Combining accessibility and creativity to create an award winning platform for the UK's creative industry union Digital
Equity is the UK’s trade union dedicated to performers and creative practitioners, representing the interests of more than 47,000 actors, singers, dancers, designers, directors, stage managers, puppeteers, comedians, voice artists, and variety performers.
Equity was looking for a partner that understood its purpose and objectives to develop a new, best-in-class website to support the next stage in its journey. It needed a creative agency capable of building a future-proofed catalyst for growth that would become the union’s central communication asset and help drive engagement and interactivity to new heights. It wanted the new website to be a true reflection of the brand, firmly centred on its audience and their needs, whilst adhering to best practice digital principles, with AA accessibility, fast loading, a unique design and a considered user experience (UX) throughout.
MTM’s research team worked hand-in-hand with the project sponsors to gain a detailed understanding of what Equity stood for, what it meant to its members and how the new site could support their needs. Combining strategy, design and technology, we defined an innovative solution that would deliver on each of the brand’s objectives. We collaborated to understand what the new proposition could look like visually and how we could reimagine the user experience, making it effortless and highly intuitive.
Accessibility and inclusivity is one of Equity’s key brand values and as such, we developed the website to support users with a range of access requirements. For example, we considered colour contrast ratios and implemented alt-text for all images meaning they can be picked up by screen readers.
Unified Design System
By evolving the brand’s visual identity across digital, we presented a new unified design system that would ensure the Equity brand truly came to life online. With a rich art-deco feel balancing heritage and modernity, our solution took an emotive approach that focuses on sharing stories from across the creative community, demonstrating the personality of the brand and championing accessibility at every level. By updating the way content is displayed to more “storytelling with heart,” we wanted to provide visitors with immediate insight into the determination, purpose and value of the organisation.
Building with Umbraco
Following a review of suitable options, we narrowed our CMS recommendations for the project down to two, with WordPress and Umbraco making the shortlist. After a demo of both, Equity selected Umbraco for their new site build. Umbraco is based on the latest Microsoft .NET (ASP.NET Core) technology and is 100% open source.
Flexible Site Structure
The site is built up of flexible content blocks that the content-management team have full control over whether they are editing existing pages or creating entirely new sections of the site.
The home page carousel hosts highlighted campaigns, with the ability to showcase imagery and video. The dual call to action block signposts members to the correct areas of the site to seek advice and support, get involved and browse current campaigns.
SCRM Integration
During the website build, we reimagined the membership application process, maintaining a streamlined and simple approach for people to sign up as Equity members, manage their membership and download key documents and assets. A key element is the ability of visitors to revisit their membership application multiple times.
The CRM needed to be able to handle payments, renewals, membership applications and lots more. The join process has several paths that needed to be mapped and configured alongside Equity’s CRM, which required rigorous testing at each step via our quality assurance team.
The new Equity.org.uk provides members and other stakeholders with a more engaging and meaningful experience, from the moment they arrive and throughout their journey. This was recognised by the judges at the 46th TUC Trade Union Comms awards. The website we designed and built in partnership with the Equity team won Best Organising and Recruitment Tool for 2023.
Users can now easily understand Equity’s purpose, approach and impact, and gain greater insight into those it supports. The site achieves an AA rating in accessibility, as well as a sleek and improved brand positioning that embodies who Equity is and the community it serves.
Judges of the 46th TUC Trade Union Comms awards
Do you need a new best-in-class website to support the next stage of your journey? Contact us for a free website review