Sport and supporting our local community are two big passions here at Mashbo, so you can imagine our enthusiasm and excitement when we were approached by Everton FC to create a new website for its groundbreaking free school and football college, which offers an alternative education pathway for those where traditional methods in mainstream schools have failed.
The club approached us to create a multisite Wordpress installation that would allow the club to manage two school websites - one for the Everton Free School and another for its football college.
Flexible and Easy-to-Manage
The objective of the project was to provide two websites that were flexible and easy to manage, while also offering high levels of functionality, streamlined information architecture, clear navigation and quality user experience (UX), all in line with the club’s distinctive and sector-leading online identity.
The new sites were required to raise the profile and increase awareness of events and activities at both schools, such as open days, helping to increase applications.
Both sites are managed centrally by Everton FC’s central marketing team, but there are separate teams responsible for content on the Free School and Football College websites, so the facility to provide different levels of access was required. The installation also needed to allow for growth of content and provide flexibility so the site would not be restricted to its navigational structure.
User Experience Research
Working closely with Everton FC’s central marketing team, we undertook UX research to monitor the habits and requirements of its key users, mainly the parents and guardians of its pupils or those of potential pupils.
This enabled us to identify the most frequently used functionalities for key users and ensure these were as intuitive and accessible as possible, to increase user engagement and drive applications to the schools.
Maintaining Brand Identity
Adhering closely to Everton FC’s brand guidelines and working seamlessly with its marketing and web development teams, we created two websites with the same design structure and principles within one framework, maintaining the overarching brand identity.
Both sites were also designed to comply fully with WCAG 2.0 (AA) best practice accessibility standard.
The platform gave the client the ability to control each website’s visual appearance using the CMS, allowing the two schools to maintain their distinct identities in line with brand guidelines.
Effective Turnaround
The resulting websites offered the team at Everton FC and the two schools the flexibility and simplicity of use to manage the websites and continue its online storytelling, by allowing them to easily create shareable and engaging content.
Our project team’s close and transparent working relationship with the club ensured a quick and effective project turnaround that delivered a solution that conveyed a strong sense of the Everton FC brand and its organisational values.
Want to discover how we could help your business? Contact us today on studio@mashbo.com or call +44 (0)151 708 1924.