The existing website was a decade old, managed by multiple agencies, and functioned as a static HTML site without a Content Management System (CMS). With a stunning new visual brand identity and creative direction in place, Bristol Cathedral needed a design system and website to match.
Bristol Cathedral required a new website that was easy to manage and update in-house, along with a complete redesign featuring an impactful, intuitive, and contemporary design. The new site needed to strengthen the cathedral’s brand and reflect its vision, values, and achievements.
We worked closely with the Bristol team to deliver a comprehensive and insightful UX phase. Discussions with key stakeholders helped us gain a clear understanding of the Cathedral and its local community, enabling us to define the site’s key performance metrics.
Leveraging our expertise, we developed a thorough understanding of target audiences, which informed the creation of user journeys and the optimisation of content structure to ensure the site met its primary goals.
When shaping the new user experience and design, we needed to consider two primary audiences and one sub-audience:
Bristol Cathedral hosts a diverse range of events, from religious services and concerts to guided tours, exhibitions, children’s activities, and talks. Some events are free and occur daily, while others are one-off, ticketed attractions. We developed a dynamic ‘What’s On’ feed to provide clear and efficient access to all events across various locations and times. Priority ticketed events were prominently highlighted to attract significant traffic, while daily and recurring events, such as religious services and recitals, were easily accessible.
One of the major improvements we made to the Bristol Cathedral site was enhancing the ease and efficiency of finding event details and completing the booking process. Key event information is now accessible directly from the homepage, and the booking process can be completed in just a few clicks.
The Cathedral relies on its foundation, trust, friends, and volunteers for support. Financial backing from corporate sponsors and public donations is crucial for its operation. We aimed to create a donation process that was both clear and efficient. By adding a quick donations link to the menu, users can give with just a few clicks, while the ‘Support Us’ landing page provides easy access to explore all available support options.
Providing clear and informative details to help visitors plan their visit is essential for any public space. We designed a new ‘Visit Us’ landing page with a logical and structured layout, ensuring visitors could easily find important information. This included an FAQ section to address common questions, reducing the burden on Bristol’s customer support team.
We inherited an existing visual brand identity and applied our expertise to optimise it for digital formats and meet accessibility standards. To help users quickly differentiate between Bristol’s wide range of events, we used associative colour coding for event categories. We also incorporated the inherited shape library to frame images with cathedral-inspired shapes and used wood and stone textures in backgrounds to give the site an authentic and unique appearance.
Bristol Cathedral welcomes visitors from all walks of life, making it essential for their website to be accessible to everyone. We conducted extensive accessibility tests to ensure the site meets WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards.
"A cathedral's awe-inspiring presence was the feeling we aimed to capture in the website design for Bristol Cathedral. As soon as we saw the new brand, we knew the brief was a perfect fit for us and that we could create something truly special."
Joe Perkins
Chaptr MD
It was crucial for the Bristol Cathedral team to easily log in and manage website content independently, without relying on an agency. This was especially important for event creation, as multiple team members frequently create, publish, and edit events. We achieved this by using the widely supported WordPress CMS.
We implemented custom-created blocks within the CMS to give Bristol Cathedral full control over spacing, content, colours, and iconography. After the site design was completed, Bristol could easily edit and create new pages using pre-styled components from our library.
"Completing a new website for a Cathedral is no easy task! Chaptr were great at taking us through the overwhelming challenge and journey of simplifying content to make the website more accessible for users, as well as implementing new Cathedral branding which they've done wonderfully. We have a new events functionality too, so for the first time, people can view and filter through our range of services and events. Donating and learning about how to support and get involved with the Cathedral has become easier too. We are really pleased with what's been achieved and can confidentially maintain and update the website for the future. Thanks to the team who have been easy and friendly to work with! "
Martha Lewington
Development Director at Bristol Cathedral