
Branding
Crest
Cambridgeshire Police Federation were keen to include their crest in the new website design, however the best quality version we could source was a little ‘blocky’ and low-resolution, meaning that it felt outdated and didn’t flow well with the new site. We recreated the crest in a vector format and made a few, small tweaks in line with the Cambridgeshire Constabulary crest to modernise it.
Design
As we were designing the website from scratch, it allowed us to create a fully responsive design with more functionality than before.
Looking at data, we knew that the website needed to be device responsive due to a growing percentage of users browsing the site from mobile. We designed the website with this in mind, ensuring that it looks consistent on all devices – from larger screens right down to smaller mobile screens.
We chose to use a bright fluorescent yellow accent shade in contrast with the dark blue palette used throughout the logo and branding, maintaining the website’s affiliation with the national Police Federation of England and Wales. A further red accent colour associated with the main constabulary and seen on the crest has also been used to good effect.
It was important that the site felt like a hub that members can quickly navigate to find the information they need. On the homepage in particular, we wanted users to arrive and instantly be able to see links to the most frequently used sections of the site, a masonry layout incorporating local imagery and card-based information was the ideal way to approach this; a style which is echoed in the Member’s Area and other sections of the website too.
The Technical Details
WordPress
The existing website was on the platform Joomla – which served the site well for many years. However, this now felt ‘clunky’ and was difficult for admins to navigate, as well as giving little room for customisation.
Therefore, we chose to build the website on WordPress. This allowed us to code the website from scratch, adding custom functionality and the ability to edit the website in line with design best practices.
WordPress also allows admins to easily add and change content, which is essential due to the Police Federation keeping websites continually up-to-date with the latest news.
Members Area
The previous Cambridgeshire Police Federation website had user registration, however the client felt this was a barrier to engagement and decided that this was no longer necessary. Therefore, we created a Members Area that still held all useful resources, but without the need for user registration, meaning that users had one less step to complete before finding key information.
- #HTML5
- #CSS3
- #WordPress
- #JavaScript
Key Features
Who’s Who
It was clear that website users need to know who to contact for various services at Cambridgeshire Police Federation, and it also helps to build trust amongst members too. Therefore, we built a advanced custom fields block to showcase Federation members clearly and concisely. This custom WordPress block also allows us to pull specific members onto each page – for example, showcasing members who are trained in health and safety regulations on the Health & Safety page.
Sponsor Banners
Cambridgeshire Police Federation offer advertising space to their service providers. Therefore an area to add banners, with a link to the provider’s website, was built into the footer of the website, appearing on all pages. Advertisers also benefit from their own pages on the website with the option to add external links and useful downloads for members.
Welfare Caravans
The Federation offers access to two welfare caravans for members to book for respite and relaxation away from the stresses of the job. We built individual pages for these, showcasing imagery in a gallery, with optional functionality to submit booking requests online.
How We Can Help
If you are looking to get a custom website development get in touch now to see how we can help by calling us on 0121 295 5352, or sending an email to [email protected].
Contact us
Send us a quick message and we’ll get right back to you.